Tips for Managing Young Alder and Douglas-fir Stands in Your Forest

Are you stewarding a young Douglas-fir or alder stand and wondering how to improve growth and survival of your trees? This video by Northwest Natural Resource Group will show you some of the techniques you can use to take on your next stand or seedling release project.

If you're stewarding a young forest -- whether your trees are seedlings recently planted after a harvest, or quickly-growing stands of red alder or Douglas-fir -- reducing competition for sunlight, nutrients, and water is going to be a key part of your stewardship as they grow. Releasing seedlings from competing vegetation -- whether native or non-native -- will increase their survival and vigor until they're taller and able to compete on their own. And pre-commercially thinning a stand removes the most suppressed, defective trees to create more room in the canopy and free up resources for the remaining trees to grow bigger and support more robust crowns.

Learn more about seedling and stand release at: https://www.nnrg.org/standrelease

Funding and support for this video comes from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education with grant #OW19-350 – Seedling Release and Young-Stand Thinning as a Way to Increase Forest Health and Production.