Jan 14 2010
Forestry Methods
On the supplemental notes about forestry methods, I am trying to figure out how to link the management systems to the harvest methods. Uneven-aged management would involve selective cutting, and even-aged management would involve clear cutting. What kind of management is it when a manager clear cuts a natural forest, harvesting forests of different ages?
I guess strip-cutting can be either even-aged management or uneven–only even-aged if it involves a tree farm?
Also, the book mentions mining as an economic value of forests, but what kind of mining are they talking about? Do they just mean mineral mines that happen to be found in forests, and in order to access them, forests have to be fragmented? Could somebody give me an example of this?
Thanks, guys! : )
Alice, i think you are on the right track with strip-cutting. If someone clear cuts a forest, they would be using even-aged management. You cannot clear cut and have different ages. You were on the right track with strip-cutting because that allows some tress to be left and causes uneven-aged management. All the other harvest methods too try and protect biodiversity and therefore may have different ages, but i think with clear-cutting you can only have even-aged. If i am wrong please let me know!
I am a little confused on your second question too so hopefully someone else knows!
I think I get what Liza is saying, but I think that what to think of is that once you cut all the trees, not the age before hand.
So if you clear-cut, all the trees that you plant afterward will have to be of the same age. While in selective cutting, you typically only cut one type of tree, or trees that are only of a certain age, whether it be old or new growth. Strip cutting is pretty much like clear cutting, but I think that it is mostly done in places with steep slopes in order to reduce destructive erosion.
Except strip cutting can’t be even-aged, as the strips are cut different years, so the trees are harvested at different ages. I realize they might have been planted at the same time, but what matters is the harvest. Strip cutting clear cuts strips (smaller areas on a forest instead of the whole thing). This leaves adjacent areas for wildlife to retreat to, thus preserving biodiversity better than a clear cut of an entire forest. So, Liza, I hope you do check back!
As for mining–some forests might be mined if minerals are located there. We’ll discuss mining in a later chapter.