Certification | Forest Management Practices | Even-Aged Management | California | Washington

EVEN-AGED MANAGEMENT

Clearing Up the Controversy Over the Use of Even-Aged Management in our Forests

"Even-aged management" (also referred to as clearcutting) is the removal of nearly all of the trees within a harvest area. To many people, this type of harvesting can appear alarmingly destructive, leading to the perception that it is harmful to the environment. Misunderstandings about the practice and its unsightliness lead some people to believe this practice should not be allowed.

Given the controversy it causes, some may question why we continue using this method of harvest.

Like so many issues, this one is not as simple as it appears. Let's take a look at the reasons we use the even-aged management as one of our forest management tools.

OVERVIEW OF EVEN-AGED MANAGEMENT

Although even-aged management is often the most efficient and economical way to harvest timber, the reasons we continue to use this practice have more to do with biology and the long-term sustainability of our forests than they do with economics.

For many tree species - including Douglas fir and redwood, the species we grow on our lands in Northern California - removing most of the trees from the harvested area is the best method for prompt regeneration and rapid re-growth of the forest. These species do not reproduce or grow well in the shade of other trees. They require full sunlight to grow and become well established. A redwood or Douglas fir growing in an area that has been opened up to full sun will be much larger than one the same age that has been shaded beneath a canopy of large trees. Even-aged management recreates conditions similar to those that occur after a major wildfire or windstorm, natural disturbances that have for centuries been largely responsible for the replacement of old forests with new ones.

Even-aged management is beneficial for other reasons as well. This harvesting method minimizes the disturbance caused by logging and road building. Once harvested, the area is quickly replanted and then the site is left undisturbed for 50 to 70 years. In selective logging - the practice of removing only a few trees in each area - a harvest area must be entered multiple times from multiple points, multiplying the potential soil and other disturbances.

No one harvesting method is appropriate for all areas. Selective logging is a responsible forest management practice in mixed-age or mixed-species forests. On our lands, we have found that even-aged management, where suitable and carefully applied, is the best means of ensuring prompt reforestation and rapid growth of new forests.

Here are some more important facts about clearcutting:

Forestry regulations on the West Coast may be the most rigorous in the world. These regulations limit the size of harvest, provide benefits for wildlife and protect water quality, streams and wetlands.
In our region, harvested areas must be replanted within three years of harvest. However, Simpson replants within two years.
Before any new area can be harvested next to a previously harvested site in the same ownership, the previous site must have new trees at least five feet tall and three years in the ground, or five years in the ground if the trees are less than five feet tall.

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