Module 2: Thinning & Other Release Treatments Flashcards
Where would these intermediate treatments fit into this even-aged silvicultural system?
- Tending such as protection, release, fertilization
- Pre-commercial thinning
- Fertilization
- Commercial thinning
What is thinning?
Intermediate treatments are always focused on promoting growth and health of the existing stand (not regeneration)
What are 9 reasons we manage stand density through thinning and other intermediate treatments?
How does thinning affect individual tree growth? What are the 2 main factors that influence the magnitude of this response?
Explain this graph
While the un-thinned stand has more net standing volume at rotation age, you actually realize more total yield from the thinned stand because it also includes the volume that was removed during thinning (indicated by the dashed area on the graph)
What 4 major factors influence long-term growth following thinning?
How do timing and site quality generally affect stand growth and yield?
What are 6 potential negative effects of thinning?
What is epicormic branching?
Tree develops adventitious branching along the lower bole (trunk). There are suppressed buds all along the tree that respond to the new conditions after thinning.
Describe low thinning. Best timing? What stands does it benefit most? How is intensity adjusted? Other names for it?
Compare phototropic trees to geotropic trees
Phototropic trees grow towards available light (hardwoods)
Geotropic trees generally grow straight up (conifers)
Describe crown thinning. How is it different from low thinning? Other names for it?
Describe selection thinning. How does it differ from crown and low thinning? What’s a risk if its improperly applied? What’s its most common use? When is repeated use of selection thinning appropriate?
Describe geometric thinning. What are 2 types?
Describe free thinning. What is a risk if it’s not applied carefully? How does it differ from area-wide thinning?
Focus on promoting growth of best individual trees, not just meeting a density or BA objective stand-wide.
Can lead to high-grading if not applied carefully.
What are the 4 main factors that help us decide when we should thin?
Merchantability
Objectives
Site Quality
Live Crown Ratio
How does merchantability affect our decision on when to thin? How does it differ between southern pines and hardwoods?
How do pulpwood, sawtimber, or wildlife objectives affect our decision on when to thin?
How does site quality affect our decision on when to thin?
How does live crown ratio affect our decision on when to thin?
What is live crown ratio?
How would each of these affect our decision on how much to thin (choosing a residual density)?
Pulpwood objective
Sawtimber objective
Wildlife or grazing objective
Live Crown Ratio
Site Quality
What are two types of tools used to quantify the degree of crowding of stems and how much we should thin a stand? Who created the most common examples of these tools?
What are the 2 absolute measures of stand density? Why might one be favored over the other?
What is meant by Size-Density Relationships? Explain this graph.
Basically, as a stand moves past a certain density (lower limit), density will decline and average tree size will increase up to a maximum relative density
What is this? Explain its parts.
Describe the two main silvicultural approaches to thinning in the Central Hardwood Forest Region? When might one be preferred over the other?
How Is timing of the first thinning decided for upland oak stands in the central hardwoods region?
Summarize how we decide how much to thin a young stand in the central hardwoods region. Intensity of first thinning? Residual stocking level? When should subsequent thinning occur after the first thinning? How many high quality trees per acre are we ultimately aiming for in the final harvest cut?
What 3 factors influence the frequency of thinning? How does site index affect rotation age?
When do foresters generally consider an upland oak stand to be mature? When might a younger stand have most of the characteristics of a mature stand, and what characteristics are we referring to?
What are the 2 main current methods for manual felling of trees?
What is tree girdling and how does it work? When is the best time to do it? Which trees is it not effective for?
typically done with a chainsaw. most effective on ring porous species.
What are 3 types of machines for mechanized tree removal? What are best uses for each?
Many different types of cutting heads with different capabilities available for these
What tools are available for mechanized removal of lower/smaller vegetation?
brush hogs, masticating heads for grinding, etc.
What’s the advantage of using herbicide? What are 6 types of treatments is it used for?
What are 6 herbicide application methods (describe each) and what 2 categories does each fall into?
Stem injection done with hypo-hatchet or lance-type injector
Basal bark best on small trees with thin bark (less than 5” dbh or so)
What are the two primary patterns and 3 methods for applying foliar herbicide spray?
Name and describe the two main herbicide types, and give examples of each
Where do release treatments fit into an overall silvicultural system?
What is Crop Tree Release? What is its objective? How does it compare to low thinning or crown thinning?
Complete the table with characteristics for crop tree release by management objective
Summarize how crop trees generally respond to release. In what order do the parts of the tree respond? When should we expect the maximum response to occur?
How are surrounding trees of lower crown classes treated in crop tree release?
How many crop trees should generally be managed per acre? Why? What are some strategies to consider for their release?
What time period in a stand’s development is the best for Crop Tree Release?
What are the 4 most common application techniques used for Crop Tree Release? How much do they cost per acre? Where should they be focused?
What are the benefits of Crop Tree Release, and what type of stand composition would realize the biggest gain in value?
What are some risks associated with Crop Tree Release?
What are early release treatments? What are they designed to do?
What are 4 objectives for early release treatments?
What are the 3 classes of early release treatments?
What is weeding? When is it done? What are its objectives? What are common methods?
What is cleaning? Objectives? How are trees selected? How many trees are typically selected? Best timing? Methods?
What is liberation? Objectives? When/what kind of stands would benefit? Methods for removal?
Greater than 20ft2/acre of older competition may justify liberation. Anything less is probably not beneficial. If using mechanical removal, collateral damage must be considered. If sapling density is too high, the resulting damage could actually provide some benefit.
What is improvement cutting? Objectives? Methods? When applied?
What is salvage cutting? When would it be applied?
What is sanitation cutting? Some examples?
Where is prescribed burning usually applied? What might its objectives be? What are some potential issues with it?
When/why might you apply forest fertilization? What nutrients are most commonly applied?
What is pruning and how/why is it applied? When?
How is pruning actually done on small branch or on a larger branch? What are some possible mistakes you could make?
How would you approach pruning a black walnut tree to produce the most valuable timber? When would you start? How much would you prune? What time of year? How long do you continue pruning?
