Hardwood management

[snowracerh]

Id start thinning to select your best trees at about 15 years after the cut (pole sized trees). Until then, all the "stuff" growing aroung the good trees will compete and make the good trees grow straight and limb free. Once they get some height, start thinning to expand the crown and shift from height growth to diameter growth. Only thinn about 1/3 of the trees focusing immediately around the high quality trees and leave the rest of the low quality trees for a 2nd thinning. This is of course if timber value is your goal. Heavy thinning to soon just means less natural pruning!

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[Chipdasqrrl]

Of course always have to be careful with forest studies as to who they might cater to such as the tree huggers, foresters, academia.]

Speaking of tree huggers... it amazes me how someone that claims to care so much about the environment has no idea about how much benefit to wildlife and plant life that logging can bring to an ecosystem...

 

[j-bird]

I will admit that early on I didn't understand how cutting trees was beneficial.....I have learned a lot since then.

I was out over the weekend on my place and thought of this thread when I took this pic on my phone. Before we logged I could have walked down this route in flip-flops and cargo shorts and not been worried one bit during this time of year......you are not going to try that now! Back then you would have been walking on leaf litter and maybe brushing up against a stunted maple sapling or two...... now the sunlight has allowed the growth of so much more. When the time is right a chainsaw can be a habitat's best friend.