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growth rate

Started by Tam-i-am, June 26, 2004, 07:36:52 PM

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Tam-i-am

I am looking to find out the rate of growth for timber in board feet per year for a given area.  Does anyone know where to find such table?

Thanks
Tammy
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pasbuild

I'm told that it is 4% per year on average here in the UP.
My source was a DNR forester.
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

Tillaway

Lots of variables, a local forester should have access to local yeild tables for your area.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

SwampDonkey

Your DNR probably does periodic growth and yeild studies with permanent sample plots in the woods (PSP's). And I'm willing to bet they publish a paper on the results of these studies. Just contact the Timber management branch at the head office of your DNR. This type of study is usually done at the stand level (cords/acre). Typical rates up my way are 0.4 to 0.8 cords/acre per year once the stand is of merchantable size.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

jrdwyer

Site productivity can vary dramatically from one side of the hill to the next.

For example, on Monday I looked at a small 4 acre woods on hilly ground and I wasn't expecting much when I drove up the south facing hillside lane. Just fair timber with hickory, white oak, and post oak. Well, we dropped down into a north facing hillside and the timber species, size, and quality was awesome. Large, clear cherrybark red oak, black cherry, and yellow poplar; way above average compared to all the timber I look at. This north slope probably has a site index of 100-120 and growth rates of 300-400 board feet per acre per year. Compare that to the south hillside with a site index of 60-70 and growth rates of 100-150 board feet per acre per year.

So average timber productivity figures for a region or area can be significantly different than what one expereinces on a given site.

One source of soil productivity information is the NRCS Soil Surveys which give general site index (timber productivity) numbers for different soil types in your county. With site index numbers one can use yield tables to estimate growth.

Finally, actual measurements of timber volumes over time will give the best estimates of growth.

SwampDonkey

South and Southwest facing slopes are typically your best growth where your trees have optimum light and are on warmer slopes for frost free days. Elevation plays a role there too. Up our way, steep ridges are typically shaly ground and have stunted, poor growth above 400 m in elevation. Our best growth is on midslope positions with sugar maple, large tooth aspen, yellow birch, balsam fir, white spruce, white ash and some odd-ball species (not common in the region) like red oak, butternut, basswood, and black cherry. When you get into the lowlands its marshy and wet, typically stands dominated by red maple, spruce and black ash, fir and cedar. Usually the underlying rock is sand stone. You'll often find cankered aspen, forked and suckered red maple, white birch and fir on uplands or ridges after fires. These are often refered to as fertilizer trees because it takes a generation or two to replenish the organic matter of the soil for better tree growth after severe fires. Then there are some plateaus (Graham Plains) in central New Brunswick that is heavily glaciated with sandy soil and bounder fields covered in moss and growing white birch, balsam fir, black spruce and jack pine which are barely merchantable. Some areas there can be all sand and gravel or mainly boulders. Very rugged country, not hospitable to white deers in winter, they migrate down stream near settlements in the late fall. . The further north you go here, the better the cedar because its more upland and the parent material is calcareous. You can always find exceptions. Typically the biggest change in growth is influenced by elevation, then aspect, then slope and soil. Soil doesn't change much along a countour as much as with elevation or slope position. Out on the BC coast the big pumpkin patches of Sitka Spruce were on fans of landslides at the toe of the hill or along the river valleys. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

ID4ster

Tammy,
       The best place to look would be with your state woodland forester or your county extension forester. They can provide you with some general figures for your area. To get any more specific figures you would have to provide some more information. Soils, aspect (they cardinal direction that the slope faces) latitude, climate, and topography all figure into how productive a site will be. Generally you'll find that north aspect slopes are more productive than south facing slopes because of the available moisture in the summer growing season. Deeper soils are generally more productive than rocky shallow soils, riparian areas are usually far more productive than dry high ridges. Also some species of trees grow faster than others. As is often said in another forestry chat board "It depends" on your particular site or region of the country on how productive your timber ground will be. Good luck with the local public foresters and don't hesitate to ask back here again.  
Bob Hassoldt
Seven Ridges Forestry
Kendrick, Idaho
Want to improve your woodlot the fastest way? Start thinning, believe me it needs it.

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