These past few weeks we have been starting to implement a forest management plan that I developed for a landowner last year. His goals were to improve the timber and improve deer and turkey habitat. WE CAN HELP!

He started off with a several hundred acre block of trees that were in varying degree of health and quality depending on topography and past land use. We took detailed inventory of the whole property and then broke up the land on paper planning to:

Increase Forest Health and productivity where good growth could be supported by identifying timber stands and performing a combination of TSI and Crop Tree Release on the stands to improve timber growth and wildlife habitat.
Increase Wildlife Habitat in areas where forest productivity is poor by managing them as Open Woodlands by thinning them to let light to the woodland floor, and then implementing Prescribed Fire to stimulate and increase green vegetation and tender woody sprouts.
Increase Habitat Edge by creating habitat transitions between certain management stands using Edge Feathering to increase habitat diversity.
Increase Wildlife Food Production and Water Availability with food plots and strategically placed water sources

Today, I want to focus on what TSI and Edge Feathering looks like on the ground.

In ecology, Edge Effects are changes in community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats.

In this segment of the overall plan map for the property you will see how the habitat was laid out with forest stands, edge feathering in red, food plots in green, water holes in blue, and open woodland/prescribed fire stands in orange. **Photo Direction** is for orienting the edge feathering photos.

In this photo you see how we make the transition from a continuous block of trees into 3 distinct but very complimentary habitat types. To the left is the boundary between forest stand 17 and 18 marked by the reference tree pointed by the red arrow. Stand 16 to the right of the installed fireline trail (orange line) will become an Open Woodland habitat.

In this photo you see the edge feathering completed, and creates a distinct habitat type and creates a transition between the Forest Habitat to the far left (see pic below) and the future Open Woodland habitat to the right.

This picture is what TSI looks like in stand 18, where we cut poorly formed, poorly growing, or undesirable species to make room for good quality trees to grow to their maximum potential. This makes for a productive healthy forest and good wildlife habitat.

Good forest management involving proper timber harvest and TSI not only benefits you, but also benefits the wildlife that use your forest. Let me briefly highlight for you a few of those benefits, and share a new study from the MSU Deer Lab that supports our observations:

Increases health and productivity. Forests that are thinned so that the best trees are maximizing the available growing space are healthier and grow to their full potential. Watch this short video from a previous post and see it in action as I explain the process!
Increases advance regeneration. TSI removes or sets back undesirable trees in the forest to make room for oak seedlings to sprout and gather enough sunlight to stay alive. This banking of an adequate amount of advance regeneration is important for when a tree blows down or needs to be harvested, the growing space will be occupied by a desirable oak tree. (See a previous post for further explanation)
Increases browse for deer and cover for wildlife. Most trees that are cut during a TSI operation will re-sprout with a flush of new tender shoots that are desirable browse for deer. The downed trees provide immediate cover for wildlife, and the new found sunlight on the forest floor initiates growth of desirable herbaceous plants. (see a good example here!)
September White Oak acorns are an important wildlife food.
Increases mast (acorn) production. Proper thinning of forests increases health and growth of crop trees. If a healthy oak tree has a opportunity to expand its crown it will grow more terminal buds . Consequently, the flowers that grow the acorns start from these buds, and the leaves and the twigs that support them come from these buds. The more buds the more acorns, and the more buds the more leaves, and the more leaves the more growth (see #1).

A new study from the Mississippi State University Deer Lab puts some actual numbers to our observations showing that crown release thinning of white oak trees increased acorn production between 47% and 65%. That is a significant increase! An increase like that will certainly be noticed by deer and turkey in your neck of the woods after proper thinning is done.

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Tag: TSI

More Habitat Diversity = More Wildlife

Today, I want to focus on what TSI and Edge Feathering looks like on the ground.

In ecology, Edge Effects are changes in community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats.

Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) Pays in more ways that one! (new study shows)