I don't know if my post is in the correct thread in this section or not.
But from my personal experiences some 28 years ago, when I was actively logging, we were taught by the local county forester to thin a woodlot, harvesting at that time for firewood for the land owner, to remove the four "D's". And those were dead, diseased, deformed and dominate.
If the tree was dead it was a danger to us as we drove our small tractor through the woods that we could disturb the rotten root system and therefore knock the tree over onto ourselves.
I do understand the need for trees to host bugs for birds but safety should come first.
If the tree was showing some disease then it wasn't healthy and should be removed.
If the tree was deformed, by some act of another tree falling on it or by growing non straight then it was to be removed to make room for other straight trees to grow.
If the tree was a dominate tree, that the crown was larger than all other crowns around it. And this tree was taller than most in the canopy then it was to be removed to make room so that the remaining canopy was even in height.
We were taught to look at a perfect shaped tree of the right height and look at it's crown in the canopy. Then remove all other trees whose branches interfered with this crown and leave a four foot space between this tree's crown and all other good tree crowns around it. This would allow the sunlight to reach the forest floor. And with the forest floor being in sunlight new growth could sprout up into the under story.
This system is more of a set of methods then a policy, I guess.
But this is what we did and we did turn many acres of woods, into forests.
I'd be interested in hearing your comments on this method or system.
Jim Rogers
PS: I would also like to add that, we were told, the results of these methods would be that the remaining trees would grow 10 times faster and larger without the competition from the trees we removed...
