Americans are increasingly interested in what is 

 happening in their forests. More than ever, they are 

 aware that the Nation's valuable forest resource is 

 important for producing a host of timber and nontimber 

 products ranging from paper and fuelwood to lumber 

 for houses and furniture, serving as sources of food and 

 refuge for a variety of wildlife species, ensuring a clean 

 and perpetual supply of clean water, and nourishing the 

 human spirit by providing numerous opportunities for 

 recreation and esthetic enjoyment. 



Many people who have not lived near a "working" forest 

 believe that the periodic harvesting of trees decimates 

 forests. In fact, the opposite is true, though the most 

 commonly used harvest methods affect a forest's 

 appearance, composition, and function in different 

 ways. 



Five harvest methods are being demonstrated on 5-acre 

 tracts near the Adirondack Park Agency's Visitor 

 Interpretation Center (VIC) at Paul Smith's, New York 

 (Fig. 1). The tracts are part of the agency's Forest 

 Ecology Research and Demonstration Area. A primary 

 goal of this demonstration project is to show visitors 

 what each forest harvest treatment look like, and how 

 various logging methods affect different communities of 

 forest plants and wildlife. A trail map available at the 

 VIC includes illustrations of five cut and two uncut 

 (control) forest stands. Signs along Jenkins Mountain 

 Road contain brief descriptions of what was done in 

 each stand. 



Harvest Methods 



Some plant species, including white birch, favor open 

 light conditions, that is, they grow best or are found 

 most often following clearcuts, and may not reproduce 

 or grow well (if at all) in normal forest shade. Certain 

 sun-loving species store seed in forest soils; the seeds 

 germinate only after the forest canopy has been removed. 

 Still other species are shade tolerant; they do not tolerate 

 (grow slowly) in full sunlight and are outcompeted for 

 light and nutrients by faster growing species. The 

 following harvesting methods are listed in order of 



severity of disturbance they produce and the amount of 

 light that is allowed to reach the ground layer: 



• Single-tree selection. About 30 percent of the tree 

 volume was marked and removed as single trees 

 scattered throughout the stand. Openings in the 

 canopy are the size of individual trees. Such a forest 

 would be reharvested about every 20 years. 



• Group selection. About 30 percent of the tree 

 volume was marked and trees were removed in 

 clusters. The openings of 0.10 to 0.25 acre were 

 created in the forest canopy. Under this plan, a 

 forest is reharvested about every 20 years. 



• Two age. Most of the trees larger than 10 inches in 

 diameter at breast height were removed to simulate 

 a stand dominated by half-mature trees. This stand 

 will be ready for harvest in 50 years as most trees at 

 that time will be in two size classes and be 50 and 



1 00 years old, respectively. 



• Shelterwood. About 60 percent of the canopy trees 

 were removed, leaving a thin canopy over most of 

 the tract. After sufficient numbers of new trees are 

 established as saplings, the remaining canopy trees 

 can be removed. This stand would not be ready for 

 harvest for about 100 years. 



• Clearcut. All canopy trees and smaller trees were 

 cut, resulting in an even-aged forest that will not be 

 logged again for another century. 



Inventory 



Prior to treatment, each forest stands stand was 

 inventoried during the summer of 1998 and spring of 

 1999. All vascular plants growing within each stand were 

 identified and placed in one of five abundance classes: 5: 

 Abundant (an important dominant or codominant 

 species); 4: Frequent (easily seen or found); 3: 

 Occasional (scattered widely but easy to find); 2: 

 Infrequent (few individuals or colonies in a number of 

 locations and difficult to find); 5: Rare (limited to one 

 or several locations and observed rarely). 



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