2. So to review, for a disease to have an impact on a forest three elements must be present. These are …

4. Pathogen Host Environmental Conditions

5. Pathogen Host Environmental Conditions Excellent!

6. Now let’s discuss forest management techniques that can help prevent disease from occurring or spreading in forests.

7. First, what is forest management? It is a process to provide a forest with the proper care to remain healthy and provide the products and services that landowners desire. - The Ohio State University

8. Forest Management Techniques The management techniques used depend on the social, economic and ecological values of the forest. Some techniques are: Harvesting Spaced out planting Thinning Prescribed burning

9. Harvesting Harvesting is the removal of trees from a forest. This can be done to get wood for timber and paper, for wildlife habitat, and for easier access for hunting and recreation. Harvesting trees can help maintain the health of the forest which makes it easier for the trees to resist disease.

10. Harvesting Group SelectionSeed tree

11. Spaced out planting Forest landowners can maintain the health of a forest and help prevent the spread of disease by planting their trees further apart or by planting fewer trees in an area. Spaced out planting makes it more difficult for some pathogens to travel from tree to tree. Trees that are planted further from each other are often more healthy. Can you guess why?

12. Spaced out planting

13. Thinning This involves removing select trees that already exist in a forest. The trees that are removed are usually less healthy or less desirable for landowners. For the same reasons as in harvesting, removing select trees can help maintain the health of a forest.

14. Thinning

15. Prescribed Burning Excessive vegetation and dead wood can harbor disease-causing pathogens. Too much understory vegetation also competes with the overstory trees for limited water and nutrients. Prescribed burning decreases the amount of dead wood as well as the undergrowth in an area.

16. Prescribed Burning

17. How would you manage your forest? Now that you are familiar with some forest management techniques, how would you choose to manage your paper plate forest to resist disease? Give it a try!