Sustaining Penn's Woods Background

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The best forest management strategies work with, rather than against, the forest ecosystem.

Artificial regeneration
The process involves planting of seedlings or cuttings, and it is most commonly used to establish pines (softwoods). For Pennsylvania hardwoods, replanting usually is unnecessary as the preferred regeneration comes from naturally dispersed seeds, stumps or root sprouts. The naturally regenerated hardwood trees generally grow faster, are healthier and survive better than planted (artificially regenerated) hardwoods.

Intermediate cuttings
Intermediate cutting is done to enhance growing conditions, e.g., reduce pests, improve quality of trees or promote certain species. Harvest types include:

Cleaning or weeding to favor a species during the sapling stage
Thinning to increase growing space and sunlight, to reduce competition and to produce an immediate financial return
Improvement cutting to remove undesirable, e.g., crooked or diseased, trees
Regeneration or harvest cutting, which produces a clearing where new trees can regenerate. The site needs seeds, seedlings and/or sprouts and prevention against deer over-browsing for successful regeneration.

Even-aged management
A stand is even-aged when all of the trees are approximately the same age, generally because of their simultaneous regeneration. This is the case in most Pennsylvania forests. Even-aged management may include these harvest types:

Regeneration or clear-cut: harvesting most or all of the trees in a specific area to create openings in the forest canopy. This method works best to promote the regeneration of species that require abundant sunlight. Different techniques may be used to adjust harvested areas to more aesthetically blend with the landscape.
Seed-tree: a form of clear-cut which leaves some mature, seed-producing trees on each stand
Shelterwood: two or three partial cuttings at five- or 10 -year intervals, with the early cut perhaps involving 60% of the trees to allow sun to reach the forest floor. Trees left to shelter saplings are cut later. This system is often used to favor shade-tolerant species.

Uneven-aged management
This process involves frequent selective harvesting to maintain a mix of tree sizes, ages and classes. It may approximate natural tree loss during the progression of the forest, which over time shifts species toward shade tolerant varieties. In this type of management, regeneration is slower and can be affected by deer browsing.

Selection involves simultaneous regeneration and intermediate cuts in a complicated system so that the total volume removed does not exceed the growth, usually during five- to 10-year cycles. This involves single-tree or group selection and may have clear cuts of up to an acre.

Non-silviculture harvests
These activities may generate a high initial financial return on a harvest, but also may negatively affect the future value and quality of the stand:

High-grading: selectively removing the largest and most valuable trees, generally diminishing species diversity and leaving smaller or less-valuable trees behind
Diameter limit cutting: a form of high-grading which harvests trees above a certain size, e.g. 12-14 inch dbh
Selective cutting: taking the fastest growth, largest trees and leaving large, lower quality trees

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The information on this page is taken directly from the "Sustaining Penn’s Woods" curriculum. This fact sheet has been reviewed and approved by the PA Department of Education.

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