Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Using Shelterwood Harvests and Prescribed Fire to Regenerate Oak Stands on Productive Upland Sites

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region is a major problem because of intense competition from yellow-poplar. As a potential solution to this problem, we tested the hypothesis that a shelterwood harvest of an oak-dominated stand. followed several years later by a prescribed fire, would adequately regeneraie the stand. Three oak-dominated stands. in which shelterwood harvests had been conducted several years earlier, were each divided into spring burn, summer burn, winter burn, and control treatments. Three years after the prescribed fires, oak had higher density and stocking in burned as compared to unburned areas while yellow-poplar had its highest density and stocking in the controls. Season-of-burn interacted with fire intensity to create several probable outcomes of stand development. Areas treated with high-intensity fire during the spring will develop into oak-dominated stands after just one bum. Controls and areas treated with low-intensity fire will become dominated by yellow-poplar. Other combinations of fire intensity and season-of-bum wiIl produce mixed hardwood stands with varying proportions of oak. Combining shelterwood harvesting with prescribed fire appears to be a viable method for regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites in the Piedmont region and may be applicable elsewhere.

Keywords

liriodendron, oak regeneration, prescribed fire, quercus, shelterwood system, yellow-poplar

Citation

Brose, Patrick H.; van Lear, David H.; Cooper, Roderick. 1999. Using Shelterwood Harvests and Prescribed Fire to Regenerate Oak Stands on Productive Upland Sites. Forest Ecology and Management 113 (1999) 125-141
Citations
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/1346