Dominant-tree thinning in New England northern hardwoods—a second look

Abstract

A dominant-tree thinning was conducted in 2003 in a 69-year-old even-aged northern hardwood stand, clearcut in about 1935, where a precommercial thinning study had been conducted in 1959. The 2003 commercial thinning concentrated on the removal of the early maturing, short-lived paper birch and aspen, the largest-diameter trees in the stand (hence the term "dominant-tree thinning"). Diameter growth rates after thinning, up to about 6 years per inch over the following 12 years, were acceptable although not greatly different from the unthinned plots. Basal area growth response was highly acceptable after thinning: about 2.3 ft² per acre per year. Annual basal area growth was about negative 0.9 ft² per acre on the unthinned plots. Understory development of beech and shrub species was dense under the thinned plots, and will require treatment/removal during the regeneration phase.

Citation

Leak, William B. 2015. Dominant-tree thinning in New England northern hardwoods—a second look. Res. Note NRS-201. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 3 p.