The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-07-18
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Last week the discussion covered LIE
planting problem on the Superior Ma
tional Forest. How nearly 100000
acres of burned and partially denuded
land will be brought back to pro-
ductivity was briefly outlined.
Once these lands are planted and the
plantation has become established, fur-
Their treatment is required at intervals
throughout the life of the plantation
to insure their development and growth
under the most favorable conditions as
dictated by the silvicultural necessity
and deSirability of such treatment, ana
as dictated by the manner and amount
by which these various timber stand
improvement practices are reflected mi
the maximum yield Of the highest
quality products that the timber stands
in question can produce. The same
holds true for timber stands in various
stages of development that have become
established naturally.
There are three main timber stand
Improvement measures which the for
ester places in effect to gain the silvi-
cultural and production ends that are
his goal. The first of these, Trimmings
in understandable stands, is employed
to reduce the number of trees growing
on any one acre of land to the degree
which experience has demonstrated will
result in the optimum development OF
the species in question, as concerns both
quantity and quality of the inter-
mediate and final products being
grown.
A secondary, though by no means in
considerable, objective in thinning
stands of the less valuable species that
occupy sites which are capable of sup
porting timber stands of higher quality
trees, is to favor the conversion OF the
thinned stand to more valuable tree
species by securing natural reproduc-
ton of the desired species in the open
ings created by the thinning. An ex-
ample of where such conversion is de-
sirable would be some of the Superior's
Jack pine stands on the heavier soils,
which are capable of supporting stand
of spruce.
The second type of timber stand i'm
initiated in mixed stands of conifers
and hardwoods to favor the optimum
development of certain coniferouS
species, chiefly white pine, Norway pine,
white spruce and black spruce. The
name given this type of cutting des-
cribes it very well. 1t releases the
favored tree species from the mechani-
ID 70 re IN
the form, chiefly, of overlapping
branches of hardwood trees, mainly
birch and aspen. In some stands,
chiefly those the understory of which
is composed of either planted or ma
tural reproduction, the release cutting
may be aimed primarily at reduction
in the amount of direct competition
given such reproduction by brush, such
as hazel, alder and willow, at the same
time a cutting may be made in the
hardwood overstory to give the repro
duction more sunlight The entire eff
feet, regardless of the age of the stand,
is to remove hindranceS to the de-
velopment of the species which it is
desired to favor. For example, a sap
ling stand of aspen overlapping good
stand of spruce reproduction ON site
favorable for spruce would be removed
to an extent that would permit the
spruce to develop at the most favorable
rate possible. When the age and size
of the overlapping aspen or birch is
such as to make undesirable the falling
of these species for release purposes,
the common practice is to remove by
pruning these limbs which are over
topping and mechanically hindering the
development of spruce or pine in the
understory. The same practice is re-
reSorted to, to some extent, in immature
stands where part of the overstory must
be reserved for protection purposes.
Sanitation cuttings, the third broad
classification of timber stand improve
ment practices, is aimed primarily, as
the name implies, at improving the
general condition of health within tim
Der stands. For instance, black spruce
infected with nliStletoe-a parasitic
plant which saps the vitality and af-
fects the growth and quality and guam
tity of seed production of the host
tree-are felled to prevent the spread
fthe organism to other spruce in the
stand. Another example of a SANTA
ton cutting would be the removal and
destruction of the terminal shoots of
white pine infested with larvae of the
white pine weevil, which practice pre-
vents the development of the larvae
into the adult moth egg-laying stage,
with the resultant possibility that many
more white pine terminal shoots would
be infested and killed the following
year.
In all three of these timber stand i'm
proyement measures, the guiding prin-
ciples are to gain the desired end of
maximum production of the highest
quality of product with the least change
in the physical makeup of the timber
stand concerned, plus giving adequate
weight to the desirability of retaining
as much of the potentially salable
volume as possible, due weight also
being given the desirability and econ
omic possibility of salvaging any vol
ume removed which is Of Salable size.
While these three general timber
stand improvement practices apply, in
varying degrees, to nearly all of our
timber stands, there is on operation
quality pruning-which is aimed only at
increasing the quality of the final pro-
duct in stands of immature white pine
and Norway pine. This is accomplished
by saving off the lower limbs of trees
Of these species close to the main
trunk. When the pruning scars heal,
all subsequent growth on the pruned