One of the key learnings from last year’s forest productivity tour series is that “intermediate treatments can be an effective tool for increasing forest productivity…as long as we don’t go overboard.” Last week, the Aitkin County Land Department hosted a tour that focused on their experiences of applying intermediate treatments in a variety of forest types. Katie Fernholz of Dovetail Partners, Inc. produced a 10-minute video summary of the tour that you can watch by clicking here. A written summary and photos can be found below.
Many thanks to Aitkin County Land Department and the Forest Guild for co-sponsoring this event with the Blandin Foundation!
August 8, 2009 at 8:40 am
I really enjoyed your video production and the summary of treatments. Wished I could have been there! Hopefully, we can continue to promote this type of harvest while recognizing that most of the logging community have conventional equipment and not Cut to Length (CTL). Tours on a Friday….. Hmmm -PD
August 10, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Thanks Katie for producing the video!
From my experience, (also in northern Aitkin County), the limiting factors for successful intermediate treatments in recent years has been two-fold:
- Relatively few logging businesses are interested in/ equipped to harvest thinning treatments. Those who are have plenty of projects to choose from across ownerships.
- Businesses that harvest these treatments on an occasional basis, (usually pine thinnings, as a summer niche) have dropped out recently due to difficulty locating a market for their products (esp pine saw bolts).
Conversely, the increased utilization of maple by pulp manufacturers has greatly increased the economy of hardwood thinnings, when we do find people to do the work.