On 12/1/95 Glenn Mroz wrote
> In the Lake States, some forests that were severely high-graded as
> recently as 80 years ago are actually being managed now for the
> development of old growth characteristics (large tree size. . .
I applaud the attempt to recreate old-growth characteristics in some
high graded forests. This is a wonderful "experiment" that should
provide us with a lot of useful information. I would caution,
however, that large trees that are large through intensive management
of growth rates are not the same as large trees that are large due to
centuries of slow growth. I am mostly familiar with old-growth
baldcypress that has a very tight ring structure. Some large diameter
second growth baldcypress have very wide rings in comparison. It is
well known that trees that grow faster do not live as long, so a
potential problem with "managed" old-growth is that it will probably
not be old-growth for very long. The dynamics will just not be the
same.
Should we manage some tracts as old-growth? Certainly. Should we
preserve some of the little amount of old-growth that we have left?
Certainly. How can we evaluate the dynamics of "managed" old-growth
if we don't understand the dynamics of true old-growth because we have
cut them all down?
BobK
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