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Helping Your Woods Grow the “art and science” of silviculture

Kristi McClelland, King County DNRP Forester

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb2000/eb2000.pdf

Stand Dynamics and Health

Photo by John Palka

Forest Function and Wildlife Habitat For most of us this is our goal…

Traditional Land Knowledge

Photo: Jason Gobin, Tulalip Tribes

LYLE, WASHINGTON - September 19, 2012 - Richard Sohappy pulls a fish from the KIickitat River. Yakama Indians fish 24-hours a day during the season at Lyle Falls near Lyle, Wash., Sep 19, 2012. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

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Trees Talk

Suzanne Simard: https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other

You are working on:• Values, goals, objectives

• Native trees & plants

• Forest health

• Wildlife and fish habitat

• Helping your woods grow

• Soils care

• Water resources

• Measuring your trees

• Invasive control

• Current use taxes

Silvicultural practices will get you where you want to be…

Silviculture as Applied Ecology

Control disturbances in forests to achieve desired results

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests” Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

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Many factors determine what your woods become:

•Owner’s goals and objectives

•Biological capabilities of stand

•Current condition/health of stand

•Weather events

•Skills of landowner and operator

(Planning is important!)

Forestry in a landscape context

Health of your woods dependent on allocation of scarce resources:

1. Maintain respiration of all parts.

2. Produce fine roots and leaves.

3. Produce flowers and seed.

4. Extend branches and roots.

5. Store energy rich chemicals.

6. Add wood to stem, roots and branches.

7. Create anti-pest chemicals for defense.

Silvicultural prescriptions:

Regeneration treatments• method of regeneration • age & structure

Intermediate treatments• species composition• stocking/spacing• quality

A course of action that causes change (disturbance) within a forest stand

Each tree and plant has different requirements and opportunities

Silvical characteristics –such as “shade tolerance” – are important criteria in determining the correct silvicultural alternative

Leaves ...

Very Tolerant Tolerant Interm. Tolerance Intolerant Very Intolerant

Western HemlockWest. RedcedarPacific Silver Fir

Alas. YellowcedarMt. Hemlock

Grand FirSubalpine FirSitka Spruce

Bigleaf MapleCascara

Shore Pine

West. White PineInland Douglas-fir

MadroneDouglas Maple

CottonwoodGarry Oak

Costal Douglas-firNoble Fir

Ponderosa PineAlder

Lodgepole PineWestern Larch

Hooker’s Willow

and needles

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How do you start?

Evaluate what you have:

different stands

forest health issues

tree & shrub inventory

wildlife habitat

riparian resources

soil types

Tree spacing for various stocking levels

Trees per acre Spacing between trees

681 8x8 ft.538 9x9 ft.436 10x10 ft.360 11x11 ft.302 12x12 ft.222 14x14 ft.170 16x16 ft.151 17x17 ft.121 19x19 ft.109 20x20 ft.70 25x25 ft.48 30x30 ft.

A Knowledge of silviculture helps you recognize:

wildfire hazard abatement

timber harvest planting

reduce tree density to improve health of woods

snag creation

what

you

can

do…

Silvicultural treatments allow YOU to manage toward goals for your woods:

Knowledge

of Many

Silvicultural

Pathways

DELAY

2049

THIN,

LATER

RETENTION

THIN

1999

2009

NO

ACTION

RETENTION

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Stand Characteristics

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Even-aged stands: Uneven-aged stands

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Even-age vs Multi-age

Even-age

• one or two age classes

• Narrow distribution of diameter classes

• Result of disturbance, or harvesting method

(shelterwood, clear cut)

• Rotation: beginning and end in terms of economic or biological maturity

Multi-age

• 3 or more age classes

• Wide distribution of diameter classes

• Created by periodic removals through out all

diameter classes

• Perpetual cover with regeneration a goal of each cutting cycle

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Clearcut

Seed tree

Shelterwood

Clearcutting Shelterwood

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Variable retention stands

Uneven-aged regeneration treatments

Uneven-aged stands contain at leastthree age classes with a range of young to old trees:

• Single tree selection

• Group selection

Single-tree selection

Group selection Drawbacks to uneven-age harvests:

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Ecological Forestry

Excerpted from “Natural Disturbance and Stand Development Principles for Ecological Forestry”, Franklin, Mitchell, Palik

Disturbance scale

Recovery periods

Variable retention

• Green tree retention

• Two-tiered stands

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/EM003/em003.pdf

Management options for declining red alder woods:

Regeneration Principles

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Artificial regeneration—planting seedlings

Successful reforestation requires:

1) seedlings that are healthy and adapted to the climate and site

2) seedlings that have been handled, stored, and planted correctly

3) a favorable planting micro site or spot, and

4) minimal or no competition from other vegetation during the early stages of development

Douglas-fir modified seed transfer zones:

Red alder modified seed transfer zones:

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/lm_wfn_seedzone_book.pdf

Tree seedling types

Bareroot

• 2-0

• 1-1

• 2-1

Container

• Plug

• P-1

Right plant in the right place

• Micro-site

Amount of sun/shade; soil moisture

Depth of soil

• Ease of establishing

• Availability

• Rooting ability

• Mature height

• Natural groupings

• Adequate spacing for vigorous growth

http://green.kingcounty.gov/GoNative/Index.aspx

How to plant

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Common mistakesTools of the trade:

Intermediate Treatments

You can take actions to improve your forest:

Light+

Water +

Nutrients+

Diversity= a healthy forest

Silviculture and forest health

Light+

Water = a healthy forest+

Nutrients+

Diversity

Seedling Supportbrush control

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Tackling the Tough Spotsrestoration

Thinning

PCT Commercial

Thinning keeps trees and understory plants healthy and vigorous – and sometimes less vulnerable to crown fires:

Firewise

Top 5 Tips for maintaining a wildfire safety zone in the 30 feet around your home:

•Use fire-resistant construction materials

•Keep blowing embers out of house

•Remove dead plant material around home

•Take out "ladder fuels”

•Use fire-resistant plants in landscape

In a nutshell, we capture the capability of the site and allocate it to selected trees:

Hopefully when the

trees are of this size…

and continuing

throughout their life time

Tree growth reductions and other loss of vigor characteristics:

Photo courtesy of Peter Kolb, Montana State University.

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Height/diameter ratioTotal tree height divided by diameter expressed in feet.

Example 80 foot high tree with 10 inch DBH:80 ÷ 0.833= height diameter ratio of 96

Example 100 foot high tree with 20 inch DBH: 100 ÷ 1.66= height diameter ratio of 60

Pre-commercial thinning Commercial thinning

Diameter breast height rule Stand density diagram

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

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Tree spacing for various stocking levels

Trees per acre Spacing between trees

681 8x8 ft.538 9x9 ft.436 10x10 ft.360 11x11 ft.302 12x12 ft.222 14x14 ft.170 16x16 ft.151 17x17 ft.121 19x19 ft.109 20x20 ft.70 25x25 ft.48 30x30 ft.

Thinning guidelines based on your goals

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Red alder thinning strategies

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Red alder stand density after thinning

Excerpted from WSU Extension EB2000 “Silviculture for Washington Family Forests”

Pruning

Removal of tree’s lower branches :

•generally 8 foot lifts

•never more than 1/3 of live crown at a time

•prune when small (4 to 6 inch DBH)

http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/handtools/index.htm

Photo courtesy of Bailey's

More tools of the trade:

Photo courtesy of Bailey's

Photo courtesy of Bailey's

Photo courtesy of Bailey'sPhoto courtesy of The Extractigator Company

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Take home messages:• Northwest forests historically established by

major disturbances and ‘managed’ by tribes

• Most are even-aged at least within stands and patches that result from the disturbance

• Larger trees are not necessarily older trees if they are growing side by side

• Strive to allocate resources to trees meeting desired objectives

• Increase diversity and structure

To wrap it up:

• Forests should be managed for those trees and plants adapted to the site

• Avoid introducing exotic plants

• Diversity of northwest tree species can help prevent spread of disease and ensure a healthy future forest

• Doing nothing is not doing nothing – the woods you have today will not be the woods you get tomorrow – you cannot preserve it as it is. Forests change over time…

The forest starts here…