Cat Creek Thin
June 14, 2007
Derek Churchill
Conservation Northwest
Andrew Larson
UW College of Forest Resources
Background
Pinchot Partners Collaborative Group
Jennifer Smetzer
Jennifer Smetzer
Background
Cispus Adaptive Management Area, Gifford Pinchot NF
Jennifer Smetzer
Goals
- AMA: Managed Habitat/Habitat Development
Social/ Economic
- 45 acre Demonstration Stewardship Project in AMA.
“Try something new”
Jennifer Smetzer
- Build trust and collaborative decision making experience
among stakeholders
- Conduct multiparty monitoring
- Produce local employment and wood volume
Goals
Ecological/ Silvicultural
- Accelerate the development of late-successional forest
structure and habitat. This includes:
1. Large trees with complex crowns
2. Decadence: Large snags, CWD, & wildlife trees
3. Multiple canopy layers Jennifer Smetzer
4. Horizontal heterogeneity
5. A diverse plant community
- Preserve options for future harvesting and increase
the future timber value of the stand.
Current Conditions
Landscape Context
Jennifer Smetzer
Current Conditions
- 2800’ – 3400’ elevation
- Plant Association: WH/Oregon Grape
- Coarse textured, volcanic soils
- Site class III
Jennifer Smetzer
- CC in 1957, broadcast burned, planted
- Lots of natural regen, no PCT
- Dense: 390 TPA, 64 Curtis RD
Cat Creek Unit:
Stand Map with Monitoring Plots
N
#
#
24
23
13
10
#
#
6
16
18
#
#
#
9
5
22
#
4
21
3
#
8
#
#
12
15
11
#
14
20
25
#
#
#
7
#
#
17
#
#
Monit_plots.shp
Roads_ctcr.shp
Old Skid Trail
Paved
Upper
Features.shp
Gap
Park Lot
Skip
Hamilt_butte_trail.shp
Catcr_bndy.shp
25'_contour.shp
#
#
2
#
1
#
0
#
#
#
500
19
500
1000 Feet
Pre-treatment Stand Composition
60
50
TPA
40
PSME
TSHE
THPL
POTR
ALRU
PREM
ABAM
ABPR
TABR
Jennifer Smetzer
30
20
10
0
4
6
8
10
12
14
DBH Class (midpoint in inches)
16
18
20
Current Conditions
Decadence
Jennifer Smetzer
Jennifer Smetzer
Jennifer Smetzer
Jennifer Smetzer
Shaping Stand Development with
Silvicultural Practices
Management Actions
Desired Future Conditions
Natural Disturbance and
Development Processes
Past Management
Current Conditions
Natural Disturbance and
Development Processes
Undesirable
Future Conditions
Prescription Development
What key natural processes are delaying the development
of the DFC
•
Competitive suppression, exclusion, mortality of minor tree
species
•
Vertical crown recession
•
Horizontal Packing
Prescription Development
What processes should this thinning entry focus on?
•
Significantly increase crown class differentiation and growth rates of
dominant and co-dominant trees.
•
Accelerate the growth and continued establishment of advanced
regeneration and understory plants
•
Prevent loss of species and structural diversity
Thin proportionally from middle, primarily DF
Pre-treatment Stand Composition
60
50
TPA
40
PSME
TSHE
THPL
POTR
ALRU
PREM
ABAM
ABPR
TABR
30
20
10
0
4
6
8
10
12
14
DBH Class (midpoint in inches)
16
18
20
Prescription Development
What structures, patterns, processes to conserve to avoid setting back
development of DFC?
•
Protect existing
–
–
Dead wood & wildlife trees, especially cedar & large mistletoe.
Understory trees, non-DF
•
Retain enough growing stock for future deadwood, Add additional snags and CWD.
•
Avoid overly homogenizing understory light environment
•
Maintain existing horizontal spatial patterning at the patch and inter-tree scales.
Skips and Gaps
Reduce density at 1/20 acre patch scale
500
0
500
1000 Feet
Prescription
•
Remove 50% of the trees between 7.0” – 15.0” DBH
proportionally.
•
Pairing method
Within each pair, choose:
1. Cut tree that is NOT a wildlife tree.
2. Cut the tree that is not part of a closely spaced cluster
3. Cut the tree that will cause the least damage to residual trees
(especially western red cedar), snags over 12”dbh, or soils.
4. Cut the tree with the smaller diameter.
Histogram of Plot Curtis RD
8
Number of plots
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
5
15
25
35
45
55
65
75
85
95
15
25
35
45
55
65
75
85
95
Post Treatment
Jennifer Smetzer
Histogram of Plot Curtis RD
5
Number of plots
0
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Carey et al. 1999, 2003
Old Growth
Thinned
stand
Stand Conditions Pre and Post Treatment
TPA
BA(ft2/ac)
Curtis RD
QMD
Volume
(mbf)
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
Pre
Removed
Mean
391
183
193
106
64
33
10.9
11.0
20.6
7.5
95%
C.I.
316466
141225
157230
91121
5177
2837
10.411.6
10.011.8
17.923.4
6.4 8.7
Tools & Barriers
• Modeling?? FVS?
• Good stand data: do full cruise before Rx then cut stand
on computer
• Designation by Prescription, Stewardship Contract
•
•
Challenge of something new, AMA?
Contract compliance
• Scaled Sale
• Sale did not sell 1st time
•
•
•
Complex goods for services stewardship contract, $$
Ground and cable yarding for 45 acres of small diameter logs
Complex Rx
Questions and Information Needs
• Are current methods (DxD or DxP) sufficient
for introducing heterogeneity?
• How do we quantify heterogeneity across
multiple spatial scales?
• When and where should we introduce
heterogeneity? (Does it matter?)
300+ yr Old-growth
30
25
25
20
20
Frequency
30
15
10
15
10
5
5
0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Neighbor tree distance classes (m)
Neighbor tree distance classes (m)
DxD Thinned
12
10
8
6
4
2
17
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
0
1
Frequency
Frequency
250 yr Old-growth
Neighbor tree distance classes (m)
“The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to
keep all the parts.” –Aldo Leopold
Simulating different thinning prescriptions
will help identify effective approaches.
a) Sutton Lake
understory
m idstory
overstory
60
40
20
0
meters
80
100
Sutton Lake
0
20
40
60
meters
80
100
Models from Natural Disturbance
• Is “thinning” the right conceptual
framework?
• Thinning is a anthropogenic disturbance.
• Do natural disturbances accelerate forest
structural development?
Prediction: Partial disturbance
accelerates structural development
Late
Successional
Partial
Disturbance
Structure
Stand
Initiating
Disturbance
Partial
Disturbance
Early
Successional
Time
No
Partial
Disturbance