Medford Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Glossary

Medford Record of Decision

Medford District Resource Management Plan Table of Contents:

- Tables

- Maps

- Appendices

Appendix E. Silvicultural Systems Utilized in the Design of the Resource Management Plan

In addition to dealing with land use allocations and objectives, the resource management plan (RMP) deals with the selection of and effects of different silvicultural systems and the practices used to carry out those systems.

A silvicultural system defines the sequence of management treatments that take place throughout the entire life of a forest stand. A system is designed to move a stand from its current condition along a developmental path toward a desired or target stand condition. The target stand and the attributes of the path are defined by an array of management objectives.

In the design of the proposed action, a variety of general silvicultural systems are used for the different Land Use Allocations. Differences between systems are the result of differences in resource objectives and differences in forest condition and ecological types. Reforestation or the establishment of desired vegetation is the critical part of any silvicultural system.

Silvicultural systems are resource and objective neutral. They are designed to meet a wide range of management goals that include: timber production; creation or maintenance of wildlife habitat; restoration of forest condition (health); maintenance or restoration of riparian condition; reclamation of mines, quarries, and roads; management of right of way vegetation; and maintenance or improvement of site productivity. The descriptions of silvicultural systems, therefore, are not included with any one resource category.

Silvicultural System Design

Silvicultural systems as well as individual management actions will be designed to:

• meet established land use objectives;
  
  
• maintain the health and sustainability of forest ecosystems and their processes or to restore forest condition so that management objectives can be met;
  
  
• incorporate current and developing knowledge of natural processes and the relationships between structures, landscape arrangements, and the maintenance of ecosystem function;
  
  
• involve landscape level (watershed) analysis at a variety of spatial and temporal scales; and
  
  
• consider the elements of ecosystem and landscape function, composition, and structure.

Silvicultural system design will vary from site to site and will be based on:

• consideration of stand vigor, disease, live crown ratio, and general stand condition;
  
  
• the autecological and synecological requirements of major or indicator plant and animal species and species groups;
  
  
• habitat requirements of rare or endangered species;
  
  
• requirements of avoidance (prevention) strategies for vegetation management;
  
  
• economic feasibility; and
  
  
• soil, slope, aspect, and other physical site conditions that influence reforestation potential, blowdown potential, or that otherwise influence the ability of prescribed treatments to meet target stand and landscape objectives.

Simply stated, silvicultural systems and activities should be based on the objectives of the land allocation, ecological processes, site and stand characteristics, and economic feasibility within a framework of landscape analysis.

Best management practices (BMPs) for water and soil resources (see Appendix D) would be used in designing site-specific silvicultural prescriptions consistent with the objectives of the land use allocation.

Where appropriate, silvicultural systems and individual management actions will be adapted to meet the requirements of experimental designs that permit the agency and its publics to explore the results of the application of a range of alternative management options to both stands and landscapes. Where not in direct conflict with land use allocation objectives, silvicultural systems would be designed to assure that resultant wood quality is suitable for the range of current and forecasted uses and that they would maintain or enhance log value.

Objectives, Habitat Criteria, and Management Practices Design for the Land Use Allocations

The description of the proposed action involves three separate criteria for each Land Use Allocation. These criteria are:

• A) resource condition objectives that summarize and highlight the important resource management goals for the land use allocation for the next decade,
  
  
• B) stand and landscape condition objectives that are desired in the near future and in the longer term, and
  
  
• C) management direction which set sideboards for stand and landscape composition.

Management direction described in this appendix incorporates "Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl."

Silvicultural Systems

Silvicultural systems utilized in the design of the proposed action include modified even-aged, shelterwood retention, and structural retention systems.

Modified Even-Aged Silvicultural Systems

Modified even-aged systems involve the management of both existing even-aged or near even-aged stands and the creation of new even-aged stands through harvesting while retaining both living and dead structural elements (green trees, snags, coarse woody debris). Retained structure is at levels below those detailed for structural retention systems.

Stand Regeneration: Stand regeneration methods under this category of silvicultural systems include modified versions of the seed tree, shelterwood, and overstory removal harvest methods. Stands remaining after final harvest will generally resemble reserve seed tree cuts.

These systems harvest the majority of the stand in a single entry and permit the establishment of an even-aged stand with the fewest number of entries while retaining wildlife trees and snags. Regeneration is usually through planting following site preparation, although in southwestern Oregon there are sometimes significant quantities of advanced regeneration remaining after logging. Natural regeneration may occur through seed dispersed from retained trees or trees in adjacent timber stands. In southwestern Oregon, units harvested in this manner could require actions in addition to conifer planting to secure regeneration. These actions include seedling shading, protection from animal damage, and control of competing vegetation.

The reserved seed tree method of harvest removes the majority of a stand in a single entry except for a small number of green, seed trees that are retained to provide seed for natural regeneration, and under this plan provide biological legacies. If necessary, artificial regeneration, usually planting, would be used to reach target stocking levels. Genetically-selected stock would be used when available.

In a shelterwood method, a stand is harvested in a series of two or more partial cut entries designed to create the necessary level of disturbance and to provide shelter for the establishment of newly planted and natural seedlings. After establishment of regeneration, overstory trees that are in excess of desired levels of wildlife trees and snags would be removed. While shelterwood units are typically planted with conifer species, natural regeneration may constitute a large percentage of the regeneration present.

Forest stands in southwestern Oregon are often multiple-aged with different canopy levels resulting from past natural stand disturbances such as under-canopy fires or from past partial cut harvesting. In these stands, an understory canopy level often exists and is capable of being released. This understory canopy level may consist of seedlings, saplings, or young merchantable timber. The release and subsequent management of the understory canopy could result in a yield increase when compared to growing a new stand after a more complete stand removal. The decision to remove an overstory canopy considers the releasability and species composition of the understory canopy and the feasibility of logging the stand without significant damage to the understory. In some cases, retention of understory species could result in an undesirable seral shift, a higher level of disease in stands, and a potential loss of stand health.

Stand Management: Following the regeneration phase, modified even-aged systems are treated to produce desired stand conditions that include wood of desired quality, quantity, and value. Modified even-aged systems may be managed at different levels of intensity. In the Medford District, stands on more productive sites are planned for a higher level of management intensity than stands on lower sites.

Stand management practices include control of species composition and stand density. Release practices are employed to ensure tree growth is not slowed by competing, undesirable plants and that desired trees are not displaced. Density control through thinning assures that cubic foot volume growth is concentrated in the stems of selected trees.

On more productive sites, forest fertilization may be employed to temporarily increase stand growth. Some young stands in the planning area are in poor condition because of high densities or because of overstory competition. Stands may experience significant growth retardation called thinning shock following precommercial thinning, overstory removal, or release. The severity of this retardation may be reduced through the application of fertilizer. In addition, forest fertilization may be used to improve tree vigor and to reduce insect and drought related mortality.

Stand Harvesting: Stand harvesting may occur at any age above a minimum harvest age set to meet land use objectives as well as economic and logging-practicality requirements.

The sustainable harvest level is highest if minimum harvest age is set at the lowest economically practical age. Over time, however, rotation lengths would approach the age of culmination of mean annual increment (CMAI). CMAI varies with site quality, the kinds of silvicultural practices employed, and the timing of those practices. For most regimes and sites in southwestern Oregon, CMAI occurs near 100 years of age.

To achieve higher wood quality, larger log sizes, or to produce habitat for species that live in later seral stages, minimum harvest age may be set at an older age.

Shelterwood retention refers to modified even-aged systems that have sometimes been termed "irregular shelterwoods." In these systems, overstory trees are retained (in addition to desired living and dead structural elements) until understory conifers are large enough to fulfill management objectives such as preserving visual qualities, maintaining the integrity of specific soils, and establishing regeneration in areas with growing-season frosts. Depending upon objectives, overstory trees may be retained for 15 to 30 years. Retention of an overstory may not be successful in some areas, such as those infected with diseases or root rot and those of high blowdown hazard. A wide variety of stand conditions exist across the planning area.

Stand Regeneration: Shelterwood retention units are normally planted, but like shelterwoods, also receive varying amounts of natural regeneration. Planting stock would reflect genetic selection when such stock is available, but since the performance of genetic stock and percent representation in stands created under these regimes are uncertain, no yield gain would be claimed for this action.

Stand Management: Like other silvicultural systems, shelterwood retention stands receive treatments designed to produce desired stand characteristics. To produce economically-harvestable tree sizes in reasonable periods of time, control of species composition and stand density are as critical or more critical in shelterwood retention systems than in modified even-aged systems. Fertilization may be applied to accelerate stand development and to reduce shock and damage following overstory removal.

Stand Harvesting: Harvest of retained shelterwood trees (in excess of desired green-trees and snags) occurs in one or more entries 15 to 30 years after the regeneration harvest and when stand development has reached a point where visual, soil, or frost-tolerance requirements have been met.

Structural Retention Systems

These silvicultural systems are designed primarily to retain or recreate forest ecosystems that resemble natural systems in composition, structure, and in ecosystem function. Retained structural components include green-trees, snags, and coarse woody debris that may be clumped or distributed in various ways across the landscape. Through retention and re-creation of structure and through appropriate selection and timing of treatments, these systems attempt to retain natural ecosystem processes and habitat niches.

Structural retention systems attempt to provide for maintenance of site productivity, specific wildlife habitats, and a high level of biological diversity in a managed landscape.

Silvicultural practices used are modifications of those used in modified even-aged systems but reflect a greater attempt to redirect ecosystem processes.

Structural retention systems would usually produce a multiple-canopied, multiple-aged stand but not an all-aged stand. These systems differ in some ways from selection forestry, although many elements of selection cutting are included such as removal of individual trees (individual tree selection) or groups of trees (group selection). The objective of structural retention systems is to produce a multiple-canopied forest, not necessarily one of all ages.

Stand Regeneration: The regeneration phase of this system relies upon the use of both natural and planted conifer seedlings, together which subsequent stand management, to achieve a near-natural mixture of species in each seral stage. Stock reflecting genetic selection, whenever available, would be combined with wild-type stock. No yield increase for use of selected stock would be projected.

Stand Management: Stands created under this system receive treatments designed to meet structural, functional, and growth objectives. Density management would be used. Forest fertilization would be used as appropriate, but because of the uncertainty of its effect on diverse stands, it would not result in a claimed yield increase.

Stand Harvesting: Structural retention systems seek to retain or re-create habitat characteristics of older forests. Harvesting is expected to occur across stands and in group selections of varying sizes with structures retained in the groups.

Silvicultural Practices

Each silvicultural system is comprised of a variety of practices that are planned for specific periods in the life of the stand. These practices act to keep forest stands on desired developmental trajectories, speed the development of desired habitat components, and maintain or improve stand vigor. Silvicultural practices in this region have traditionally been applied to conifer stands and their development, however, many of the same principles and treatments have application for the growth and development of other desired vegetation.

While both the types of practices used and the timing vary between systems, most silvicultural systems require the full range of forest management tools and practices for their successful implementation. To predictably direct forest stands (ecosystems) so that structural and other objectives are met may require some level of intensive stand tending practices whatever the system employed.

Silvicultural practices include: site preparation, conifer regeneration, stand protection, stand maintenance, precommercial thinning and release, commercial thinning, fertilization, pruning, forest condition restoration treatments, and salvage. Reforestation includes the full range of silvicultural practices necessary to establish and maintain stands on forestland.

Site Preparation

If needed, site preparation procedures would be used to prepare newly harvested or inadequately stocked areas for planting, seeding, or natural regeneration. Site preparation methods would be selected to: provide physical access to planting sites; control fire hazard; provide initial physical control of the site to channel limited resources on the site into desired vegetation; influence the plant community that redevelops on the site; influence or control animal populations; and ensure the retention of site productivity.

Within the planning area, four types of site preparation techniques would be used. These are prescribed burning, mechanical and manual methods, and herbicide application.

Prescribed burning, including broadcast and pile burns, is expected to be the primary method of site preparation. To protect air quality, burning would occur under conditions consistent with the Oregon Smoke Management Plan. Burning prescriptions will be written to minimize the detrimental effects of fire on other resources. Emphasis will be placed on protecting soil properties and the retention of coarse woody debris. Prescribed fire on sensitive soils will be designed to result in low to moderate intensity burns (see Best Management Practices, Appendix D).

Mechanical site preparation consists of either tractor piling or windrowing of slash and unwanted vegetation or the use of a low ground pressure backhoe, loader, grapple, or other special equipment to move or pile slash and unwanted vegetation.

Manual site preparation consists of slash piling, shrub pulling or cutting, and hoeing or grubbing of unwanted vegetation.

Application of herbicides for site preparation purposes would occur only after careful site-specific environmental analysis and local public involvement. Decision for use would be governed by the procedures established in BLM's Record of Decision (ROD) Western Oregon Program-Management of Competing Vegetation.

Conifer Regeneration and/or Establishment of Non-Conifer Plant Species

Conifer planting would be done where appropriate to assure that reforestation objectives are promptly met. The production of planting stock requires seed (cone) collection from wild stands and/or from seed orchards and the production of planting stock in bare-root nurseries or container shadehouses.

The release and management of existing natural conifer regeneration has the potential to speed stand development. Natural conifer regeneration can, in many situations, be both adequate and relatively prompt (Lewis et. al. 1991) and of species appropriate to meet stand objectives (Williamson 1973). Relying on natural regeneration ,however, results in the loss of the ability to use genetically-selected stock and the potential for delayed regeneration due to the unpredictability of seedfall. When applicable, silvicultural systems would utilize existing regeneration, natural seeding, and prompt planting of desired species to assure that regeneration targets and timeframes are met. No yield increase was assumed as a result of retention of existing regeneration following regeneration harvest or overstory removal.

Existing vegetation would be used to the extent possible in meeting management objectives dependant upon nonconiferous vegetation. Where necessary to meet objectives, nonconifer vegetation would be established through seeding or the planting of bare-root or containerized plants.

Stand Protection

Stand protection procedures would be designed to protect newly planted conifer seedlings and in some cases natural seedlings from hazards. Treatments are designed to protect seedlings from the sun or to prevent animal damage from occurring. Measures to control populations of animals such as mountain beaver, gophers, or porcupines would be initiated if populations of these animals reached levels high enough to threaten stands. Treatment acres will be determined annually in conjunction with reforestation surveys.

Similar treatments would be used when appropriate to protect planted or seeded nonconiferous vegetation.

Stands will also be managed to decrease the risk of destruction by wildfire. Management practices include treatments such as underburning, limbing, density management, or hand piling or utilization of slash. Creation of fuel breaks, especially in rural interface areas, would be a method of decreasing risks. Retention of a hardwood component in stands may result in somewhat higher level of resistance to low intensity fires.

Stand Maintenance

Maintenance treatments occur after planting or seeding and are designed to promote the survival and establishment of conifers and other vegetation by reducing competition from undesired plant species. Maintenance and other vegetation management actions would be planned so that in addition to survival goals, species diversity goals could be met.

Maintenance actions involve the implementation of preventive (or ecosystem-based) strategies or direct control actions using techniques such as mulching, cutting or pulling of unwanted species, grazing, or herbicide application. As with other vegetation management treatments, preference for stand maintenance treatments would be given to strategies that redirect natural ecosystem processes where practical and where scientific knowledge was adequate to support such strategies. The choice between methods would be made under the same decision framework listed for site preparation.

Precommercial Thinning - (Density Management) and Release

Precommercial thinning and release treatments would be designed to control stand density, influence species dominance, maintain stand vigor, and place stands on developmental paths so that desired stand characteristics result in the future. Thinning and release may occur simultaneously or separately.

Precommercial thinning and release treatments may be done either by manual methods such as falling or girdling or through herbicide application. Site specific decision-making processes for herbicide release treatments follow the same procedures as those listed for site preparation.

Commercial Thinning (Density Management)

Commercial thinnings would be designed to control stand density, maintain stand vigor, and place or maintain stands on developmental paths so that desired stand characteristics result in the future. Commercial thinnings are scheduled after developing stands reach a combination of stem diameter and surplus volume to permit an entry that is economical. Commercial thinning may be effective in increasing recoverable timber production and in meeting structural diversity objectives in stands as old as 150 years (Williamson and Price 1971) (Williamson 1982). Heavy commercial thinning has shown the ability to accelerate the development of old growth characteristics in even-aged stands (Newton et. al. 1987).

Fertilization

Stand growth is limited by the supply of available nutrients, particularly by available nitrogen. The supply of soil nutrients may be augmented through either fertilization or, in some situations, through retention of species and structural diversity in stands. Fertilization practices are designed based on extensive research, including work in southwestern Oregon. Fertilization actions are usually designed to apply 200 pounds of available nitrogen with helicopters in the form of urea-based prill (46 percent available nitrogen). Occasionally, fertilizer may be applied in a liquid urea-ammonia form or with a mixture of other nutrient elements in addition to nitrogen. Hand application is usually impractical. For optimum effectiveness, forest fertilization actions would be sequenced with thinning actions with preference given to young even-aged stands of site four and higher in the next decade.

Fertilization has the effect of accelerating stand and seral development. Since fertilizer increases the rate tree canopies expand and increase tree vigor, it has been observed to reduce thinning shock, accelerate release, and reduce susceptibility to damage from insects and drought.

Pruning

Pruning of young stands is carried out to increase wood quality through the production of clear wood on rotations shorter than would be required without the action. Pruning helps to avoid production of wood with loose knots and yielding lumber, which is tight-knotted but not necessarily clear. It is essential for the production of clear wood with grades above "common" under normal, even-aged rotations for Douglas-fir and pine (see Wood Quality, Appendix BB, Draft RMP/EIS).

Pruning appears to be necessary to produce wood of acceptable quality from stands that are managed at very low densities to meet biological diversity objectives since trees in such stands would have long crowns and would produce wood with large knots otherwise.

Salvage of Mortality Volume

All silvicultural systems provide for salvage under prescriptions designed to ensure that such actions meet the requirements of the land allocation. The manner in which salvage operations are conducted within a stand often influences or determines the silvicultural system and practices needed to achieve management objectives.

Mortality in established stands results either from competition and self-thinning or from disturbance events such as fire, windstorms, disease, or insect attack. Mortality associated with competition is generally harvested in commercial thinnings or is prevented through density management and species selection practices. Mortality of entire stands or of scattered trees that results from disturbance would be harvested in salvage operations. Only mortality above the level needed to meet snag retention and other habitat goals and provide desired levels of coarse woody debris would be harvested.

Forest Condition Restoration Treatments

Forest condition restoration treatments are silvicultural treatments that are intended to reduce tree mortality and to restore the vigor, resiliency, and stability of forest stands that are necessary to achieve resource management objectives. These treatments include:

Restoration thinning: Reducing the density of forest stands with the objective(s) of increasing stand vigor, reducing mortality of desired stand components, and/or reducing susceptibility to insect and disease attack and spread.

Understory reduction: Partial or complete removal of one or more understory canopy layers (trees and/or shrubs) for the purpose(s) of maintaining desired stand components and/or reducing the risk of stand replacement fire.

Restoration underburning: Use of fire for the specific purpose of reducing mortality of desired trees and improving stand vigor, resiliency, and stability. Hazard reduction is an incidental benefit.

Plant community restoration: Silvicultural actions, including planting, maintenance, and stand tending, designed to establish and maintain desired species (grasses, herbs, shrubs, etc.) within forest stands and to prevent the introduction of noxious weeds. Species composition can be a factor in insect and disease occurrence.

Restoration fertilization: Fertilization of forest stands, with nitrogen or with micronutrients, designed to minimize thinning shock after restoration thinning, to improve stand vigor, and/or to increase resistance to insect attack.

Matrix

Matrix lands in the Medford District are divided into the northern general forest management area, the southern general forest management area, and connectivity/diversity blocks. Collectively, these areas are referred to as the general forest management area (GFMA). The line dividing the northern and southern GFMAs is meant to be flexible. Also, there will be local situations in the northern GFMA that should be managed along southern GFMA prescription guidelines and visa versa.

Northern General Forest Management Area

The general prescription would be one of modified even-aged management. For areas where growing season frosts produce regeneration hazards, pyroclastic soils, and for most areas designed for VRM Class II management, the prescription would be one of shelterwood retention to provide a form of continuous canopy cover. Granitic and schist soils would be managed under structural retention guidelines. Silvicultural practices include the full range of practices consistent with land use allocation objectives. For features of Silvicultural Systems, see Table 2-21, "General Features of Silvicultural Systems - Proposed Action Medford District," for this and other allocations.

Resource Condition Objectives

Commodity Production: Suitable commercial forestland would be managed to assure a high level of sustained timber productivity. Emphasis would be placed on use of intensive forest management practices and investments to maintain a high level of sustainable resource production while maintaining long-term site productivity, biological legacies (retained green-trees, snags, and coarse woody debris), and a biologically diverse forest matrix.

Forest Condition (Forest Health): Some stands in this allocation may not be in a condition to respond to treatments designed to meet management objectives. Management actions to improve forest condition include: density management, understory reduction operations that reduce competition, increased use of understory prescribed fire, and fertilization. It is expected that forest condition restoration treatments would occur primarily in the southern GFMA.

Habitat Retention, Restoration, and Production: Manage fifth field watersheds so that a minimum of 15 percent of the federal forestland is in late successional condition. Selection of stands for management will involve consideration of the desired blend of seral stages and stand densities. Manage landscape planning blocks to maintain desired levels and distribution of early seral vegetation.

Stand and Landscape Condition Objectives

Target Stand Conditions: Manage forests of the land use allocation so that over time landscapes would trend toward a forest composed of stands containing a variety of structures, stands containing trees of varying age and size, and stands with an assortment of canopy configurations. As stands age, within stand conditions should trend toward those characteristic of older forest types.

Seral Composition: Over time, manage for a balance of seral stages consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Landscape Composition: Manage toward a mix of stand conditions and seral patterns with consideration to three levels of scale: physiographic province (river basin / mountain range), landscape block (watershed), and within stand detail.

Management Direction for Program Implementation

Variation by ecological type: Planning and implementation of specific projects will be based on an understanding of the ecological relationships and limitations of the plant communities proposed for management.

• Douglas-fir series: Regeneration patch sizes would vary to maintain pine and other species in the stand. Mistletoe and excessive madrone regeneration will require variation in prescriptions. Retention of canopy cover and careful choice of site preparation technique should be used to maintain deerbrush and grass at levels that do not prevent target stand conditions from being reached. Deerbrush and legumes should be retained in the system.
  
  
• Tanoak series: Highest district priority for use of prescribed fire. Patch sizes and retention prescriptions should consider the autecology of tanoak and reduce understory tanoak to more natural levels.
  
  
• Hemlock and white fir series: Management actions will consider requirements of site productivity or enhancement, including use of nitrogen fixing plants.

Qualifications of stands for management deferral: Stands whose current level of large green-trees do not meet retention objectives would not be scheduled for regeneration harvests or overstory removals that removed those trees. Understory thinning and salvage of volume from these stands following partial or complete stand mortality would be permitted, provided structural objectives were met.

Structural Composition: Maintain site productivity and wildlife habitat values through the retention of structure and the design of practices required to maintain ecosystem processes throughout the management cycle. For modified even-aged systems, retain on the average 6-8 large green trees per acre in harvest units. For shelterwood retention systems, retain 12-25 trees/acre until visual, soil, or frost requirements are met then reduce to 6-8 trees/acre. For structural retention systems, retain 16-25 large trees/acre. Large conifers reserved would proportionally represent the total range of tree size classes greater than 20 inches in diameter and would represent all conifer species present. For specific standards and guidelines on coarse woody debris, green tree, and snag retention, refer to pages C-40 through C-44 of the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (sections entitled: "Provide specified amounts of coarse woody debris in matrix management," "Emphasize green-tree and snag retention in matrix management," "Standards and Guideline Specific to Northern Spotted Owl Habitat for Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon," and "Provide additional protection for caves, mines, and abandoned wooden bridges and buildings that are used as roost sites for bats"). In addition, a minimum of two large hardwoods, if present, would be retained per acre. Logging safety and potential tree mortality would be considered when determining the distribution of retained trees and snags.

Species Composition: Manage so that tree species trend over time toward Target Species Composition Objectives (see Table 1). Manage shrubs, forbs, and other vegetation consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Table 1. Northern GFMA Target Stand Species Composition Objectives

Desired species composition (by % conifer basal area)

Landscape Design Elements: Manage so that continuous forest areas harvested through one or more treatments (i.e., group selections and dense-reserve patches interspersed within a thinning unit) will generally be between 20 and 120 acres in size. Retain dead and green structure within group selections consistent with meeting long-term stand composition goals. Situate harvest units to meet general landscape objectives, including minimizing fragmentation and providing general landscape connectivity. Harvest methods could vary within stand to: reflect current within-stand spatial patterns, meet stand objectives, and retain or create patches of reproduction or other habitat for key wildlife species.

Regeneration Harvests: Regeneration harvests would not be programmed for stands under 100 years of age and generally would not be programmed for stands under 120 years of age within the next decade, unless required by deteriorating stand condition, disease, or other factors that threaten the integrity of the stand. Priority for harvest in stands under 120 years of age would be commercial thinning. Practices will be strongly influenced by consideration of ecological site potential, for retention of sufficient canopy to assure control of competing vegetation, and by factors including growing season frost potential.

Commercial Thinning and Other Density Management: Stand densities would be maintained within desired ranges through a combination of planting density, precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, and management of fine-grained stand detail. Commercial thinning entries would be programmed for stands under 120 years of age, often in conjunction with limited selection harvest in stands over 80 years. Thinnings would usually be designed to assure high levels of volume productivity. Units will retain patches of denser habitat where desired to meet wildlife habitat criteria. Within the tanoak series, underburning or other vegetation management treatments would be required for tanoak control.

Activity Scheduling: Stand treatment priority would result from the watershed analysis process. General priorities for stand treatments are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Treatment Priority by Ecological Type

Insect and Disease Management: Design silvicultural treatments so that within-stand endemic levels do not increase, and where possible, affected trees contribute to the achievement of land use allocation objectives. Creation of snags over time as a root rot center expands would be an example of using tree disease to meet a structural objective. Any retained mistletoe infected trees should be located in topographic positions that are not conducive to the spread of the disease.

Forest Condition (Forest Health) Restoration: Priority for restoration treatments will be determined at the stand level and will be based on the stand's ability to meet management objectives in the long-term.

Connectivity and Diversity Blocks (northern GFMA)

The general prescription would be one of modified even-aged management. For areas where growing season frosts produce regeneration hazards, pyroclastic soils, and for most areas designed for VRM Class II management, the prescription would be one of shelterwood retention to provide a form of continuous canopy cover. Granitic and schist soils would be managed under structural retention guidelines. Silvicultural practices include the full range of practices consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Resource Condition Objectives

Connectivity and Diversity: Manage to provide ecotypic richness and diversity and to provide for habitat connectivity for old growth dependent and associated species within the northern GFMA, maintain a minimum of 25 percent of each block in late-successional condition, in both long- and short-term. Late-successional stands within riparian reserves and other allocations contribute toward this percentage. Minimize fragmentation of interior habitat within block and in adjacent older stands to provide as effective habitat as possible.

Commodity Production: Suitable commercial forestland within blocks would be managed to assure a moderately high level of sustained timber production.

Stand and Landscape Condition Objectives

Target Stand Conditions: Manage forests of the land use allocation so that over time landscapes would trend toward a forest composed of stands containing a variety of structures, stands containing trees of varying age and size, and stands with an assortment of canopy configurations. As stands age, within stand conditions should trend toward those characteristic of older forest types.

Seral Composition: Over time, manage for a minimum of 25 percent late-successional condition in each block.

Landscape Composition: Incorporate connectivity and diversity blocks within landscape planning analysis. Within blocks, manage treatment unit shapes and sizes to mimic natural terrain and stand features. Maintain lowest level of fragmentation and highest level of interior habitat consistent with meeting block management objectives. Retain fine grain patterns within stands.

Management Direction for Program Implementation

Variation by ecological type: (Same as Northern GFMA) Planning and implementation of specific projects will be based on an understanding of the ecological relationships and limitations of the plant communities proposed for management.

• Douglas-fir series: Regeneration patch sizes would vary to maintain pine and other species in the stand. Mistletoe and excessive madrone regeneration will require variation in prescriptions. Retention of canopy cover and careful choice of site preparation technique should be used to maintain deerbrush and grass at levels that do not prevent target stand conditions from being reached. Deerbrush and legumes should be retained in the system.
  
  
• Tanoak series: Highest district priority for use of prescribed fire. Patch sizes and retention prescriptions should consider the autecology of tanoak and reduce understory tanoak to more natural levels.
  
  
• Hemlock and white fir series: Management actions will consider requirements of site productivity or enhancement, including use of nitrogen fixing plants.

Qualifications of stands for management deferral: Stands whose current level of large green-trees do not meet retention objectives would not be scheduled for regeneration harvests or overstory removals that removed the large trees. Understory thinning and salvage of volume from these stands following partial or complete stand mortality would be permitted provided structural objectives were met. Manage so that the best ecologically functioning stands would be seldom entered in the short term.

Stand structural and species composition: Same as northern GFMA, except for the retention of 12 to 18 green trees per acre in harvest units.

Structural composition: Maintain site productivity and wildlife habitat values through the retention of structure and the design of practices required to maintain ecosystem processes throughout the management cycle. For modified even-aged systems, retain on the average 12-18 large green trees per acre in harvest units. For shelterwood retention systems, retain 12-25 trees/acre until visual, soil, or frost requirements are met then reduce to 12-18 trees/acre. For structural retention systems, retain 16-25 large trees/acre. Large conifers reserved would proportionally represent the total range of tree size classes greater than 20 inches in diameter and would represent all conifer species present. For specific Standards and Guidelines on coarse woody debris, green tree, and snag retention refer to pages C-40 through C-44 of the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (sections entitled: "Provide specified amounts of coarse woody debris in matrix management," "Emphasize green-tree and snag retention in matrix management," "Standards and Guideline Specific to Northern Spotted Owl Habitat for Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon," and "Provide additional protection for caves, mines, and abandoned wooden bridges and buildings that are used as roost sites for bats"). In addition, a minimum of two large hardwoods, if present, would be left per acre. Logging safety and potential tree mortality would be considered when determining the distribution of retained trees and snags.

Species Composition: Manage so that tree species trend overtime toward Target Species Composition Objectives (see Table 3). Manage shrubs, forbs, and other vegetation consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Table 3. Connectivity and Diversity Block Target Stand Species Composition Objectives

Desired species composition (by % conifer basal area)

Landscape Design Elements (Same as northern GFMA): Manage so that continuous forest areas harvested through one or more treatments (i.e., group selections and dense-reserve patches interspersed within a thinning unit) will generally be between 20 and 120 acres in size. Retain dead and green structure within group selections consistent with meeting long term stand composition goals. Situate harvest units to meet general landscape objectives, including minimizing fragmentation and providing general landscape connectivity. Harvest methods could vary within stand to: reflect current within-stand spatial patterns, meet stand objectives, and retain or create patches of reproductive or other habitat for key wildlife species.

Regeneration Harvests: Regeneration harvests would not be programmed for stands under 150 years of age. Priority for harvest in stands under 150 years of age would be commercial thinning. Blocks would be managed using a 150-year area control rotation.

Commercial Thinning and Other Density Management (Same as Northern GFMA Except Thinnings Up to 150 Years): Stand densities would be maintained within desired ranges through a combination of planting density, precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, and management of fine-grained stand detail. Commercial thinning entries would be programmed for stands under 150 years of age often in conjunction with limited selection harvest in stands over 80 years. Thinnings would usually be designed to assure high levels of volume productivity. Units will retain patches of denser habitat where desired to meet wildlife habitat criteria. Within the tanoak series, underburning or other vegetation management treatments would be required for tanoak control.

Activity Scheduling: Stand treatment priorities for the next decade would be dictated by stand conditions, habitat requirements, and fuel hazard.

Insect and Disease Management (Same as Northern GFMA): Design silvicultural treatments so that within-stand endemic levels do not increase, and where possible, affected trees contribute to the achievement of land use allocation objectives. Creation of snags over time as a root rot center expands would be an example of using tree disease to meet a structural objective. Any retained mistletoe infected trees should be located in topographic positions that are not conducive to the spread of the disease.

Southern General Forest Management Area (SGFMA)

The general prescription would involve management within strategies that are designed to mimic natural ecological processes and meet species diversity, structural diversity, and landscape diversity objectives. In most cases, the general prescription would be one of structural retention. Modified even-aged and shelterwood retention systems would be utilized dependant upon factors such as site quality, presence of disease, and visuals. Silvicultural practices include the full range of practices consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Resource Condition Objectives

Commodity production: Suitable commercial forestland would be managed to assure a moderately high level of sustained timber productivity.

Forest condition (Forest Health): Achievement of management objectives, including sustainability of both commodity production and wildlife habitat, requires that management emphasis be placed on treatments and harvests that restore stand condition and ecosystem productivity. Management actions include density management and understory reduction operations that reduce competition, increased use of understory prescribed fire, and fertilization. Removal of biomass from the understories of stands in the pine series to restore stand health, reduce overstory mortality, and restore habitat productivity may be a below cost operation on many sites.

Habitat retention, restoration, and production: Manage for minimal loss (including loss from wildfire) and long-term recovery of intact forest habitat over 150 years of age and toward an increase in the amount of spotted owl reproductive habitat. Manage fifth field watersheds so that a minimum of 15 percent of the federal forestland is in late successional condition. Selection of stands for management will involve consideration of the desired blend of seral stages and stand densities. Manage landscape planning blocks to maintain desired levels and distribution of early seral vegetation. Manage to retain a minimum of 40 percent canopy cover at the stand level in most regeneration harvest units, except for units of the pine series or where stand condition or site characteristics require lower levels.

Stand and Landscape Condition Objectives

Target Stand Conditions: Manage forests of the land use allocation so that over time landscapes would trend toward a forest composed of stands containing a variety of structures, stands containing trees of varying age and size, and stands with an assortment of canopy configurations. As stands age, within stand conditions should trend toward those characteristic of older forest types. Manage to provide for general connectivity. Consistent with operational and logging practicality, retain fine-grained patterns.

Seral Composition: Over time, manage for a balance of seral stages consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Landscape Composition: Manage toward a mix of stand conditions and seral patterns with consideration to three levels of scale: physiographic province (river basin / mountain range), landscape block (watershed), and within stand detail. Manage treatment unit shapes and sizes to mimic natural terrain and stand features. Minimize fragmentation and maintain the highest level of interior habitat consistent with meeting overall resource objects, except for pine series forest types where a mix of various sized seral patches may be desired.

Management Direction for Program Implementation

Variation by ecological type: Planning and implementation of specific projects will be strongly based on an understanding of the ecological relationships and limitations of the plant communities proposed for management.

• Pine series: Prescriptions would discriminate in favor of a higher proportion of ponderosa pine in the stand than current proportion and would target reduction in understory densities. Stand densities would normally be reduced to less than 160 square feet of basal area.
  
  
• Douglas-fir series: Regeneration patch sizes would vary to maintain pine and other species in the stand. Mistletoe and excessive madrone regeneration will require variation in prescriptions. Retention of canopy cover and careful choice of site preparation technique should be used to maintain deerbrush and grass at levels that do not prevent target stand conditions from being reached. Deerbrush and legumes should be retained in the system.
  
  
• Tanoak series: Highest district priority for use of prescribed fire. Patch sizes and retention prescriptions should consider the autecology of tanoak and reduce understory tanoak to more natural levels.
  
  
• White fir series: Management actions would consider limitations imposed by growing season frosts and will be designed to restore a higher proportion of pine and Douglas-fir in stands from which those components had been lost.

Qualification of stands for management deferral: Harvest entries would usually not be planned for the next decade for stands with less than 40 percent live canopy cover, expect for stands of the pine series. Salvage of volume from these stands following partial or complete stand mortality would be permitted provided residual structural objectives were met.

Structural Composition: Maintain site productivity and wildlife habitat values through the retention of structure and the design of practices required to maintain ecosystem processes throughout the management cycle. For structural retention systems, retain on the average 16-25 large green trees per acre in harvest units. Large conifers reserved would proportionally represent the total range of tree size classes greater than 20 inches in diameter and would represent all conifer species present. For specific Standards and Guidelines on coarse woody debris, green tree, and snag retention refer to pages C-40 through C-44 of the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (sections entitled: "Provide specified amounts of coarse woody debris in matrix management," "Emphasize green-tree and snag retention in matrix management," "Standards and Guideline Specific to Northern Spotted Owl Habitat for Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon," and "Provide additional protection for caves, mines, and abandoned wooden bridges and buildings that are used as roost sites for bats"). In addition, a minimum of two large hardwoods, if present, would be left per acre. Logging safety and potential tree mortality would be considered when determining the distribution of retained trees and snags.

Species Composition: Manage so that tree species trend over time toward Target Species Composition Objectives (see Table 4). Manage shrubs, forbs, and other vegetation consistent with land use allocation objectives.

Table 4. Southern GFMA Target Stand Species Composition Objectives

Desired species composition (by % conifer basal area)

Landscape Design Elements: Manage so that continuous forest areas harvested through one or more treatments (i.e., group selections and dense-reserve patches interspersed within a thinning unit) will generally be between 20 and 120 acres in size. Retain dead and green structure within group selections consistent with meeting long term stand composition goals. Situate harvest units to meet general landscape objectives, including minimizing fragmentation and providing general landscape connectivity. Harvest methods could vary within stand to: reflect current within-stand spatial patterns, meet stand objectives, and retain or create patches of reproductive or other habitat for key wildlife species.

Regeneration Harvests: Regeneration harvests would not be programmed for stands under 120 years of age and generally would not be programmed for stands under 150 years of age within the next decade unless required by deteriorating stand condition, disease, or other factors that threaten the integrity of the stand. Priority for harvest in stands under 150 years of age would be commercial thinning.

Regeneration strategies would be planned to produce the highest probability of success at the lowest practical cost and will include provisions for species diversity and long-term site productivity within the design. Practices will be strongly influenced by consideration of ecological site potential, by the need to retain sufficient canopy to assure control of competing vegetation, by the requirements of owl habitat connectivity at the stand level, and by factors including growing season frost potential.

Commercial Thinning: Stand densities would be maintained within desired ranges through a combination of planting density, precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, and management of fine-grained stand detail. Commercial thinning entries would be programmed for stands under 150 years of age, often in conjunction with limited selection harvest in stands over 80 years. Thinning in older stands will often result in understory regeneration and the development of multiple-canopied stands. Units will retain patches of denser habitat where desired to meet wildlife habitat criteria. Within the tanoak series, underburning or other vegetation management treatments would be required for tanoak control.

Activity Scheduling: Stand treatment priority would result from the watershed analysis process. General priorities for stand treatments are shown in Table 5.

Table 5. Treatment Priority by Ecological Type

Insect and Disease Management: Design silvicultural treatments so that within-stand endemic levels do not increase, and where possible, affected trees contribute to the achievement of land use allocation objectives. Creation of snags over time as a root rot center expands would be an example of using tree disease to meet a structural objective. Any retained mistletoe infected trees should be located in topographic positions that are not conducive to the spread of the disease and which are favorable for the production of nest groves.

Forest Condition (Forest Health) Restoration: Priority for restoration treatments will be determined at the stand level and will be based on the stand's ability to meet management objectives in the long-term.

Late-Successional Reserves

Late-successional reserves would be managed to protect and enhance conditions of late-successional and old growth forest ecosystems, which serve as habitat for the northern spotted owl and other late-successional and old growth related species. Silvicultural practices and salvage should therefore be guided by the objective of maintaining adequate amounts of suitable habitat.

Silvicultural practices within reserves would be limited to those practices beneficial to the creation of late-successional forest conditions and would include reforestation, maintenance and protection of existing young stands, density management, and fertilization. Thinning (precommercial and commercial) may occur in stands up to 80 years old regardless of the origin of the stand. In addition to practices that placed or maintain stands on desired developmental pathways, practices designed to restore forest condition (forest health), and other practices designed to reduce the risks of stand loss would be done to maintain long-term habitat viability.

"While risk-reduction efforts should generally be focused on young stands, activities in older stands may be appropriate if: (1) the proposed management activities will clearly result in greater assurance of long-term maintenance of habitat, (2) the activities are clearly needed to reduce risks, and (3) the activities will not prevent the Late-Successional Reserves from playing an effective role in the objectives for which they were established." ("Guidelines to Reduce Risks of Large-Scale Disturbance," page C-13, Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl).

Salvage of mortality volume is limited to stand-replacing disturbance events exceeding 10 acres under standards outlined under "Guidelines for Salvage," page C-13, Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl.

Riparian Reserves

Silvicultural activities within Riparian Reserves will be designed to meet the objectives of the Aquatic Conservation Strategy. Generally, standards and guidelines prohibit or regulate activities in the reserves that retard or prevent attainment of Strategy objectives. Silvicultural practices would be applied within the reserves to control stocking, to reestablish and manage stands, to establish and manage desired nonconifer vegetation, and to acquire desired vegetation characteristics needed to attain objectives of the Aquatic Conservation Strategy. Forest condition (forest health) restoration would be done where required to attain objectives of the Aquatic Conservation Strategy.

Salvage operations would be done only when watershed analysis determines that present and future coarse woody debris needs are met and other Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives are not adversely effected. Conduct salvage and fuelwood cutting if required to attain Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives where catastrophic events such as fire, flooding, volcanic, wind, or insect damage have resulted in degraded riparian conditions.

Adaptive Management Areas (AMAs)

Standards and guidelines are to be developed to meet the objectives of the AMA and the overall strategy. Silvicultural activities within the Applegate Adaptive Management Area would emphasize the development and testing of forest management practices, including partial cutting, prescribed burning, and low impact approaches to harvest (e.g., aerial systems) that provide for a broad range of forest values, including late-successional forest and high quality riparian habitat. Activities designed to improve or maintain forest condition (health) are expected to be prevalent.

The intent of the standards and guidelines for matrix management (there is no matrix in AMAs) regarding specific measures for coarse woody debris and for green-tree and snag retention must be met in Adaptive Management Areas. Specific standards and guidelines are not prescribed for these areas.

Late-Successional Reserves Within AMAs

Silvicultural practices will be managed according to the standards and guidelines for such reserves. Management will be designed to reduce risk of loss to natural disturbance.

Riparian Reserves Within AMAs

Riparian protection in Adaptive Management Areas should be comparable to that prescribed for other federal land areas.

Other Allocations

Silvicultural practices where appropriate would be designed to be consistent with the objectives of the allocation.

Hardwoods

Manage hardwood stands for production of commodities as markets develop. Regenerate harvested stands with the same hardwood species mix. Harvest up to 1/200 of the hardwood allocation per year.

Suitable commercial forestland allocated to timber production, but dominated by grass, shrubs, and hardwoods that resulted from human activity would be restored to conifer production. Hardwood species would be retained to maintain species richness. Natural hardwood and shrub communities on suitable commercial forestland would not be converted to conifer production.

Stands on commercial forestland that are dominated by commercial conifers, which also contain a high percentage of hardwoods as a successional stage, would be managed for timber production.

Manage white oak woodlands to meet wildlife, range, and biological diversity objectives.

Port-Orford Cedar

Silvicultural activities in areas containing Port-Orford cedar would be consistent with the Port-Orford Cedar Management Plan.

Research

A variety of wildlife and other research activities may be ongoing, currently proposed, or proposed in the future in all land allocations. Provided certain requirements are satisfied, ongoing research would continue and new research would begin. For a discussion of research requirements see, "Research" page C-4, under "Standards and Guidelines Common to all Land Allocations" in Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl. Research discussions can also be found under some of the individual allocations.