Bio 240, Conservation of Natural Resources
STUDY GUIDE TO CHAPTER 14--- FOREST MANAGEMENT
Sec. 14.1
A. Know the different forest ownership types (private vs. public, different private and
public categories—see class notes and handout on this). Especially notice the importance
of the non-industrial private forest and the Federal public forest in the scheme of things,
especially due to their sizes – the first in total size and both in terms of relative sizes.
Fig. 14.2 does a pretty good job of laying out percentages.
Sec. 14.2
A. On the public forest side of the ledger, the U.S. Forest Service is the big operator here
as they manage the U.S. National Forests. See Fig. 14.4. The Tongass National Forest
on the “ponytail” of Alaska is the largest national forest. However, in the figure it
doesn’t look so large because the scale of Alaska is different than that of the rest of the
US.
B. The US Forest Service is required to manage by the Multiple Use – Sustained Yield
Act’s provisions. Note the possible uses (timber, grazing –in the interior West only-,
wildlife, etc.). “Sustained yield” refers to the mandate that the forests must be managed
in such a way that the uses and services of the national forests will not diminish over
time. We sure would be in economic trouble if we ran short of softwood timber (mostly
in the West national forests, for instance, such that 2 X 4s cost $20 each, etc. Who could
afford to build a home or business building? This would have a tremendous impact on
the nation’s economy.
Sec. 14.3
Be sure to understand that silviculture is more than a “harvest method” as the book seems
to suggest on pp. 371-2. “Silviculture is to trees as agriculture is to corn” helps you to
remember that silviculture consists of all those possible activities that might be performed
in (or on) a forest—including harvest—to produce a larger and/or better value crop.
Silviculture may include harvest, site preparation, replanting, weed/insect/fire control,
thinning and harvest. (I’m not so senile that I didn’t notice that harvest is listed twice—it
was intentional to emphasize that the harvest portion of silviculture is typically designed
to produce a certain type of forest in the next tree generation. Therefore the process of
silviculture is more long-range than one generation of crop as it in most agriculture.
A Closer Look 14.1, pp. 372-3
Be able to list 5 arguments for and 5 against monoculture. What is a “heterotype?”
See also A Closer Look 14.3, p.383.
Table 14.1. You may ignore this. I have given the class a handout on which a
comparison is made of the near-opposite types of silviculture--clearcutting vs. individual
tree selection. Stick with the handout and be able to list 5 parameters and how the two
types compare. (“Parameter”—such as susceptibility to highgrading, etc.)
page 2, study guide to chap. 14—forest management
Finally, in this section, I refer you to class notes and handouts dealing with the important
role of shade tolerance in choosing a silvicultural method. Unfortunately, the book skips
this, and worse, suggests that “clearcutting will not work in timber stands composed of
uneven-aged trees.” (untrue). From the handout list of shade tolerance, be able to name
a tree species that is very shade tolerant (both evenage and unevenage silviculture are
possible) and one that is very shade intolerant (only evenage silviculture is possible).
The logging Operation, pp. 376-7. Note the process of chipping whole trees in the
woods ( “whole tree harvesting”) as shown in Fig. 14.14. The machine shown was made
in Winn, MI about 8 miles from Mt. P.. Such chippers are used to chip wood in the Mt.
P. area and all heat and hot water and some electricity are produced from this source for
CMU. Renewable source of energy!
Sec. 14.4
Reforestation. Note the problems relating to the scattering of seed to reforest areas. It
fails or only has modest success much of the time. Replanting seedlings is more sure of
success and is much more common.
Developing Genetically Superior Trees. Forestry is 50 years behind agriculture in using
the described methods, but will continue down this road, I’m sure. What are some
possible ways these new trees could be improved?
Sec. 14.5
Note the destructive agents and their relative sizes in Fig. 14.15. This figure helps to
keep a perspective on what is actually most destructive of forests. You would think it
was fire if you listened to TV and newspaper reports!
Table 14.2 and 14.3—Ignore. Study the more general Fig. 14.15, as mentioned above.
Sec. 14.6
Nice short section. Relative to the second paragraph in the second column of p.384,
please note the beneficial aspects of controlled burning of longleaf-slash pine stands (the
hyphen was misplaced in the book), but do not dwell on this. Realize that fire would
have a different list of pluses and minuses when applied to other forest types and fire is a
promising tool in forest management. The “Let-It-Burn” or “Prescribed Natural Fire”
Policy section on p.385, takes advantage of the possible benefits of fire.
Sec. 14.7
Study the list beginning on p.386. No. 1 in the list is an important recap of some of the
lecture material.
page 3, study guide to Chapter 14.
Sec. 14.8
Study this thoroughly, including Fig. 14.22. Be able to list 5 arguments, pro and con, as
listed in A Closer Look 14.5, p.389.
Sec. 14.9
.Skip this section except to understand the various categories of national park (see Table
14.1, p. 389 (these are all national parks!) and to know the 3 national parks of
Michigan—see lecture notes (hand out of colored map)
Sec. 14.10
Put emphasis on the two lists—causes of tropical deforestation and effects of tropical
forest deforestation.
KEY WORDS and PHRASES CHOSEN FROM THOSE IN THE TEXT--Agroforestry
Bark beetle
Clearcutting
Controlled burning
Genetic engineering
Heartrot (or “heart rot”)
Hybridization
Incendiary
Integrated pest management (IPM)
Land and Water Conservation Act
“Let-it-burn-policy”
Logging plan
Monoculture (know the advantages and disadvantages)
Muir, John
Multiple use management
Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act
National park
National Park Service
Nonindustrial Private Forest Owner (NIPF)
Pinchot, Gifford
Even-aged stand
Prescribed fire and prescribed natural fire
Rotation
Sanitation techniques
Seed-tree method (of silviculture)
Selective cutting (this should be “selection method” of silviculture)
Shelterwood method (of silviculture)
Silvicultural system
Smoke jumpers
Strip cutting
page 4, study guide to Chapter 14
Sustained yield
Tree farm
Tropical rainforest
Uneven-aged stands
U.S. Forest Service (and it’s in what cabinet level agency?)
Wilderness Act of 1964
Wilderness area
Wildfire
Yellowstone National Park (administered by what specific agency that is in what cabinet
level agency?)