Management Goals & Treatments

Management Goals:

• Preserve current species richness, but shift towards historic (1940s) species composition and stand structure: reduction of sub-alpine fir and promotion of Douglas-fir, spruce, and deciduous
• Maintain or improve forest health
• Maintain or enhance forest structural and age diversity, including larger diameter spruce and Douglas-fir

Strategies & Approaches:

• Modified/hybrid group selection system
• Retain ~15 m2/ha basal area, including “veteran trees”
• Plant locally-sourced Douglas-fir on mesic and drier sites, and hybrid white spruce on wetter sites
• Leave coarse woody debris, particularly larger diameter pieces

Management Goals:

• Enhance present species diversity by increasing hardwood relative abundance in overstory
• Reduce fire risk and decrease ladder fuels
• Increase resilience to pests and pathogens

Strategies & Approaches:

• Variable matrix of skips and gaps with flexibility to adapt to microsites
• Variable gap size from 0.1 – 1 ha.
• Lower residual basal area of 10-15 m2/ha to reduce drought stress
• Thinning from below for vigor and to remove ladder fuels and light thinning from above of softwoods to shift overstory composition
• Plant Douglas-fir, hybrid white spruce, and pine from a diversity of future-adapted southern sources
• Promote natural regeneration of aspen in openings

Management Goals:

• Maintain current diversity, while promoting future-adapted species
• Select and manage current and novel species carefully for present and future pests and pathogens
• Consideration of long-term carbon storage with increased cedar and hemlock

Strategies & Approaches:

• Shelterwood system with a lower residual basal area of 5-10 m2/ha.
• Plant future-adapted species:
  • current: Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, birch, aspen
  • novel: western red cedar, western hemlock, ponderosa pine, western larch
• Leave hardwoods to shift relative abundance