Ecological Forestry: Restoring Habitat Complexity in Working Forests
DATE: Wednesday, June 15th
LOCATION: Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Mac Leay Road, Sequim, WA 98382 MapQuest Directions
COST: $45 ($35 for Northwest Certified Forestry members)
MORE INFO: Kirk Hanson: 360-316-9317, kirk@nnrg.org
Forests in the Pacific Northwest are extraordinarily resilient and productive ecosystems. Careful forest management can provide robust wildlife habitat, sustained yields of timber, and a wide range of ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and water quality.
This morning seminar and afternoon field tour will introduce forest owners to the principles of ecological forestry as well as strategies for successful implementation on their own lands. Focus will be on how to increase ecosystem services and habitat complexity within working forestlands that also produce a sustained yield of forest products. Following an indoor presentation, participants will join several seasoned practitioners for a tour of timber stands in the Olympic National Forest that have been thinned using a variety of innovative harvesting strategies including variable retention and variable density thinning.
This seminar and tour will provide useful information for all types of forest owners and managers including family forests, non-profit conservation groups, city and county forests, and professional consulting foresters.
Key topics will include:
- The scientific basis for ecological forestry
- Enhancing and restoring wildlife habitat
- Regeneration strategies
- Enhancing carbon sequestration
- Harvest strategies, including:
- Dispersed, grouped, and feature-based variable retention
- Group selection
- Variable density thinning
- Individual tree selection
- Forest products and operational logistics
- Local cases studies