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Silviculture

Concepts and Applications, Second Edition

Ralph D. Nyland

The biologic-ecologic, economic-financial, and managerial-administrative requirements of a forest often contradict each other. It falls to the silviculturist to best integrate these needs when creating, maintaining, and restoring forests. Nyland’s innovative text offers balanced discussions of the obvious and subtle methods for establishing and maintaining communities of trees and other vegetation. It provides the best available guidelines for adapating to the changing demands of landowners, to new scientific and practical developments, to improvements in technology, and to evolving attitudes in society. Nyland cultivates in foresters the ability to develop and implement critical thinking skills and creativity when challenged by the wide array of circumstances, conditions, and interests they will encounter in the field.

Outstanding features include: Hundreds of examples from real-world applications of silvicultural methods; extensive references to classic and contemporary literature; balanced coverage of both commodity and nonmarket objectives; details, examples, and other supplemental information about key concepts and facts; diagrams and photographs illustrating silvicultural practices.

$64.95 list, 682 pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-527-9

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-527-4

© 2002

Table of Contents

1. Silviculture as an Orderly Discipline

Its Place in Forestry / A Philosophy of Silviculture / The Changing Context of Forestry / No Cutting as an Appropriate Recommendation / Silviculture Defined—An Art and a Science / Setting the Objectives and Paying the Costs / Taking an Ecologic Perspective / Planning at the Ecosystem Level / Silviculture in an Ecologic Context / What Silviculturists Do / Controlling Establishment, Composition, Structure, and Growth / Silviculture as Problem Solving

2. The Silvicultural System

The Silvicultural System as a Plan for Management / Character and Objectives of Silvicultural Systems / Silviculture for Sustainable Forest Management / Conservation, Silvicultural Systems, and the Ethics of Resource Use / Comparison of Even- and Uneven-Aged Systems / Adjusting the Intensity of Management / The Art of Silviculture / Other Economic Considerations / Determining Financial Maturity / Judging Nonmarket Values

3. Harvesting as a Tool of Silviculture

Timber Harvesting and Silviculture / Timber Harvesting Systems / Silvicultural Requirements of Logging / Best Management Practices to Prevent Environmental Pollution / Safeguarding Riparian Zones / Controlling Erosion Potential during Routine Harvesting

4. Concepts of Regeneration

Objectives of Forest Regeneration Practices / Ensuring Timely and Effective Regeneration / Regeneration as a Process / Impediments to Success Following Seed Dispersal / Regeneration by Vegetative Methods / Regeneration from Seed / Germination and Development / Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Regeneration Methods / Choosing between Natural and Artificial Regeneration / The Implications of Silvicultural Practice to Forest Tree Improvement / Use of Exotic Species / Importance of Seed Source Selection

5. Site Preparation

Role and Scope of Site Preparation / Passive Site Preparation / Active Site Preparation / Mechanical Site Preparation / Using Herbicides in Site Preparation / Conditions for Success with Herbicides / Fire and Its Effects in Forests / Prescribed Burning as a Tool of Silviculture / Selecting a Site Preparation Method

6. Planning for Artificial Regeneration

Tree Planting in Silviculture / Planning a Tree Planting Project / Purposes and Advantages over Natural Methods / Requirements for Successful Artificial Regeneration / Species Selection / Use of Exotic Species / Windbreaks and Agroforestry in Tree-Poor Regions / Field Assessment of Site Conditions / Importance of Soil Conditions / Kinds of Planting Stock / Comparing Bare-Root and Container Stock / Other Factors Related to Seedling Quality / Selecting a Spacing / Arrangement and Other Operational Considerations / Getting Ready for the Planting

7. Nursery and Tree Planting Operations

Seed Selection and Handling / Seed Certification / Seed Processing and Storage / Seedling Production / Nursery Soil Management / Sowing / Protection and Health Management / Cultural Practices / Nursery Lifting and Handling of Bare-Root Stock / Time of Planting / Field Storage and Handling of Bare-Root Stock / Container Stock / Methods of Hand Planting / Machine Planting / Some Special Considerations in Planting

8. Regeneration from Seed and Direct Seeding

Underlying Premise / Ecologic Concepts of Importance / Plant Succession and Forest Regeneration / Direct Seeding for Forest Regeneration / Preparation for Direct Seeding / Sowing the Seed / Application of Direct Seeding

9. Reproduction Methods and Their Implications

Important Ecologic and Economic Factors / Reproduction Methods and Their Role in Silviculture / Differences between Even- and Uneven-Aged Methods / Characteristics of Different Reproduction Methods / Some Regulatory Considerations in Silviculture / Determining the Growth / Depicting Development Patterns in Forest Stands / Phases of Even-Aged Stand Development / Some Patterns of Uneven-Aged Stand Development / Relationship to a Regeneration Strategy

10. Selection System and Its Application

The Character of Selection System / Characterizing Conditions in Selection System Stands / Defining a Residual Structure / Balanced Structures and Other Guides for Selection System / Applying Selection System / Preparing a Marking Guide / Enhancing Quality and Value

11. Uneven-Aged Reproduction Methods

The Role of a Reproduction Method in Selection System / Single-Tree Selection Method / Application of Single-Tree Selection Method / Group Selection Method / Hybrid Uneven-Aged Methods

12. Growth and Development in Selection System Stands

Advantages and Disadvantages of Selection Silviculture / Requirements for Success in Selection System / Effects of Stand Structure Control on Tree Growth Rates / Contrasts between Selective and Selection Cutting / An Example of Selection System / Integrating Cutting Cycle Length, Residual Density, and Structure / The Nonmarket Value of Selection System Stands / Setting the Maximum Diameter for Noncommodity Objectives

13. Clearcutting

Clearcutting as a Reproduction Method / Attributes of Clearcutting as a Reproduction Method / Importance of Seed Source and Advance Regeneration / Effect on Environmental Conditions Near the Ground / Accommodating Species Tolerances with Natural Regeneration / Altering the Configuration of Clearcutting / Effects on Some Other Ecosystem Attributes / Site Preparation and Other Ancillary Treatments / Clearcutting with Artificial Regeneration / Values and Limitations of Clearcutting

14. Shelterwood and Seed-Tree Methods

A Rationale for Alternative Even-Aged Reproduction Methods / Characteristics of Shelterwood Method / Characteristics of Seed-Tree Method / Selecting Seed Trees for Shelterwood and Seed-Tree Cutting / Determining an Appropriate Level of Residual Stocking / Reserve, Group, and Strip Shelterwood Methods / Removal Cutting and Seedling Damage / Site Preparation with Shelterwood and Seed-Tree Methods / Some Other Considerations with Shelterwood and Seed-Tree Methods

15. Early Stand Development

Even-Aged Community Establishment and Formation / Early Development of Even-Aged Communities at Mesic Sites / Changes in Structural and Other Features among Developing Even-Aged Stands / Intermediate Treatments for Even-Aged Stands / Judging Successful Establishment / Vegetation and Regeneration Surveys / Some Sample Guidelines for Judging Regeneration Success

16. Release Treatments

Early Release Treatments / Weeding / Cleaning / Liberation Cutting / Some Broad Economic Considerations

17. Thinning and Its Effects on Stand Development

Some Dynamics of Even-Aged Stands / Crown Classes and Their Silvicultural Importance / Some Implications of Tree Aging / The Production Function as a Model of Even-Aged Stand Development / Intermediate Treatments to Temper Stand Development / A Production Function for Thinned Stands / Stocking and Relative Density among Unmanaged Stands / Controlling Relative Density through Thinning

18. Methods of Thinning

Comparing Method and Intensity of Thinning / Low Thinning / Crown Thinning / Selection Thinning / Mechanical Thinning / Free Thinning / Selecting a Method and Controlling the Thinning

19. Thinning Regimes in the Even-Aged Silvicultural System

Characteristic Responses of Thinned Stands / Influencing Yield by Thinning / Effects on Individual Tree Growth / Effects of Thinning on Stand Volume Production / Management Schemes for Fiber Production / Management Schemes for Sawtimber / Some Considerations for Timing a First Thinning / Maintaining Full Site Production / Setting a Thinning Interval

20. Managing Quality in Forest Stands

Marketing and Quality Factors in Silvicultural Planning and Operations / Determining Quality in Trees and Stands / Quality Requirements for Different Wood Products / Recognizing Product Quality in Standing Trees / Factors That Affect Quality in Trees and Stands / Pruning / Pruning Tools and Equipment / Managing Pruning as an Investment / Judging the Profitability of Pruning / Pruning Landscape Trees / Pruning and Nonmarket Values

21. Stand Protection and Health Management

Silviculture and Stand Health / Integrated Forest Health Management and Silviculture / Forest Health Management through Silviculture / Factors That Influence Forest Trees and Stands / How Trees Become Unhealthy / Species Selection as a Critical Preventive Measure / Shortcomings of Simplified Forests / Damage, Discoloration, and Decay in Living Trees / Differences between Selection System and Thinning / Measures for Containing Logging Damage

22. Improvement, Salvage, and Sanitation Cuttings

Silvicultural Responses to Effects of Injurious Agents / The Role of Improvement Cutting / Assessing Opportunities for Improvement Cutting / Integrating Improvement into Other Treatments / Cavities, Culls, and Dead Trees as Habitat Essentials / Salvage and Sanitation Cutting / Regeneration after Salvage and Sanitation Cutting / Some Economic Considerations in Improvement and Salvage Cutting / Other Aspects of Improvement, Salvage, and Sanitation Cutting

23. Other Partial Cuttings

Deliberate Silviculture and Conservation / Maintaining and Ecologic Standard / Two-Storied Stands / Two-Aged Silviculture / Advantages and Disadvantages of Two-Aged Silviculture / Converting Even-Aged Stands / Nonsystems Harvest Cuttings / Diameter-Limit Cutting in Even-Aged Stands / Diameter-Limit Cutting in Uneven-Aged Stands / Comparison of Stands under Silviculture and Casual Cutting / Exploitation versus Silviculture

24. Coppice Silviculture

Role in Forest Stand Management / Coppice Methods Based on Stump Sprouting / Short- and Minirotation Coppice Systems / Coppice Methods Based on Root Suckers / Setting Rotation Length in Coppice Systems / Advantages and Disadvantages of Simple-Coppice Systems / Coppice-with-Standards Systems / Conversion from Coppic to High-Forest Systems

25. Adjusting to Administrative Demands

Silviculture in Perspective / Administrative Considerations for Initial Planning / Factors That Force Unscheduled Changes in Silvicultural Practice / Examples of Changing Administrative Demands / Taking an Ecosystem Approach / Adapting to Change / Silviculture in Retrospect