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Office of Watershed Management
Science and Technical Advisory Committee
Watershed Forestry Projects
Visual Changes in a Typical Timber Sale at the Wachusett Reservoir
Division of
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Click through the small images to find out about the different elements of Watershed Forestry |
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The Forest Biofilter |
Natural Disturbances |
Building Resistance and Resilience |
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The Role of the Forest Management
How do we get from here to there? How can active forest management increase the structural and age-class diversity of the forest?
New seedling and stump sprout growth requires the presence of sunlight on the forest floor, usually from a newly created opening in the canopy. The forest management plan calls for creating openings ranging in size from a single tree up to an acre or two and totaling less than 1% of the forest area per year. By design, this strategy mimics the average rate of natural disturbance, but in a deliberate pattern spread over time and space that contrasts with nature’s random, often spatially concentrated events. By 2055, the outcome will be a diverse, actively reproducing, multi-layered watershed protection forest that is more resistant and resilient than what we have today.
Just Cut 0.5 ac circular opening November 1996 |
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After 5 years September 2001 |
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After 11 years May 2008 |
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