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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Influence Of Strip Clearcuts, Deer Exclusion And Herbicide On Initial Sapling Recruitment In Northern Hardwood Forests, Stefan Hupperts, Christopher R. Webster, Robert Froese, Brandon Bal, Yvette L. Dickinson
Influence Of Strip Clearcuts, Deer Exclusion And Herbicide On Initial Sapling Recruitment In Northern Hardwood Forests, Stefan Hupperts, Christopher R. Webster, Robert Froese, Brandon Bal, Yvette L. Dickinson
Michigan Tech Publications
Sapling recruitment in hardwood forests is often suppressed by overstory shade, interspecific competition, and browsing pressure from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman). In some northern hardwood stands, these three interacting factors may cause persistent recruitment failure of the dominant canopy species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), into the sapling size class. In this study, we compared initial (two-year) sugar maple and hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana ((Mill.) K. Koch) seedling and sapling recruitment in strip clearcuts to strip selection cuts, with combinations of herbicide and deer exclosures, in a northern hardwood forest with limited sugar maple sapling recruitment. We found that sugar …
Effects Of Dissimilar Silvicultural Techniques On Small Mammal Communities In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Breanna R. Gusick
Effects Of Dissimilar Silvicultural Techniques On Small Mammal Communities In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Breanna R. Gusick
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Small mammal populations, and predators reliant upon them as food resources, are often challenged by conflicting objectives of timber production and maintenance of quality habitat. With over 70% of the landscape forested, and nearly one-third of the land privately owned, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP) is a matrix of independent management strategies. To assess the effects of various silvicultural regeneration methods on small mammal populations in the Upper Peninsula, we trapped small mammals in experimental silviculture plots, whereby treatments varied by regeneration method (amount of residual canopy cover) and site preparation (i.e., control, tip-up, and scarification), and deer exclosures. We used …
Improved Forest Management As A Natural Climate Solution: A Review, Lilli Kaarakka, Meredith Cornett, Grant Domke, Todd A. Ontl, Laura E. Dee
Improved Forest Management As A Natural Climate Solution: A Review, Lilli Kaarakka, Meredith Cornett, Grant Domke, Todd A. Ontl, Laura E. Dee
Michigan Tech Publications
Natural climate solutions (NCS), a set of land management, conservation and restoration practices aimed at mitigating climate change, have been introduced as cost-effective strategies to increase carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. Improved forest management (IFM) has been identified as one NCS for working forests with substantial climate change mitigation potential. However, there is a disconnect between the policy and carbon markets context and the scientific evidence for verifiable C benefits. Further, forest soil C—the largest forest C pool—has largely been excluded from current forest management guidelines and has not been included in the IFM discourse. Herein, we assess the …
Evaluating Long-Term Growth And Yield In Upper Great Lakes Region Northern Hardwoods Cutting Trials, Maeve Draper
Evaluating Long-Term Growth And Yield In Upper Great Lakes Region Northern Hardwoods Cutting Trials, Maeve Draper
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Common partial cutting management methods in Lake States hardwoods include both selection management and diameter-limit cuttings. Single-tree selection in particular is a widely prescribed silvicultural system in northern hardwoods and has an established history of use throughout the entire range of the forest type. Using data from two historic silvicultural studies, long-term comparison of single-tree selection methods and other partial cutting practices in northern hardwoods reveals that single-tree selection to higher residual basal areas, as widely applied in Great Lakes northern hardwood forests, is inferior using financial and volume yield criteria. Alternatives that remove more of the larger trees appear …
Regeneration Patterns In Silvicultural Openings Of Western Great Lakes Northern Hardwood Forests 15-24 Years Post-Harvest, Matthew S. Vandermolen
Regeneration Patterns In Silvicultural Openings Of Western Great Lakes Northern Hardwood Forests 15-24 Years Post-Harvest, Matthew S. Vandermolen
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
In managed northern hardwood forests, successful forest regeneration can depend on the application of silvicultural methods tailored to stand-specific recruitment limitations. The objective of this research is to develop a deeper understanding of the factors that interfere with tree regeneration at three long-term, well-replicated experimental canopy gap studies in the upper Great Lakes region, USA. Chapter 2 examines regeneration at a hemlock canopy gap study 18 years post-harvest that included deer exclosures and a gradient of gap sizes. Chapter 3 investigates the spatial patterns of low-density regeneration along gradients of gap size and different levels of legacy-tree retention at two …
Plant Community Response To Novel Silvicultural Treatments In Great Lakes Northern Hardwoods, Stefan F. Hupperts
Plant Community Response To Novel Silvicultural Treatments In Great Lakes Northern Hardwoods, Stefan F. Hupperts
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
The objective of this dissertation is to assess plant community response across a range of silvicultural disturbances and test ecological hypotheses to better inform ecologists and forest managers. To provide context for the utility of revising silvicultural systems, I review natural disturbance regimes and historical practices that have shaped contemporary Great Lakes northern hardwood forests (Chapter 2). Further, I identify important ways to expand the silvicultural toolbox and better emulate natural disturbance regimes. Building on this theoretical underpinning, I investigate the initial regeneration and plant community response to two novel silvicultural experiments: the Northern Hardwood Experiment for Enhancing Diversity (NHSEED) …
Assessing Growth, Yield, And Carbon Dynamics In Upper Great Lakes Jack Pine And Hybrid Poplar Managed For Biomass Production, Ashlee Baker Lehner
Assessing Growth, Yield, And Carbon Dynamics In Upper Great Lakes Jack Pine And Hybrid Poplar Managed For Biomass Production, Ashlee Baker Lehner
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Woody biomass for use as coal-replacing bioenergy has garnered increasing interest as federal and local governments require larger portions of energy production to come from renewable sources. Woody biomass can be produced from dedicated plantations grown and harvested solely for biomass production, or non-dedicated sources such as harvest residues from traditional timber operations. The creation of site index curves for hybrid poplar were established from the Michigan Technological University Hybrid Poplar Network in the upper Great Lakes Region. These site index models are to be used for landowners to assess the predicted yield at established plantations, or possibly within spatial …