Timber Productivity Research Gaps for Extensive Forest Management

On extensive areas of small scale forests, significant opportunities for improving the value of future timber harvests while also improving other resource values are now being missed. A new focus on practical extensive management research is needed, especially as implementation of intensive practices has been declining in many areas, and new "close to nature" prescriptions are coming into more widespread use. This paper offers an extended definition of management intensity, and then discusses general research needs in regeneration, pest management, stand management guides, financial analysis, and nontimber values, and effects on ecosystem services. In this scheme, intensity is not directly related to management emphasis. In this study, research needs were assessed for timber productivity in four forest type groups in the Eastern USA: loblolly-slash pine, white red jack pine, northern hardwoods, and oak hickory in the North (details are given in Supplementary materials on SSFO website). Based on this preliminary assessment, general areas of research needs seem remarkably similar across all four types discussed. Further, it is likely that similar issues and needs occur in many parts of the world on small scale forest ownerships. Naturally their specific nature and importance will vary widely. Yet in most cases, preparing and updating existing guidelines and financial and silvicultural analyses, plus selective remeasurements of past long-term experiments, will likely prove important.