Forest Management and Timber Harvest Planning

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Forest Management and Timber Harvest Planning

• Mark Hitchcock CF, MFS
• Fairweather Forestry
• 360-766-6500
• 4S3_at_fidalgo.net

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Basic Questions For Forest Landowners

• What are your forest management objectives?
• What are the physical attributes of your land?
• What are the biological characteristics of your
  forest?

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Management Objectives

• Income
• Aesthetics
• Habitat
• Mixed-Use

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Physical Attributes

• Soil attributes
• Drainage
• Depth
• Fertility
• Harvest Limitations
• Reforestation Limitations
• Topography
• Elevation
• Aspect
• Adjacent land use

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Forest Characteristics

• Species
• Shade Tolerance
• Longevity
• Durability
• Vigor
• Disease
• Insects
• Crown Ratios

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Tree Species Characteristics
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Evidence of root rot infestation. Root wads
appear incomplete, or fist-like, due to root
decay. Fallen trees are jack-strawed and do not
appear directionally felled, as in windthrow.
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Later evidence of bark beetle infestation. The
first signs of attack are pitch tubes marking
where female beetles have entered the tree.
Secondary evidence is dry boring dust, similar to
fine sawdust, found in bark crevices and around
the tree base.
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Crown type classifications of trees in even-age
stands. D dominant, C codominant, I
intermediate, W wolf, S suppressed, M
mortality. The crown ratio is the proportion
of total tree height that is occupied by live
crown. In this illustration, the dominants have
a 50 percent crown ratio the wolf tree has an 80
percent crown ratio.
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Silvicultural Systems Simplified

• Cultivation of forests through comprehensive
  programs of stand treatments, commonly classified
  by reproduction method.
• Even-Aged Reproduction Methods
• Clearcutting
• Seed-Tree
• Shelterwood
• Uneven-Aged Reproduction Methods
• Selection

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Stand Age 28 Years TPA 397 (RA 81) QMD
10.4
Uniform Thinning TPA 150 (RA 0) QMD 12.9
Variable Thinning TPA 150 (RA 20) QMD 12.1
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A heavily thinned stand at age 50 30
years after the first thinning. This is a highly
productive site where thinnings have reduced
stand density to a low number of large trees.
The open condition has allowed the development of
understory plants.
A portion of the same stand, un-thinned, at age
50. The stand has developed to a high density
with many smaller trees and few plants growing in
the understory because of a lack of light
reaching the ground.
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Logging Equipment

• Cable yarding systems
• Ground-based yarding systems

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A small cable yarding system equipped with a
motorized, clamping carriage is commonly employed
to selectively harvest timber on steep slopes or
over vulnerable soils. Use of intermediate
supports can extend yarding distances, thereby
reducing the costs and impacts of road
construction.
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Motorized carriage in action!
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Left and right sides of the graph represent
traction under the best conditions, but soil and
weather conditions may reduce gradability.
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The typical rubber-tired skidder will provide
very economical yarding in a variety of
silviculture prescriptions. The use of a cable
winch and chokers, as shown in this picture,
increases machine versatility and reduces soil
compaction compared with using the same machine
equipped with a grapple.
A crawler tractor is among the most versatile
of machines. When equipped with winch and
chokers or a grapple, as shown in this picture,
it can be used for yarding. Wide, low ground
pressure tracks reduce soil compaction.
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A method of commercial thinning now common is the
use of a harvester-forwarder combination in what
is called a cut-to-length system. The harvester
moves through the stand felling, delimbing,
bucking, and bunching trees selected for
harvest meanwhile a forwarder loads and
moves these processed logs to the truck road
where it then unloads and sorts the logs into
decks for log truck pickup.
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Roads, Landings, and Skid Trails

• Avoid Wetlands and Drainages
• Locate Skid Trails To Minimize Impacts
• Plan to Recycle Skid Trails
• Protect Leave Trees

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Ground disturbance comparison between designated
skid trails and random skid trails. In this
example, random skid trails result in about 25
more ground disturbance that designated skid
trails.
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A rub tree is left intentionally to protect
selected leave trees during harvest
operations. Rub trees should be removed, from
back to front, after all other logs have been
removed.
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Tree Selection

• Form
• Vigor
• Crown Ratios
• Spacing
• Wildlife Trees

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Height/Diameter Ratio

• Intolerant species -  Less than or equal to 85
• Tolerant species - Less than or equal to 95

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The gradual decay of wildlife reserve trees into
snags.
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Tree and Boundary Marking

• Clearly Mark Boundaries
• Property Line Survey
• Tree Marking

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Harvest Timing

• Dry Soil Conditions to Minimize Compaction
• Avoid Spring Sap Flow (mid-March to mid-June) to
  Minimize Bark Slippage

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Useful Web Sites Washington State University
Cooperative Extension http//pubs.wsu.edu/cgi-bin/
pubs/index.html Oregon State University
Extension http//eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/EdMat/
USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research
Station http//www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/inde
x.shtml Graphics, Tables, and Pictures
Shamelessly Borrowed From Creighton, J.H. and
D.M. Baumgartner. 1997. Wildlife ecology and
forest habitat. EC1866, WSU Cooperative
Extension, Pullman, WA Duncan, S. 2002. Volume,
value, and thinning logs for the future. Science
Findings Issue 48, USDA Forest Service, Pacific
Northwest Research Station. Garland, J.J. 1997.
Designated skid trails minimize soil compaction.
EC1110, OSU Extension Service, Corvallis,
OR. Greulich, F.R., D.P. Hanley, J.F. McNeel,
and D.M. Baumgartner. 1999. A primer for timber
harvesting. EB1316, WSU Cooperative Extension,
Pullman, WA. Schlosser, W., D.M. Baumgartner,
D.P. Hanley, S. Gibbs, and V. Corraro. 1996.
Managing your timber sale. EB1818, WSU
Cooperative Extension, Pullman, WA. Stathers,
R.J., T.P. Rollerson, and S.J. Mitchell. 1994.
Windthrow handbook for British Columbia forests.
Working Paper 9401, British Columbia Ministry of
Forestry, Victoria, B.C.