The state includes approximately 18.4 million acres of forestland, 61% of the total land area. Approximately 82% of this forestland is owned by private landowners, so the burden of properly managing this valuable resource is largely on the common person.
On average, over fifty-seven thousand acres of land revert from non-forest to forest, and over sixty-three thousand acres are converted from forest to non-forest each year, resulting in a net loss of approximately six thousand acres of forestland each, primarily due to urbanization.
Approximately four hundred thousand acres of forestland are harvested within the state each year and allowed to be reforested either through natural regeneration tree planting or a combination of both. You may have recently harvested your timberland and are considering your reforestation options, asking which trees to grow on your property for future timber sustainability and growth.
This article will assist you in deciding on which trees to manage on your property to meet your objectives.
What Type Of Trees Should I Grow On My Land
While many types of trees grow almost anywhere, healthy forests are composed of tree species that thrive on your property and soil. An integral part of your forest assessment is understanding the soil potential or productivity of the tree species best suited to those soils.
Proper knowledge of soils can avoid harmful or unintended consequences of forest land management. Many landowners are unaware of soil limitations affecting tree growth and profitability. To make a proper decision, assessing the area and developing a reforestation plan that considers your objectives and local site and oil conditions related to tree growth is important.
1. Develop A Reforestation Plan For Your Forest
A forester should develop a reforestation plan to evaluate all the factors properly. The forester will also understand the site conditions and their effect on tree growth and can assist you with deciding what types of trees are best for your property's particular sites.
The forester can assess your property, delineate soil types and associated site qualities, discuss your forestland management objectives, and help you decide which reforestation system best suits your assessment and goals.
2. Soil Conditions And Landowner Objectives Dictate Which Trees To Grow
Your management objectives tied with site conditions related to the individual silvics of a particular tree species will dictate the best tree type to grow on your property. Individual tree types grow differently in different soil types or conditions.
Different tree types can also be grown to achieve different management objectives. For example, planting loblolly pine on a pine site can be the best species for maximum timber production with short rotations.
Another example is a mixed yellow-poplar, white pine stand created with natural regeneration and supplemental pine tree planting on a mountain site that can achieve your objective of forest diversity and pine and hardwood saw timber production with diverse wildlife habitats.
A third example is managing the sourwood component in a mixed hardwood stand to improve the production of high-quality honey from your honeybee operation.
However, when developing your timber objectives, you still have to grow the right tree on the right site, or you will not achieve your goal without expensive silvicultural treatments that are not needed if the current site is selected for the current grouping of trees.
For example, if you wish to grow red oak and white oak on a site that is better suited to yellow poplar, you will have to do a series of expensive treatments to release the oak species because the yellow poplar will grow much faster than the desired oaks. The same principle applies if you try to plant longleaf pine on a heavy clay Piedmont soil type.
The key is to match your tree species objectives with the right site. As already discussed, the key is the reforestation assessment of the site conditions done during the reforestation plan development.
3. Site Conditions Suitable For Pine Species
Pines are best adapted to soils with moisture, soil depth, or textural limitations. Expecting hardwood species to thrive on worn-out or eroded cropland or previously abused timberland is futile and frustrating. It is best to save those less-than-perfect sites for one of the pine species.
Soils and sites can heal and improve with proper management over many decades, so your restoration efforts may expand future tree species choices.
Pine species generally tolerate poorer, steeper, hotter, and drier soil conditions. The growth and vigor of pines vary significantly depending on the species, geographic region, and site quality. White pine, Virginia pine, and shortleaf pine are the major commercial pine species in the mountains. Shortleaf, longleaf, Virginia, and loblolly pine are native to the Piedmont. Longleaf, loblolly, and pond pine were and are common in the Coastal Plain.
Other conifers gaining ecological restoration interest are Atlantic white cedar (coastal organic and wet mineral sites), bald cypress (coastal and piedmont swamps/river bottoms), red spruce, pitch pine, and table mountain pine (high-elevation mountain sites). The property's geographic region and soil conditions will determine the conifer species selected.
4. Site Conditions Suitable For Hardwood Species
Hardwoods evolved to thrive on specific soils and site types. Generally, moist, loamy, or medium-textured soils with more than six inches of topsoil are suitable for high-quality and desirable hardwood species such as oaks, ashes, yellow poplar, and hickories.
Tilling, erosion, compaction, and rutting can render good hardwood sites unacceptable for decades or even centuries. While many hardwood species grow on impoverished sites, they will struggle and lack the necessary vigor to produce wildlife food (mast) or quality timber.
Hardwoods grow in more diverse ecosystems, with different species better suited to different sites. Better-quality hardwood sites are usually found on lower slopes, cove sites, and north aspects. All hardwood species will grow across the range; however, species such as yellow poplar, ash, and cucumber trees will outgrow other hardwood species on these higher-quality sites.
Oaks will also grow well on the higher quality sites but do better if yellow-poplar is absent. Typically, red oak and white oak species do well on more moderate site qualities where the yellow-poplar present grows somewhat slower than the oak,
The upper dry ridges will support hardwoods; however, their growth and quality are less than on the lower slopes. Mixed pine and hardwood stands grow well on these sites, with the pine component being the desired timber tree and the hardwood component more valuable for their woodland habitat.
Overview of site conditions suitable for hardwoods:
- Stream and river bottoms and coves
- Soils three feet or more deep with six inches of topsoil
- Mid and lower slopes
- North, northwest, east, and southeast slope aspects
- Gradual, not steep slopes
- Loa,. sandy loam, sandy clay loam, solid texture
- Moist, but not wet and with good internal drainage
5. Assessing Site Conditions For Specific Trees
You must be able to determine whether a site will support a specific species before trying to manage that species on any particular site. There are several ways to do this. Foresters utilize a combination of techniques to assess the site to determine the most appropriate species or grouping of species to favor.
- Evaluate the topographic conditions of the site to determine the site quality.
- Utilize published soil surveys and soil maps to determine site quality
- Measure the site index on the tree species to determine site quality.
Foresters measure trees in your forest or evaluate soil conditions to determine which species might be best adapted. The site index, which is the predicted height of species at a given age, usually 50 or 25 years, ranks the quality of your land for different tree species.
The better a species' site index, the better the trees will grow and thrive. Generally, if the soil is poor for a given species, it is wise to manage other species that perform better on that soil type.
Also, knowing the site index for one species allows the forester to estimate the site index for other tree species not present on the site. This allows for interpretation of what is the best species or species mix for your soil.
For instance, “Poor” red oak sites may prove excellent for other species, particularly one or more pines or yellow poplar. If timber is a goal, managing the species with a good or very good site index on the property will be more profitable, and the stands will be healthier and more vigorous.
Scientifically developed site index data and tables are available for many species and soil/site types across North Carolina.
If, after careful soil evaluation, you decide that hardwoods are not likely to thrive, then one or more of the pine or other conifer species should be considered. Restoring or converting poor-quality hardwood or mixed pine/hardwood stands is a sound forest management recommendation for many high-graded or otherwise decadent forest stands in all geographic regions of the state where the soils are suitable.
6. Different Types Of Trees Require Different Types Of Management
Now that you have selected the tree type that you wish to grow on your property, you need to determine the appropriate regeneration system to use to meet your species' objectives. Regeneration systems are a series of management techniques utilized to achieve success.
The site dictates the regeneration system, species, and objectives. Typically, faster-growing objectives require more intensive management to achieve. Site quality and competition also dictate which level of work is needed.
Here is a list of examples of more prevalent regeneration systems utilized for pine and hardwood species. It is important to have a forester evaluate the site to determine which system is best suited to meet your objectives.
- Natural regeneration of hardwood followed by competition release to select for desired species
- Site prep burn followed by pine tree planting
- Clear brush, bed, and plant pine in an excessively wet coastal plain site
- Natural hardwood regeneration with supplemental pine tree planting to produce a mixed stand
- Burn followed by natural regeneration to produce a mixed pine and hardwood stand
- Crop tree release in a young hardwood forest to select desired species
Many more reforestation systems are utilized depending on species, site conditions, and objectives. A forester can develop a plan that is most appropriate to your particular objectives and meets the silvicultural requirements of the type of tree you wish to grow.
The forests of North Carolina are very diverse and provide many attributes, such as timber for forest products, food and cover for wildlife and recreational activities, and food for humans. Managing the forest to produce the many benefits properly and maintaining a sustainable and healthy forest for future generations is important.
When a new forest is created through harvesting or agricultural land is converted, growing the trees best suited for the particular site is very important. As a current landowner and steward of your property, you are responsible for ensuring that the forest continues to grow for future generations.
Church And Church Lumber Company: Important To Forestry Management
Church and Church Lumber Company is a major buyer of timber products from private land in the mountains of North Carolina. This income provides income to landowners and jobs throughout the state. The income can fund proper land management activities for various natural resources.
Church and Church, a family-owned company, serves much of North Carolina and the neighboring areas. We offer various services, from logging and forest management to direct lumber sales.
Contact Church & Church today for more information about how we can help you better manage your forest land.