Controlling competing vegetation for forest regeneration

Abstract

The timely regeneration of productive forests is vital to maintain timber supply in the forest industry. However, other vegetation can severely hinder forest regenerations. Therefore, effective measures to control the competing vegetation are necessary to ensure the regeneration of new forests. The forest industry develops specific measures and also adopt practices from horticulture, agriculture, and other disciplines to depress vegetation that compete with crop trees during the regeneration phase. Common vegetation control measures are discussed in this thesis with the objective of helping forest manager to select effective vegetation control measures for their specific site conditions. The vegetation control measures discussed include partial harvesting, prescribed burns, livestock grazing, mechanical site preparation, herbicide, mulch, cover crops, and tree shelters. Each vegetation control measure is situationspecific and includes many variables to consider, such as access, labour availability, machinery availability, and implementation cost. By using known vegetation control measures and by researching, developing, and innovating new vegetation control measures, foresters will ensure the success of forest regeneration and steady timber supplies.