Selected Notes from Day One of the 2003 Fall Meeting of the Michigan SAF

Most speakers delivered PowerPoint presentations at the meeting.  Some of these are available on-line on this page.  However, be warned of possible lengthy download times between slides.  Additional slide shows will be posted as they become available. 

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  Introduction by Frank Sapio, delivered by Dave Neumann 

• How good are the regeneration data for special species such as the oaks, yellow birch, and hemlock?

• What's the regenerations status on PNIF lands?

• How precise are the data regarding abundance and quality of advanced regeneration?

• What are the change trends post-disturbance?

• Affects of insects & diseases weather, etc.?

• What role do exotic species play?

• How well-defined are competing vegetation issues?

  Trends in Forest Regeneration by Earl Leatherberry and John Vissage, USFS FIA data 

Slide Show

• FIA data collection procedure has moved to an annual cycle

• The new procedure will be the sixth inventory of Michigan forests

• Statistically reliable data won't be fully available until 2005

• 307,000 acres of forest experienced disturbance 1980-1993
  15% was clear cut and 35% was partially cut, 50% was non-harvest disturbance
  Most of the partial cutting was in northern hardwood forest types
  Most of the clear cutting was in aspen types

• Regeneration occurred naturally on 88% of federal lands, 95% on state lands, and 97% on private lands

• Overall, artificial regeneration occurred on 5% of Michigan forests
  Of the above, red pine accounted for 2/3 of artificial regeneration; 43% on federal, 23% on state, 34% on private

• 60% of all timberland showed the need for some type of silviculture treatment
  Of the above, 60% in need of harvest, 20% in need of thinning, 16% in need of conversion

• 46% of Michigan timberland is under PNIF ownership
  Of the above, 8% have a management plan (15% of acres), 20% have sought management advice
  Of the above, 55%+ have little or no harvest planned in the next 5 years

• Parcelization is a major threat to working forests, the percent in the "no harvest" category is growing

• What will be the role of Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs) in the Lake States?

  Regeneration and State Lands by Don Kuhr, Michigan DNR 

• Reviewed some forest ownership and forest type data

• Emphasized deer depredation as a major issue

• Covered some of the DNR regeneration protocol

• Jack Pine-1/3 pound seed/acre, following scarification, some snow application
                  Planting success threshold at 300 trees/acre

• Red pine-fall planting common in 1960s, grub problems
  For natural regeneration, seed year infrequency an issue, scarification required, under-burning has been used

• Seed collection is through cone purchase, all three pine species

• Seed trailers contain 250,000-300,000 trees

• Bare-root procedure-seed cleaning, sowing, lifting, bagging, refer vans, out-planting

• Habitat typing used to help match regeneration to site and to assess potential vegetative competition

  Regeneration on the Huron-Manistee by Matt Sands, USFS 

• Jack pine-site prep/planting and natural regeneration through top management works
  Bracke scarifiers are used to prep for hand-planting
  Machine-planting density at 12 trees/acre
  Doesn't work:  direct seeding (deep sands, little/no organic matter, deep water table)
  Kirtland's warbler has been a driving issue

• Red pine-two-shelterwood, seed tree, and planting have been successful
  200 cones/tree are needed to attempt natural regeneration/shelterwood
  Doesn't work:  shelterwood with less that 50 cones/tree
  Sphaeropsis a growing problem (formerly Diplodia needle blight), reducing canopy density important
  Active conversion of CCC red pine to northern hardwood/mixed hardwood forest types

• Oak on dry sites-60% of of forest oak types, shelterwood with advanced regen of 200/acre needed
  Works for both black and white oaks
  Doesn't work:  clearcutting, coppice

• Oak on good sites-shelterwood with site prep, plantation oak with tubes and coppice pruning
  Doesn't work:  planting without site prep, areas with dense red maple competition

• Oak/conifer types-many successful options
  Doesn't work:  loss of target seed source, drought/frost pockets

• White pine-under/inter planting with eventual overstory removal, target 100-200 white pine/acre
  Blister rust a minor issue on the Huron-Manistee
  Doesn't work:  overstory removal with little pine regen . . . trees must be 17+ feet in height

• Northern hardwoods-shelterwood works well
  Doesn't work:  clearcutting/coppice on deep sands with short regeneration
  Deer over-browsing a significant issue

• Aspen-clearcutting is preferred method, larger areas better, earlier in age better than later
  Doesn't work:  summer clearcutting on stress sites (high deer density, high water table, droughty soils), small harvest areas

• Hemlock-underplanting with mesh shelters . . . but it's expensive
  Doesn't work:  dry site attempts

• Cedar-not sure about underplanting-could be expensive, upland site regeneration is easy
  Doesn't work:  no success on lowland sites or in riparian areas

  Regeneration on Industry Lands by Bob Aschbacher, MeadWestvaco 

Slide Show

• Two main themes; 1) technology trends, and 2) SFI accountability

• Both intensive plantation culture and natural regeneration is used

• Plantation sites tended to be old fields and natural openings in the 1970s, with little cultural follow-up

• 1980s and 1990s saw the advent of containerized stock, herbicide advancements, and mechanical site prep techniques
  There were many research groups and coops looking at chemical regimes, genetics, etc.

• Currently . . . a move away from heavy equipment use (e.g. Bracke scarifiers, trenchers, et al.)
          Both spring and fall planting, especially fall planting with containerized stock
          Containerized stock has increased survival
          Aerial application of herbicides common

• Use of research from the 1980s and 1990s
          GIS systems, soil layer data, better application of species-site conditions
          Chemical/mechanical technology is world class
          Benefits of improved genetics, most through traditional tree breeding programs
          Active conversion to softwoods on marginal hardwood sites
          Trend towards lower initial stocking levels (~450-500 trees/acre) due to higher survival
          Red pine and European larch are the only softwoods showing a good economic rate of return
          Increasing pressure from investors for better rates of return . . . shorter rotation periods have less risk
          US tax laws are not favorable toward plantation investments

• Natural Regeneration issues
          The most common regeneration method on industry lands
          Involves minimal investment and reasonable returns
          Attempt to push biomass to higher valued species
          Thin northern hardwood stands to 70-80 square feet to accelerate growth . . . not done well enough
          SFI requires that harvested stands be regenerated with five years of harvest
          Harvesting/thinning should be timed with jumps in grade to capture maximum value
          Grade typically begins to drop off after 14 inch dbh
          Lowland conifers present costly regeneration issues

  Sampling Techniques by Roger Mech, Michigan DNR 

Slide Show

• Why survey in the first place?   Assess survival, quality control, stocking, distribution, and release needs

• Monitor forest health

• Field survey design for plantations
          Needs to be simple, accurate, repeatable, with good data accessibility
          Assumes growth & distribution is homogenous within plantations, or plantation strata
          Differences with plantations are grouped into strata
          A stratum has a minimum of five acres and has similar characteristics (species. slope, soil, history, indicator species)

• Survey of furrowed plantations
          Stratify plantation via a "walk-through"
          Perform at one-year post planting
          Early spring or mid/late fall
          Equipment:  height pole, radius rope, tally whacker, maps, random number table . . . inexpensive
          Use 1/100 acre plots at about 1 plot/acre

• Procedure
          1.  Walk-through
          2.  Identify strata
          3.  Establish the number of plots
          4.  Calculate the number of transects
          5.  Use random number table to select furrows to sample, beginning at least 1/2 chain from plantation edge
          6.  Count the trees in each plot
          7.  Count volunteers
          8.  Measure height of last tree in plot

• Survey of natural regeneration
          Stratify by species and origin
          Determine the number of trees/acre
          Measure height distribution
          Determine release needs
          About 1 plot every 3 chains
          Quadrant plots with a radius of 4.5 feet
          Count only presence or no presence of target species in each quadrant

• System for efficient data management and accessibility is very important

  Sampling Techniques by Joe Gates, Huron-Manistee 

Slide Show

• Discussed surveys associated with final harvest treatments

• Survey types, legal requirements, procedures, design, and analysis

  Oak Regeneration on PNIF lands by Mike Zuidema, retired Michigan DNR 

Slide Show

• Most of presentation came from experience on his own land in Menominee County

• Deer densities are now about 40/square mile

• Tree shelters were needed when deer densities reached 20/square mile

• Has planted acorns for 30 years, oldest trees are 6-8 inches dbh

• Species include white, bur, black, English, sawtooth oak and American chestnut

• White oak acorn viability was low, considering only the "sinkers"

• Tube shelters grow spindly oaks and are high maintenance

  Research Efforts by Mike Walters, MSU Forestry Department 

• Major barriers to northern hardwood regeneration are deer depredation, sedge mats, vegetative competition (especially red maple, and harvest legacies

• Hemlock and yellow birch regeneration are dependent upon coarse woody debris (CWD), Laurie Marks study

• Role of sedges and deer densities on tree recruitment, Jesse Randall study
          Does deer and sedge mats prevent northern hardwood regeneration?
          Exclosure study design
          Sedge removal results in biomass rebound . . . composition?
          Species richness lower on severe vegetation removal treatments
          Removal treatment effect good for two years
          Impacts on seedling establishment?
              highest survival with more severe vegetation removal treatment
              deer had no effect on very young seedling
              residual herbs more important that sedge removal
              use of glyphosate at 1.5 quarts/acre
          Sedge dries soil . . . disadvantageous to sugar maple
          November herbicide spraying had no effect on spring ephemerals

• Oak regeneration in red pine plantations

• Hemlock-yellow birch is about 6% of presettlement area
          Patch distribution, closely related to habitat
          Hemlock especially correlated with CWD
          Surveys of seedling community characteristics on different substrates
          Sugar maple more common on soils substrate, but chlorotic on CWD
          Do dense year-old sugar maple seedling cast shade that excludes hemlock and yellow birch?

• Deer impacts on vegetation . . . Mid-forest Lodge study area
          Can silviculture deal with high deer densities?

• Central U.P. study by Joe LeBouton
          454 plots with 50% in northern hardwoods
          Compares vegetation data and pellet count surveys

  Focusing Regeneration Efforts on the Right Communities by Craig Albright, Michigan DNR 

• MI WILD database correlates forest types with wildlife species associations

• The database can help identify potentially stressed wildlife populations using current and presettlement forest type data

• Existing and future long-term forest data sets and species-habitat tools can be consulted to help determine future conditions

• Natural resource managers from various disciplines should join prior to inventory and prescription phases to define desired future condition

• Regeneration efforts might target forest types that harbor particularly high numbers of species of concern

• Major vegetation type focus on grasslands, savanna, cedar, and paper birch

• Is presettlement data in MI WILD accurate or reasonable by cross-discipline professional consensus?

• Do low relative abundance of species necessarily define a "problem"?

  Forestry Herbicides by Jack Siefert, Purdue University 

• In Indiana, 5.5-6.0 million seedling planted each year, mostly hardwood, 85% from state nurseries

• Most are "conservation" tree plantations

• Central hardwoods dominate Indiana, with most forest on private ownerships

• Discussed motivations for tree planting, including future generations, wildlife, conservation, and timber production

• Multiple-species plantations are common, primarily black cherry, white ash, yellow poplar, white oak, black walnut, and red oak

• Typically, survival after 5 years runs 70-75%

• Herbicide applications are important to plantation success

• Professional tree planting important in plantation establishment, often using herbicide treatments

• Mechanical planting shows better survival to a "free to grow" condition

• Herbicides discussed were:  simazine, glyphosate, sulfemetron (oust), pendimethalin (pendulum/prowl) oryzalin, clopyralid (stinger/transliner), oxyflourfan (goal), and imazapic (plateau)

• Handouts were provided showing results of an herbicide screening study, impacts on tree growth, and herbicide costs

• Cited good herbicide information on the DNR website

• Showed an interesting deer fence . . . three fences actually, two outside single-strand fences about 3 feet tall, and an inside fence on 7 foot posts with 3 strands, everything electrified

• Herbicides for Forest Management from the Wisconsin DNR [www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/Forestry/Fh/weeds/index.htm]

• For labels, try [http://siri.uvm.edu/index.html] or [www.cdms.net/pfa/LUpdateMsg.asp]

  Direct Seeding Techniques by Keith Martell, Michigan NRCS State Forester 

Slide Show

• Much experience from the Rose Lake Plant Materials Center

• About 12 million seedlings/year are planted in Michigan

• Most of the expertise lies in the nursery industry, not so much in the forestry community

• Variables include seed handling techniques, fall vs. spring seeding, grass control, deer/rodent depredation, release

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