Management Goals & Treatments

A team of natural resource specialists from the Chippewa National Forest (CNF) and regional scientists participated in a three-day workshop in July 2013 to develop the ASCC treatments for the site. The team developed a set of management objectives, desired future conditions, and silvicultural tactics for each adaptation option:

RESISTANCE

Resistance treatment post-harvest. Photo Credit: Josh Kragthorpe
Resistance treatment post-harvest. Photo Credit: Josh Kragthorpe, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station 

maintain relatively unchanged conditions over time

Management Goals:

  • Life boat red pine into a drier future by increasing soil moisture availability during drought
  • Maintain red pine dominance (90% basal area) while increasing soil moisture availability during drought
  • Productivity remains high and disturbance remains low, but there may be variability within an acceptable range
  • Reduce stocking closer to woodland structure

Strategies & Approaches:

  • Uniform (free) thin (100 ft2/acre) removing red pine and jack pine to maintain species diversity 
  • Maintain red pine dominance 

RESILIENCE

Resilience treatment post-harvest. Photo Credit: Brian Palik, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station
Resilience treatment post-harvest. Photo Credit: Brian Palik, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station 

allow some change in current conditions, but encourage eventual return to original conditions

Management Goals:

  • Red pine remains dominant (50-75% basal area)
  • Increase heterogeneity and structural complexity
  • Increase native future-adapted species
  • Productivity remains high and disturbance remains low, but there may be variability within an acceptable range

Strategies & Approaches:

  • Site preparation in gaps with harrow disk
  • Variable density thin (20% in gaps, 20% in reserves, matrix thinned to 110 ft2/acre)
  • Maintain red pine dominance
  • Plant future-adapted native species in gaps (eastern white pine, jack pine, red oak, bur oak, and red maple)

TRANSITION

Ponderosa pine growth in transition treatment; Photo Credit: Josh Kragthorpe, Northern Research Station
Ponderosa pine growth in transition treatment; Photo Credit: Josh Kragthorpe, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station

actively facilitate change to encourage adaptive responses

Management Goals:

  • Reduce red pine dominance to 20 – 50%
  • Increase future-adapted species
  • Productivity and disturbance occur within slightly wider acceptable ranges
  • Increase heterogeneity and structural complexity

Strategies & Approaches:

  • Site preparation in gaps with harrow disk
  • Irregular shelterwood (20% in gaps, thin matrix to 70 ft2/acre) 
  • Increase future-adapted species in gaps and matrix, including native and new species (eastern white pine, red oak, bur oak, white oak, red maple, bitternut hickory, black cherry, and ponderosa pine) 

 

 

 

 

Adaptation Treatment Canopy Densities at the Cutfoot Experimental Forest:

Control Canopy Density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota
Control canopy density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota 
Resistance Canopy Density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota
Resistance canopy density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota 
Resilience gap treatment; Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota
Resilience gap treatment canopy density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota 
Transition canopy density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota
Transition canopy density. Photo Credit: Jacob Muller, University of Minnesota