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Stand-Level Management

In forestry and wildlife management, the primary management unit is the stand. Stands are analogous to plant communities, but there are differences. Boundaries and sizes of natural plant communities are dictated by topography, soils, hydrology, and past history, whereas stands are delineated by human-induced disturbances. Stands are the basic land units on which specific silvicultural treatments take place. On a landscape scale, the arrangement of stands and the implementation of treatments, both spatially and temporally, have a great affect on wildlife.

In a simplified model, if management objectives are to provide a mosaic of even-aged habitats, with stands of all ages represented, land managers may arrange operations so that similar habitats are scattered across the landscape. As a result, habitat requirements of a variety of wildlife species are met locally.

Forest stands are dynamic, moving along a successionary continuum and providing different benefits at different times. In all cases, forest communities are created and maintained by disturbance and succession, whether they are natural or management induced (Oliver 1981).