Partial cutting of western hemlock and sitka spruce in southeast Alaska.

This study of response to partial cutting over a 17-year period in a 96-year-old stand of western hemlock-Sitka spruce at Karta Bay, Alaska, showed that crop trees left after partial cutting were able to increase or maintain &out the same rate of diameter growth as before thinning, but growth in diameter of trees in an unthinned stand followed the norma2 pattern of decline.

Opening the stand stimulated epicormic branching, thus reducing quality of trees in the future. Partially cut plots became well stocked with conifer regeneration, mostly western hemlock.