Rehabilitation of Degraded Hardwood Stands - Notes from CT

Across a region encompassing New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 3.0 of 18.9 million acres of oak forests are poorly stocked from high-grading, disease and insect outbreaks, severe weather, and poor regeneration. Because stocking is highly variable within these stands, a single prescription for the entire stand can be counter-productive by over- or under-treating some areas. The promising preliminary results of adapting a micro-stand (1/10 ac) approach developed in Quebec to our oak forests will be detailed along with the impacts of deer browsing and invasive shrubs on achieving competitive forest regeneration. Presented December 20, 2017 by Dr. Jeff Ward, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.