TY - JOUR
T1 - Using shelterwood harvests and prescribed fire to regenerate oak stands on productive upland sites
AU - Brose, Patrick
AU - Van Lear, David
AU - Cooper, Roderick
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully recognize the assistance and support of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, especially Patrick Keyser, Wildlife Biologist. We also thank Ed Buckner, Peter Kapeluck, and two anonymous reviewers for critical reviews of earlier versions of this manuscript. Financial support provided by McIntire–Stennis funding is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 1999/1/25
Y1 - 1999/1/25
N2 - Regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region is a major problem because of intense competition from yellow-poplar. As a potential solution to this problem, we tested the hypothesis that a shelterwood harvest of an oak-dominated stand, followed several years later by a prescribed fire, would adequately regenerate the stand. Three oak-dominated stands, in which shelterwood harvests had been conducted several years earlier, were each divided into spring burn, summer burn, winter bum, and control treatments. Three years after the prescribed fires, oak had higher density and stocking in burned as compared to unburned areas while yellow-poplar had its highest density and stocking in the controls. Season-of-bum interacted with fire intensity to create several probable outcomes of stand development. Areas treated with high-intensity fire during the spring will develop into oak-dominated stands after just one bum. Controls and areas treated with low-intensity fire will become dominated by yellow-poplar. Other combinations of fire intensity and season-of-bum will produce mixed hardwood stands with varying proportions of oak. Combining shelterwood harvesting with prescribed fire appears to be a viable method for regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region and may be applicable elsewhere.
AB - Regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region is a major problem because of intense competition from yellow-poplar. As a potential solution to this problem, we tested the hypothesis that a shelterwood harvest of an oak-dominated stand, followed several years later by a prescribed fire, would adequately regenerate the stand. Three oak-dominated stands, in which shelterwood harvests had been conducted several years earlier, were each divided into spring burn, summer burn, winter bum, and control treatments. Three years after the prescribed fires, oak had higher density and stocking in burned as compared to unburned areas while yellow-poplar had its highest density and stocking in the controls. Season-of-bum interacted with fire intensity to create several probable outcomes of stand development. Areas treated with high-intensity fire during the spring will develop into oak-dominated stands after just one bum. Controls and areas treated with low-intensity fire will become dominated by yellow-poplar. Other combinations of fire intensity and season-of-bum will produce mixed hardwood stands with varying proportions of oak. Combining shelterwood harvesting with prescribed fire appears to be a viable method for regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region and may be applicable elsewhere.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00423-X
DO - 10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00423-X
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033601741
SN - 0378-1127
VL - 113
SP - 125
EP - 141
JO - Forest Ecology and Management
JF - Forest Ecology and Management
IS - 2-3
ER -