Thinning from below in a 60-year-old western white pine stand

Abstract

Thirty-year results from a test of thinning a 60-year-old western white pine stand indicate that thinning does not appreciably change total volume growth, but it does improve the quality of the final product by increasing diameter growth and improving stand composition. This test was established in 1919 on the Priest River Experimental Forest, Idaho, to test three degrees of thinning from below in a 60- year-old stand of western white pine. At the time of thinning, the stand contained about 1,000 trees and 175 square feet of basal area per acre. The basal area stocking was 80 percent of normal. Dominant trees were mostly white pine and western larch with an understory of western redcedar and Douglas -fir. The stand is located on a low, level bench having a site index of 64, which is good for white pine.

Citation

Foiles, Marvin W. 1955. Thinning from below in a 60-year-old western white pine stand. Res. Note 19 [Pre-1963]. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 6 p.