To insure that Nova Scotia's forests are harvested in a sustainable way, its growth and quality is enhanced through the use of silviculture techniques. Some of the silviculture treatments tested, surveyed and reported on include shelterwood, and seed tree harvests, plantations, vegetation management, pre-commercial thinning, and crop-tree-release. (What do these terms mean?) These silviculture treatments and their effective use will remain critical to timber sustainability as more land is allocated for wilderness designation and removed as a source of timber. The Timber Management group continues to monitor and report on these silviculture techniques to insure that they are applied in appropriate stand and site conditions at optimum times. Newer techniques are also being addressed to expand the tool box of silviculture to include such treatments as crop-tree-release where high value potential can be enhanced by targeting efforts to sparsely distributed well formed trees. Silviculture guides are refined to include the latest findings and incorporate previously excluded methods such as crop-tree-release and selection harvesting.

Links

• Version 2.1 of Nova Scotia's Growth and Yield Model
• Survey of Plantations Established Without the use of Herbicides
• Results of Trials to Test the Effectiveness of Large Plantation Stock in Outgrowing Competition
• Small Plantation Stock Prevent Girdling by Debarking Weevil? E-mail for more information.
• Tolerant Softwood/Mixedwood Management Guide (Including Selection Management).
• Tolerant Hardwood Selection Management Guide is published and available for use.
• Other Silviculture Reports