Timber Harvesting Methods That Encourage Forest Regeneration

Timber Harvesting Methods That Encourage Forest Regeneration A major portion of the practice of forestry silvicultural systems is timber harvesting methods designed to ensure successful and succeeding forest stands for the future. Without the application of these methods of reforestation, there would only be random tree stocking of both preferred and non-preferred species leading to major shortages of wood and trees demanded by the consumer. Nature, when left alone, uses its time-consuming natural process of reforestation and is appropriate in many situations. On the other hand, foresters may need to manage for a forests best use when forest owners and managers need reliable income and other necessities in an appropriate time frame. Many of the accepted forest regeneration concepts were first introduced to North America by German forestry professors during the late 19th Century. Germany had practiced these forest reproduction schemes for centuries and one of the earliest books on the subject was written by German forestry pioneer Heinrich Cotta during the late 17th century. These western European educated foresters were first to define the profession of forestry and became overseers of the training of foresters who managed large forest tracts owned by kings, aristocrats, and the ruling classes. These imported tree reproduction systems have continually evolved and developed into what are now used today. They are separated into classifications and used throughout the world where the practice of forestry and forest management is necessary to encourage sustainable forests. These classifications are conducted in logical sequence and the steps lead to healthy, well-stocked forests for future generations. The Classification of Tree Reproduction Methods Although there are innumerable combinations, for simplification we will list the six general reproduction methods listed by silviculturist D.M. Smith in his book, The Practice of Silviculture. Smiths book has been studied by foresters for decades and used as a proven, practical and widely accepted guide at the point where a timber harvest is necessary and where natural or artificial regeneration is the desired replacement. These methods have traditionally been called high-forest methods which produce stands originating from a remaining natural (using a high or aerial) seed source. The clear-cutting method is one exception where artificial planting, vegetative regeneration or seeding is necessary when the cut area limits complete reproductive tree seeding. Methods to Use When Even-Aged Management Is Preferred The Clearcutting Method - When cutting all trees and removing the entire stand that lays bare the ground, you have a clearcut. A clearing of all trees should be considered when residual trees are starting to lose economic value, when biologic over maturity leads to decadent stands, when the purity of a stand is compromised by cull and lower value trees, when the coppice method of regeneration is used (see below) or when disease and insect invasions threaten the loss of a stand. Clearcuts can be regenerated either by natural or by artificial means. To use a natural regeneration method means you must have an available seed source of a desired species in the area and a site/soil condition advantageous to seed germination. If and when these natural conditions are not available, artificial regeneration via nursery seedling plantings or prepared seed dispersal must be used. The Seed-tree Method - This method is simply what it suggests. Upon removing most of the mature timber, a small number of seed trees are left singly or in small groups to establish the next even-aged forest. In effect, you are not dependent on trees outside the cutting area but must be concerned about the trees you do leave as the seed source. The leave trees should be healthy and able to survive high winds, produce viable seeds prolifically and enough trees should be left to do the job. The Shelterwood Method - A shelterwood condition is left when a stand has had a series of cuttings over the period between establishment and harvest, often called the rotation period. These harvests and thinnings occur over a relatively short portion of the rotation by which the establishment of even-aged reproduction is encouraged under a partial shelter of seed trees. There are two objectives of a shelterwood cut - making ground space available by cutting trees of lowering value and using trees increasing in value as a seed source and for seedling protection as these trees continue to financially mature. You are maintaining the best trees to grow while cutting trees with a lower value for new understory seedling space. Obviously, this is not a good method where there will be only intolerant (light-loving tree species) tree seeds available to regenerate. The sequence of this particular method should be ordered by first making a preparatory cutting which prepares and stimulates seed trees for reproduction, then a seed tree cutting to further open vacant growing space for seeding; then a removal cutting which frees the established seedlings. Methods to Use When Uneven-Aged Management Is Preferred The Selection Method - The selection harvest method is the removal of mature timber, usually the oldest or largest trees, either as single scattered individuals or in small groups. Under this concept, the removal of these trees should never allow a stand to revert back to an even-age. Theoretically, this style of cutting can be repeated indefinitely with adequate wood harvest volumes. This selection method has the widest variety of interpretations of any cutting method. Many conflicting objectives (timber management, watershed and wildlife enhancement, recreation) must be considered and managed differently under this scheme. Foresters know they are getting it right when at least three well-defined age classes are maintained. Age classes are groups of similar aged trees ranging from sapling-sized trees to intermediate sized trees to trees approaching harvest. The Coppice-forest or Sprout Method -Â  The coppice method produces tree stands that originate mostly from vegetative regeneration. It can also be described as low forest regeneration in the form of sprouts or layered branches as opposed to the above examples of high forest seed regeneration. Many hardwood tree species and only a very few coniferous trees have the ability to sprout from roots and stumps. This method is limited to these woody plant types. Sprouting tree species respond immediately when cut and sprout with exceptional vigor and growth. They outpace seedling growth by far, especially when cutting is made during the dormant period but may suffer from frost damage if cut during the late growing season. A clear-cut is often the best cutting method.

Basketball Diaries essays

Basketball Diaries essays Culture is the complex whole which includes all habits acquired by man as a member of society, said Ruth Benedict in Patterns of Culture. I can think of no movie that proves that more than Director Scott Kalverts 1995 film, The Basketball Diaries. Based on the autobiography of rocker and former heroin addict Jimmy Caroll, the movie describes in horrific detail how the author passed in a few short months from being a Catholic high school basketball star to being a strung-out heroin addict who fantasizes about walking into school and blowing students and teachers away with a shot gun. The Basketball Diaries contains incredibly dark and vulgar imagery, which could possibly lead an impressionable youth into moral and value modification and dangerous decision-making skills. Teen violence, particularly in schools, and drug usage became widespread across the news in the 1990s. The Basketball Diaries seems to be an indication if not contributor to this statistic. People werent fully aware of the growth rate of teen violence until we had teen idol Leonardo DiCaprio in a long, black trench coat surrealistically blowing away classmates in The Basketball Diaries, and two students in black trench coats walking into their school and killing twelve fellow students and a teacher before turning the guns on themselves. But wait. That last one wasnt a movie. It took place at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1999. Two real, living boys, steeped in graphic fantasy movies, including The Basketball Diaries, killed thirteen people and then themselves in a seemingly motiveless display of violence, the consequences of which the boys may not have understood. The sequence in the movie, which Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold seemed to replicate in the corridors of Columbine High, has been replayed on the news many times. In this scene you see Jimmys friends laughing hysterically as he shoots students one by ...

Assignment 11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Assignment 11 - Essay Example He argues that the emotions that the appearance creates to people determines their level of appreciation of that particular product. Whatever people see, they react by assigning meaning and value to the item or product. It is by this understanding that product manufacturers try to incorporate affective, behavioural, and cognitive aspects into a product. In the visceral aspects of a product design, the customer is more concerned with how much they like or dislike the product, their emotional response towards the same product, the product’s dichotomous description, whether it is safe or dangerous, pretty or ugly, good or bad. Norman relates these reactions to appearance of the product, and its effects on the customer on their cognitive and affect. The sight of the product, its texture, sound, or smell affects how a person appreciates that product. If the product is eye catching, the likelihood of a person preferring it to another product is high. Women are most likely to be infl uenced by the look and smell, when buying a product (Norman, 2004). Anaesthetics in philosophical terms refer to the nature of art, beauty, and taste with a bigger creation of beauty. It mostly focuses on sensory values and more concerned with judgement. When manufacturing a product, the manufacturer keeps in mind the beauty of such a product for attraction to the people. It is more logic and normal, in deed an expectation that a person is likely to be attracted to a beautiful item than a bad looking item. In justifying his ideas Norman, classified these as behavioural aspects of attraction. According to Norman, a company goes a long way in trying to improve its sales by improving on the image of its products. However, I do not agree with him wholly. The quality of a product is what brings more satisfaction to a customer than just its image. A good-looking product is likely to enjoy high sales over the first few days of its launch. When customers keep using the same product repeated ly, they get to understand the quality and satisfaction they get from the product. If the products are of low quality and with little satisfaction, consumers start avoiding the products. This way, sales start diminishing, as other superior brands, regardless of whether they have a good appearance or not. Thus, image is not everything in the long run, as quality and satisfaction will at the end of the day prevail. 2. Philosophers’ Tool Kit Logic versus Rhetoric The iPod has a fun game that a person can play with close friends. The game allows a person to imagine and guess the songs that would probably be on the most played playlist of the famous people. By imagining about the most famous people in the world, it makes them appear to be closer and make them more real. It is a fact that the game has been installed in the iPod, and perfectly serves its intended purpose of imagining worlds’ famous people and what they might be playing in their iPods, but it is rhetoric tryin g to make them appear closer. It is just a fantasy, may be a hoax that the people could be anywhere close in the region. This is just a game and there is no reality associated with the game, as people play it for fun only (Wittkower, 2008). Explanations It is factual that we live in a designed world, with everything that we use being a design by another person. The design takes the philosophical commitments of everyday life, and not random designs. Every design however took