SMC Silviculture Project Report Eric C. Turnblom Silviculture Project Leader, SMC SMC Spring Policy Meeting, 25 – 26 Apr 2007 Vancouver, WA

Silviculture Project Status Field Season Summary GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Update Timetable

Field Season Summary Type I Installations o Well-established juvenile stands at or near a stage of stand development conducive to Pre-Commercial Thinning (1970s cohort) Type I Treatments o 7 Basic treatments – geo. spacing & thinning ISPA, ISPA/2, ISPA/4 ISPA_MT, ISPA_RT, ISPA_HT ISPA/2_MT o 3 to 8 Auxiliary plots – fertilization & pruning o ISPA_RT_F, ISPA/2_MT_F, ISPA/4_F o ISPA/2_BTS, ISPA/4_BTS o ISPA/2_P, ISPA/4_P, ISPA/8_P

Field Season Summary Type I Measurements o 12 Installations received full measurement (164 plots total), fertilized 6 plots RD checks on 14; marked 3 plots o 4 received partial measurement (5 plots) RD checks on 5 plots; marked 4 plots Foliage sampling in 12 plots

Field Season Summary Type II Installations o Existing plantations or natural stands at or near a stage of development receptive to commercial thinning (1950s cohort) Type II Treatments –Delayed thinning, Minimal thinning, Repeated thinning, Heavy thinning, no thinning Type II Measurements o 5 Installations received full measurement (25 plots total) o RD check on 1 plot, marked it o 4 Installations were destructively sampled for wood quality

Field Season Summary Type III Installations o New plantations that have been planted at six pre-specified spacings, ranging from 100 to 1210 stems per acre (late 1980s to ‘90s cohort) Type III Treatments (DF only) –Thinning in three closest plantings only Early vs. late Light vs. heavy Thin late once –Pruning in three widest plantings only Followers vs. no followers Caliper vs. fixed lift length

Field Season Summary Type III Measurements o 7 Installations received full measurement (48 plots total), Auxiliary thinning on 4 plots Auxiliary pruning on 6 plots o 6 Installations received partial measurement (22 plots) Auxiliary thinning on 5 plots

Field Season Summary GGTIV Installations o New plantations that have been planted at three pre-specified spacings: 200, 440, 890 stems per acre; o Genetic Gain trial uses three gain levels, one spacing (440), and complete veg. control o Type IV spacing trial at 7x7, 10x10, 15x15; two gain levels, two veg. ctrl. levels (2000s cohort) GGTIV Measurements o 3 Installations (2006 plantings) surveyed for survival (66 plots) o 3 Installations (2005 plantings) received full measurement (66 plots)

Field Season Summary Carryover Study o Do nutrients applied to site in form of large fertilizer dosage “carry over” to the next rotation after the stand is harvested and replanted? Carryover Measurements o 5 Installations (10 plots) Misc. Contract Installations o Objectives vary: comparing biosolids with urea application; spacing & thinning Misc. Contract Measurements o 2 installations (56 plots total)

Field Season Summary A total of 47 installations (462 plots) were visited during ‘06/’07 season Includes 2 installations in B.C. measured by BCMOF Research Branch (status uncertain at time of presentation) Includes full measurement of the first three of six GGTIV installations (66 plots)

Silviculture Project Status Field Season GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Timetable

GGTIV status Measurement notes – Tree numbering First time through 2005 plantations where actual tree numbers were on each tree, a few rows had family numbers inverted, all corrected now (7500 trees!) – Animal Damage Browse was minimal on installations 601 and 603 (one or two trees). Wood rat is suspected culprit Elk damage (browse) in plots 1-5, installation 602 is not insignificant Beetles appear to be girdling some trees at Donaldson Creek (602), may be related to amount of slash present

GGTIV status Complete Vegetation Control – Sprayed relevant plots at all six installations Treated with atrazine and Transline – Monitoring for later germinants through June Committed to 80% bare ground specification and will spend what is necessary to achieve said spec.

GGTIV status Site Characterization protocol – Silviculture Project Leader, SMC field crew met with Tom Terry, Weyerhaeuser in November 2006 at 601-Donkey Creek 2 to establish protocol Tree-centered approach recommended Record slash cover (%) Record presence and depth of red rot Forest floor (intact depth) Soil disturbance class (Scott) – Perform after second growing season

Silviculture Project Status Field Season GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Timetable

WI’07 TAC meeting summary Met jointly with Nutrition TAC following NWTIC meeting, Vancouver, WA – Discussed / finalized plan for GGTIV competing vegetation treatment – Discussed new fertilization trials, significantly changed objectives and re- designed possible experiment

Silviculture Project Status Field Season GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Timetable

Tech Transfer Publications Kantavichai, R., D.G. Briggs, and E.C. Turnblom. (SUBMITTED). Effect Pre-commercial Thinning followed by a Fertilization Regime on Branch Diameter in Coastal US Douglas-fir Plantations. Can. J. For. Res. v(n): p – pp. Hill, A. and E.C. Turnblom. (SUBMITTED). Local weather impacts short-term predictions of Douglas-fir diameter growth in eastern Washington. Can. J. For. Res. v(n): p – pp. Sucre, E.B., R.B. Harrison, E.C. Turnblom, and D.G. Briggs. (SUBMITTED). The use of soil and site variables to predict growth response of Douglas-fir to urea for various density management regimes. Can. J. For. Res. v(n): p – pp. Li, Y. E. Turnblom, D. Briggs (IN PRESS). Effects of density control and fertilization on growth and yield of young Douglas-fir plantations in the Pacific Northwest. Can. J. For. Res. v(n): p – pp.

Silviculture Project Status Field Season GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Timetable

Ongoing Silviculture Studies Summer measurement season – Lower canopy vegetation measurement Horizontal component Vertical component – Habitat assessment Duff depth – Bark beetle survey

Ongoing Silviculture Studies Tree List Generator User Interface (TLGUI) – Generate tree lists for input into individual-based forest simulation systems when only stand level descriptors are available – TLGUI provides an easy-to-use interface for accessing the Tree List Generation Database system to generate such simulated tree lists – Small number of CDs available for those interested – Working on Young Tree List Generation Database

Silviculture Project Status Field Season GGTIV status (brief update) WI’07 TAC meeting summary Technology Transfer Ongoing Silviculture Studies Database Timetable

Database Update Timetable New database CD with all 2006 – ’07 measurement data coming forth Jun 2007

Silviculture Project Report Questions / Comments?