Olympia Forestry Sciences Laboratory

Silviculture and Forest Models Team

The Silviculture and Forest Models Team is a division of the PNW Research Station's Resource Management and Productivity Program.  Our team's research focuses on developing and evaluating a wide range of silvicultural systems to meet diverse management goals. Major lines of research include:

• Study basic plant processes -- such as reproduction, water and nutrient relations, wood formation, and root development -- which are important in understanding establishment and growth of forest trees and shrubs
• Evaluate growth and development of tree species in response to a variety of silvicultural practices that include site preparation, planting density, fertilization, precommercial thinning, pruning, commercial thinning, and a variety of regeneration harvest strategies
• Develop and evaluate a wide range of silvicultural systems (even-aged and multi-aged) to meet diverse management goals
• Investigate the effects of forest operations and management activities on long-term site productivity including nutrient cycling, changes in soil conditions, and vegetation responses
• Develop tree- and stand-level growth models that characterize stand dynamics for a wide range of silvicultural practices and regimes
• Develop stand- and landscape-level forest management design and visualization systems that allow better assessment and communication of forest management alternatives
• Develop more efficient methods to collect tree-, stand-, and landscape-level data for the design of forest operations and modeling of stand dynamics
• Develop and adapt advanced technologies that allow better design, implementation, and monitoring of forest operations and their impacts

Site updates

• June 2009: Added a page announcing International Symposium on Western Redcedar and Yellow-Cedar meeting in May 2010.
• February 2009: Added a page containing links to information on hardwood management and site selection in the Pacific Northwest.
• November 2008: Added a page describing the Belowground Competition Study in which we examine how root competition affects natural Douglas-fir regeneration.

For definitions of unfamiliar terms, try our glossary (button on the left side of the page).

For more information about our team, please call/or email Steve Reutebuch, Team Leader (206)-543-4710.

USDA Forest Service - SFM Team
Last Modified: Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 22:31:35 EDT