Treesearch

White oak regeneration is both disturbance dependent and advanced growth dependent (Clatterbuck 2019). “The answer to the question of how to ensure oak regeneration … is not the development of some radically new method of cutting, but recognition that all cutting operations in a stand, from the very first, should have as some of their objectives the creation of an environment, largely light conditions, favorable for oak regeneration … and furthermore … ensure that cuttings occur frequently enough to maintain growth of oak regeneration” (Hodges 1989).

Red maple was once a minor component of eastern deciduous forests. It is now the most abundant and widespread tree species in the eastern United States (Oswalt et al. 2019). The increase in red maple is attributed to its adaptability to a wide range of environments and the current management policy of forest fire suppression (Abrams 1992). On most sites, red maple seedlings tend to outgrow the regeneration of more desirable species, especially oaks.

Despite growing interest in restoring and managing oak woodlands and savannas, few silvicultural guidelines and tools are available, particularly for evaluating or adjusting woodland or savanna stand density and overall structure. Gingrich’s Stocking Guide has been used for managing oak-hickory forests for several decades, but important density thresholds are intended for use in forests where maintaining full growing space occupancy is the goal during thinning.

Montane and subalpine forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains produce wood fiber for products, store water in the snowpack, sequester carbon, and provide wildlife habitat, including for threatened Canada lynx and their primary prey, the snowshoe hare. Use of precommercial thinning (PCT) in potential lynx habitat is restricted on federal lands due to short-term reduction of forage and hiding cover for hares. However, dense young forests are slow to develop multiple canopy layers (fig. 1) - habitat preferred by hares and lynx - yet silvicultural thinning can accelerate development of...

Timber management in Sitka spruce / western hemlock temperate rainforests is increasingly focused on secondary even-aged stands that re-established after primary forest removal during the 20th century. After clear-cut harvest, abundant natural regeneration fosters rapid stand initiation forming dense, close canopy forests. Understory vegetation declines rapidly after canopy closure and is nearly absent during the prolonged stem exclusion phase of stand development. Productive understory vegetation is important for wildlife habitat and subsistence food resources across the ecoregion....

The Superior National Forest (SNF) is preparing forest ecosystems for the challenges of continued climate change. Covering over 3 million acres in northern Minnesota, the SNF consists of boreal-temperate transition forests including several species expected to decline over the next century, such as jack pine, black spruce, and quaking aspen. As one possible adaptation action, silviculturists on the SNF have been implementing small-scale pilot projects to test assisted migration of tree species, including reforesting with new seed sources of existing species as well as introducing novel...

Healthy, productive ecosystems require diverse plant populations that are adapted to the climates in which they are growing. The concept of local adaptation has been recognized as a critical component to reforestation success and forest productivity for nearly a century, leading to the development of seed zones for forest trees and, more recently, nontree restoration species. Fixed-boundary seed zones, however, assume that climates are static over time, which is no longer the case.

Increasing wildfire area burned and accelerated timber harvest have amplified the need for post-disturbance reforestation; this need has outpaced current capacity. Resource managers would use tools for identifying and prioritizing potential planting sites. A web-based decision support system was developed (DSS) to provide spatial information on potential for natural regeneration in post-disturbance environments. Users can select burn severity information using 1-year postfire data (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), or for recent disturbance events using either Rapid Assessment of...

Santalum species, including the endemic Hawaiian ‘iliahi (Santalum paniculatum), are ecologically distinct as evergreen, hemiparasitic trees. Being hemiparasitic means ‘iliahi can photosynthesize yet require suitable hosts for resource acquisition and longterm survival. Degradation of native tropical dry forests and the unsustainable removal of native tree species has resulted in ʻiliahi and other trees, including potential hosts to ʻiliahi, having greatly reduced populations and distributions.

In recent years, Idaho Panhandle National Forests’ employees have noted sites with limited reforestation success, as well as ecotones with evidence of plant shifts or longer-term disclimax following disturbance. I propose that we evaluate some of these sites and similar intact communities to identify plant species that may help us predict where such sites occur.