Forestry Friday: Before & After a Timber Harvest
Four growing seasons after the timber harvest, white pine seedlings are abundant.
Forester Gabe Roxby recently checked in on a Forest Society property where we conducted a timber harvest in 2017 — the Diehl Family Forest in Lempster.
Part of the harvest was an 8-acre “low density shelterwood” harvest aimed at regenerating white pine.
This harvest removed perhaps 85% of the trees, leaving healthy white pines with strong crowns.
A 2017 photo of the forest after a “low density shelterwood” harvest was conducted in 2017, aimed at regenerating white pine.
The harvest was purposefully scheduled to coincide with a plentiful white pine cone crop, which resulted in millions of pine seeds dropping to the forest floor. The harvest machinery disturbed the duff layer and exposed the mineral soil, allowing the seeds to germinate.
The result, four growing seasons later, is an amazing carpet of white pine seedlings. Mixed in are a few hardwoods, mostly pin cherry and trembling aspen, along with some scattered balsam fir and red spruce. But for the most part, there are white pine seedlings as far as the eye can see!
The Diehl Family Forest in Lempster today.
- To learn more about the Forest Society's timber harvest work, visit https://forestsociety.org/timber-harvesting.
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