Although sugar maple dominates this site, a habitat type of ACL would indicate that growth and yield for this particular species would be suboptimal, and therefore this stand should probably not be considered for long rotation hardwood management. The silvicultural objective is to maintain northern hardwood timber types through an even aged silvicultural system of shelterwood with reserves. Regeneration should occur through natural seeding and stump sprouts. The residual shelter trees will be retained for aesthetics and to increase landscape diversity. The results should be a two-aged stand or one is of an even aged condition as a consequence of both an extended period of regeneration establishment and the retention of reserve trees that may represent one or more age classes.
A selection tree harvesting method will remove suppressed, overmature, damaged and diseased trees from the stand. Sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, red oak, white birch, basswood, balsam fir, spruce and pine will be left totaling about 50 ft.² of basal area per acre. The stand had about 113 square feet per acre of basal area prior to the treatment. This sale has been leave tree marked and will be limited to shortwood skidding to minimize damage to the residual stand harvesting operations will be restricted from April 1 through July 31 to prevent bowl damage to residual trees. The Natural Heritage Inventory indicates that there is no threatened or endangered species within the sale area.
Wildlife considerations: A number of large diameter trees per acre that had declining crowns were retained for their den and nesting traits. Red Oak was maintained as a component of the stand and should provide mast. The large amount of edge created by the sale boundary should provide added habitat for those animals that utilize this type of cover.
Water quality considerations: This sale has been designed to avoid water quality problems. Ash drainages, swamped and Vernal ponds have been excavated from the sale area and should not be impacted. Existing logging roads have been used when possible. New logging roads were designed by the Douglas County Forestry Department to minimize excessive road densities, avoid excessive slope and prevent potential water quality problems. After sale completion all logging roads will be restored and bermed.