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Abstract
Patch cutting is a regeneration method with little precedent in the Central Hardwoods Region of the United States. Patch cuts are defined as small scale clearcuts of 1–5 acres and are generally prescribed to lessen the aesthetic impact of harvesting in highly visible areas. This study examines species composition and stand development after patch cutting in the 1990s at Natchez Trace State Forest, located in the Coastal Plain of western Tennessee. Patch cuts were hypothesized to have a greater proportion of shade-intolerant species in the center of the opening and transitioning to more shade-intermediate and shade-tolerant species toward the edge of the harvest. Results indicate that patch cuts were dominated by yellow-poplar (
Liriodendron tulipifera) across the light gradient of the patch opening. Few shade-intermediate (oaks,
Quercus spp.) and shade-tolerant species were encountered. Yellow-poplar has greater light plasticity in these transitory light conditions toward the edge of the patch cut, regenerating, and outgrowing other species with lesser light requirements, thus nullifying the hypothesis in this research.
Parent Publication
Citation
Clatterbuck, Wayne K.; Biggerstaff, Joshua K. 2024. Regenerative Effects of Patch-Cut Harvests at Natchez Trace State Forest in West Tennessee after More than 25 years. In: Bragg, Don C.; Oswald, Brian P.; Koerth, Nancy E., eds. Proceedings of the 22nd biennial southern silvicultural research conference. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-274. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station: 122–126. https://doi.org/10.2737/SRS-GTR-274-Pap21.
