Clearcuts – there is a better way to do forestry!

Professor Cindy Prescott, department of forest and conservation science, faculty of forestry, university of British Columbia says there is. I recently corresponded with professor Prescott and her work in this area, and specifically her recent publication, Perspectives: Regenerative forestry – Managing forests for soil life in Forest Ecology and Management

I encourage you review her full report but I found she made the following practices that should be implemented in our forests.

1. Maintain living roots by minimizing the proportion of harvested areas more than 10 m from a living tree stem.

2. Fertilize stands at rates that maintain C flux belowground and make use of tree species with N-fixing associates.

3. Include functionally and phylogenetically diverse tree species, especially broadleaf species in conifer plantations.

4. Include diverse forest types and ensure that all forest development stages are represented in forested landscapes.

5. Monitor soil quality and harvest stands only when soil quality metrics meet or exceed those measured at the start of the rotation.

Stewarding soil life and function will foster resilience in managed forests.