 |
Catalog #43
| Title: |
Thinning in Allegheny Hardwood
Stands
|
| Objective: |
To determine diameter growth and mortality rates by species
and diameter class for major Allegheny hardwood species as influenced
by density of residual stocking, stand structure, and other
factors. |
| Year Established: |
1972 to 1984 |
| Year Completed: |
1999 |
| Site Description: |
Kane Experimental Forest, Allegheny National Forest and private
lands. Block, stand age, stand density and structure were chosen
to satisfy the following table:
| Age |
Density |
Structure |
| 50-60 yrs. |
26 plots
combined precommercial-
commercial at various
densities |
11 plots
precommercial vs.
commercial
or combined |
| 60+ yrs. |
27 plots
commercial thinning at
various densities |
|
|
| Statistical Design: |
Randomized blocks with 2-acre plots in uniform stands. Within
each 2-acre plot, an interior 0.6-acre plot serves as the measurement
plot. The measurement plots are surrounded by a 1.4-acre isolation
strip. Within each 0.6-acre plot, 8 0.0026-acre subplots were
established for collecting regeneration data. |
| Likelihood of Locating Study Areas: |
100% |
| Experimental Treatments: |
Between years 1973 and 1985, trees were removed from each
0.6-acre plot so that 8 different levels of stocking remain:
0%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and 100%. Thinning Guidelines
(Marquis, D.A. [ed] 1994. Quantitative Silviculture for Hardwood
forests of the Alleghenies. USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep.
NE-183.) were followed during each cut. |
| Sampling Methods: |
Growth responses are examined on an individual tree basis
and on a stand basis. Individual tree growth rates are used
to develop yield tables that can guide foresters in managing
the Allegheny hardwoods. Stand growth rates are useful in the
planning phase of forest management. |
| Variables and Sampling Frequency: |
Independent: tree and stand parameters which account for the
size of tree, stand density, composition, structure, site, and
age.
Dependent: growth, mortality: d.b.h. (to the nearest 0.01"),
mortality, ingrowth, species composition. reproduction (seedling
counts by species and height classes) and herbaceous cover:
block 1: 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1992.
block 2: 1974 to 1977 annually, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1991.
Block 3: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1990.
Block 4: 1978, 1979, 1984 (destroyed by tornado).
block 5: 1978, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994.
Block 6, 7, 8, 9: 1984, 1989, 1994.
Block 12, 13: 1984, 1985, 1990 (block 13 destroyed by gypsy
moth defoliation). |
| QA/QC Practices: |
Data were field checked and data-entry into computer was 100%
cross checked with field sheets. |
| Data Storage: |
Raw data by plot reside on DG and tally sheets are kept with
written instructions and detailed maps to each stand. Annually,
the raw data are transformed using the REGEN1 program in DG
Info. System. Summarized data by plot and by stand reside in
a DG-based program that can output to ASCII text files. |
| Global Change Research Applications: |
Studies of Ecosystem Processes |
| Data Availability: |
unknown |
| Publications and Reports: |
Study plan. 1979. Richard Ernst.
Marquis, DA 1979. Working Guidelines for thinning in Cherry-Maple
Type. Unpubl.
The above are office reports of U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Warren,
PA.
Roach, B. 1977. A stocking guide for Allegheny hardwoods
and its use in controlling intermediate cuttings. Res. Paper
NE-373. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 30 p.
Marquis, DA 1986. Thinning Allegheny hardwood pole and small
sawtimber stands. In: Smith, H.C.; Eye, M.E., eds. Proceedings,
workshop on guidelines for managing immature Appalachian hardwood
stands; 1986 May 28-30; Morgantown, WV. Publication No. 86-02.
Morgantown, WV: Society of American Foresters. 68-84.
Ernst R.L. 1987. Growth and yield following thinning in mixed
species Allegheny hardwood stands. In: Nyland, R.D., ed. Proceedings,
managing northern hardwoods symposium; 1996 June 23-25; Misc.
Publ. No. 13 (ESF 87-002). Syracuse, NY: S.U.N.Y. Coll. Env.
Sci. and Forestry. 211-222.
Marquis, DA; Ernst, R.L. 1991. The effects of stand structure
after thinning on the growth of an Allegheny hardwood stand.
For. SCI 37: 1182-1200.
Marquis, DA; Ernst, R.L.; Stout, S.L. 1992. Prescribing silvicultural
treatments in hardwood stands of the Alleghenies. Gen. Tech.
Rep. NE-96 (Revised). Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station.
Nowak, C.A. in Press. Wood volume Increment in thinned, 50-
to 55-year old, mixed species Allegheny hardwoods. Can. J.
For. Res.
|
| Contact: |
Susan Stout, USDA, Forest Service, P.O.
Box 267, Irvine PA 16329. (814) 563-1040 |
| Cooperation: |
Allegheny National Forest, PA.; private industries |
|
