Does pre-commercial thinning (PCT) really increase productivity? That is the main question behind a $154,100-grant from the Living Legacy Trust for a study planned by the Confederation College Forestry Centre, Forintek and Outland Reforestation Ltd.
While there have been numerous studies of the effects of thinning on balsam fir stands, there is much less information on jack pine response to PCT, states a report by the LLT. There has been some suggestion that, while PCT does reduce mortality, accelerate diametre growth and shorten the rotation age of sawlog production, the total wood volume produced may not be increased.
The study will evaluate some of Bowater’s earliest jack pine PCT operations dating back to the early 1980s in the Dog River-Matawin Forest Management Unit located between Quetico Provincial Park and Thunder Bay. It will examine five critical questions regarding the efficacy of PCT, its economical viability and identify which sites further commercial thinning should take place.
The effect of PCT will be quantified through the establishment of PCT trial plots that will allow for long-term monitoring and through studies on the effects of different thinning intensities on tree growth and yield, wood quality, utilization and environmental aspects over time. It will also identify when commercial thinning should be done as a further effective treatment in any previously thinned stand.
“The study is expected to supply useable information on this underutilized silvicultural technique,” says LLT executive director Karan Aquino. “By gathering data on growth response, wood quality, stand value and financial returns from the same site, it will increase the efficiency of PCT applications and our knowledge of where to use it most effectively.” A final report on the study will be presented to the Living Legacy Trust and a seminar for forestry professionals, academics and government employees to be held in Thunder Bay in March 2004.
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