The Shelterwood Silvicultural System in British Columbia –A Practitioner’s Guide. Part 2: The Interplay of Stand Dynamics, Disturbance, and Regeneration

Abstract

Partial cutting, including shelterwood systems, is gaining profile after a long silvicultural history of clearcutting with artificial regeneration in British Columbia. The use of silvicultural systems that employ partial cutting requires good knowledge of the principles of silviculture. In particular, fundamentals about stand dynamics (changes in stand structure over time, including the effects of disturbance) and regeneration ecology are essential knowledge when managing stands for specific objectives, for they give us the ability to manipulate stands in predictable ways. This, the second in a series of three extension notes about the shelterwood silvicultural system, reviews the fundamentals necessary for the application of silvicultural systems involving partial cutting.