MB Pulp Limited - mbpulp@allstream.net

Selection harvesting is a treatment used in uneven-aged forest management in which either single trees or small groups of trees are harvested at a time. The goal is to maintain the canopy of a forest stand while still being able to continually harvest timber. This is done by diversifying tree age classes, encouraging regeneration, and leaving some of the best trees as seed trees.

Roads are useful when doing silvicultural harvesting and other treatments, as well as for recreational and other purposes. Often, woodlots will have old roads that need to be maintained or will require the construction of new ones. This can include lot clearing and chipping (harvesting poorer quality wood for biomass energy).

Characterized by removing the forest cover from an area where a land use change is desired by the owner, such as conversion to agricultural, commercial, or residential land. This can include removal of all forest vegetation, stumps, debris, and sometimes top soil.

A commercial harvest is completed with the goal of harvesting and selling the final timber product (saw logs, etc.). It is the final stage in commercial forest management, taking place several years after precommercial thinning and commercial thinning treatments.

This treatment is used to promote the growth of desirable crop trees. The trees around selected crop trees are thinned out to allow the more desirable trees more space and nutrients, which in turn can increase the health and future value of the stand.

Ideal for middle-aged stands, commercial thinning removes some of the more mature trees to allow room for others to grow, and to open up the canopy for regeneration. The trees removed are often those that are: damaged or diseased; growing too close to desirable trees; or less desirable species.

Chipping is a method of removing brush and branches from a stand after some types of treatment. Branches and small trees are fed into a chipper, which shreds them into small chips. These chips can be left in the woodlot as nutrients or removed and used for other purposes like home heating or livestock bedding.