improvement

Reforestation and stand treatments are essential to maintaining a healthy, resilient forest ecosystem for the future. These activities will maintain sufficient timber productivity to meet projected future desired conditions for the sustained Reforestation management of NFS lands.

treatments will guarantee that lands are promptly regenerated following either harvest or disturbance of stocking levels sufficient to meet stated land and resource management objectives. Timber stand improvement treatments include release, precommercial thinning, pruning, and fertilization. These activities promote stand health and resiliency that is essential in creating and maintaining the proper species composition, density, and stand structure needed to meet broader landscape or ecological management objectives. These activities are designed to be consistent with environmental, social, and economic benefits and costs.

The reforestation and stand improvement programs are financed through appropriated funds in the Forest Vegetation Management line item, the Reforestation Trust Fund, and Knutson-Vandenberg funds (K-V). These funds are used to reforest harvested areas, unsuccessful plantations and areas damaged by fire, insects, or disease, and to release planted trees from competing vegetation or overcrowding. Expenses for seedlings purchased from Forest Service, States, and private nurseries are also covered. Contracts for site preparation, animal damage control, fertilization, tree planting, release, precommercial thinning, and a limited amount of tree pruning are also charged to these funds.

1. Reforestation

The objective of the reforestation program is to annually reforest an area equal to the area annually deforested to protect the sites as quickly as possible in order to meet resource and ecosystem management needs.

There is a 2 to 3 year lag between the time an area is logged and when it is reforested. This lag is due to factors that affect sequence and timing, such as: salvage harvest following disasters; collection of seed from sources adapted to the particular area; nursery production of seedlings to specifications needed for the site; site preparation (especially slash disposal); contract lead time; and in some circumstances delay to allow for potential natural reproduction.

Reforestation is a capital investment opportunity. Cost effectiveness is therefore a concern in planning and scheduling work. The program is guided by efforts to improve benefit-cost ratios through analysis of regeneration techniques and related work in the most cost effective manner.

2. Timber Stand Improvement

The timber stand improvement (TSI) objective is

to improve forest health, vigor, and maintain rapid growth. This is essential toward meeting stated management objectives at the stand, landscape, and ecosystem levels. Timber stand improvement activities include the following: (1) release treatments provide for the removal of competing vegetation to ensure high levels of growth and vigor; (2) precommercial thinning treatments provide the opportunity to regulate stand density, reduce standing fuels, control species composition, and alter stand structure to better meet resource management objectives; (3) pruning treatments provide the opportunity to reduce fuel ladders and improve future product quality by producing more clear, sound wood; and (4) fertilization treatments provide a means of maintaining or improving soil productivity.

Young unmerchantable stands of trees are thinned (usually with chainsaws or hand tools) to remove surplus and poor quality trees and allow the remaining trees to grow at optimum rates with less susceptibility to attacks from insects and disease. Hand tools, prescribed fire,

1998 Explanatory Notes

machinery, and herbicides are used to remove or retard growth of competing vegetation, thus releasing trees to increase growth rates or to favor desirable species. These activities are important to increasing or maintaining forest health and sustainable levels of timber production. Often, they are also critical to the attainment of nontimber goals and desired future conditions envisioned in the forest plans.

Since FY 1980, 7.2 million acres of young stands have been created by reforestation treatments. Current annual additions are approximately 300,000 acres. As these new stands develop, most will need to be released from competing vegetation and/or thinned to maintain healthy, vigorous stands. In addition, natural stands occur that are in need of improvement work. TSI needs continue to increase at a higher rate than treatments.

As of October 1, 1996, about 1,680,000 acres needed timber stand improvement to improve growing conditions. The breakdown among the major stand improvement activities are:

TSI activities identified within timber sale areas may be financed using K-V funds, provided there is funding available from the timber sale to cover the cost and the activity is included on the Sale Area Improvement plan for the sale. TSI activities outside of timber sale areas, or for which no K-V collection has been made, are financed using appropriated funds and the Reforestation Trust Fund. TSI acres displayed in the table below reflect work financed by all funding sources: K-V; appropriated; and the Reforestation Trust Fund.

3. Genetic Resource Program

The objective of the genetic resource program is to improve the genetic quality of seed and

planting stock used on NFS lands, to determine biological diversity of forest tree and native plant species; and to produce high quality planting stock in appropriate numbers and