Tree Planting for Timber and Wildlife - Part 1

click on the sign for a better read

The sign above is located on the east side of County Highway DK (formerly State Highway 57) north of the town of Brussels.  About the same time we reforested our former farm land a similarly-sized piece of sensitive farmland was also reforested.  

Water quality has long been a challenge on the Door Peninsula as a consequence of the karst rock formation that dominates the topography here.  I suspect that this planting in particular was a means to address a water runoff issue.  But I digress.  What I'd like to talk about is reforestation as a process and the patient succession that follows.

First steps include the following:

Site preparation in the year prior to planting.  In our case this included discing the soil to bust-up any compaction.  Not once - but twice.  This was followed by application of a pre-emergent herbicide.  When the trees are planted the following spring/summer the emergence of competing weed and grasses following tree planting would be discouraged.

Soil maps from the county Soil and Water Department were critical to the selection of native Wisconsin species and where they should be planted.  Optimum growth is the desired result.  Moreover, selection of trees to plant is analogous to building a stock portfolio.  Diversification is important.  Ash was a component in our hardwood selection as it is a common and fast-growing species suited to our soil types.  At the time emerald ash borer wasn't on anybody's radar screen.  Decades later our well-intentioned ash has a death sentence.  

Our stocking rate (trees planted) was 800 trees per acre - give or take.  That's a large number of trees and you have to account for mortality due to animals (mice, deer and rabbits) and weather conditions (namely drought) in the early establishment of the planting.  If survivability is better than normal several thinnings will follow in the decades to come.

Trees are machine-planted in rows.  Sure, some urbanites find this practice not aesthetically pleasing to the eye but there is a reason for this. Row planting facilitates the establishment of the little trees.  Most plantings are of one and two year-old bare root stock.  Of critical importance in the early years (and until the trees grow beyond the height of the weeds and grass) is vegetation management.  Row planting allows for herbicide management of invasive shrubs and mowing the grasses without harming the seedlings.  Without managing the competing grasses and invasives - mortality of the little seedlings would be much higher and could result in a failure of most if not all of the planting.

Nevertheless, aesthetics also happens to be a concern of a large number of us tree farmers.  If you've ever been in a red pine plantation it looks like a utility pole forest with nothing growing in the thick layer of needles in the under story.  There's not much there for the critters and the only appeal is the future sale of tall, straight utility poles.  I get that.  The answer to the aesthetics issue is to plant a mix of conifers and hardwoods.  For instance - a mixture of various hardwood species per row alternated with a row of a single conifer species.  The bushier conifers help 'train' the hardwoods to grown straight stems in their formative years.

Planting on the diagonal (relative to roads and boundaries) and in sweeping curves also helps.  Later thinnings will remove a significant number of the conifers and selective thinning of the hardwoods will be performed to favor dominant and other favored trees. By the time you have a mature forest and natural regeneration is occurring most evidence of the rows will have disappeared. Here is a handy graphic:

click on image for a better look

This requires no small amount of patience as growing trees takes decades.  In a world of instant information and instant gratification it can be a tall order to wrap your mind around this concept.  Think of it like this - if it crosses your mind to plant a tree go ahead and act on it.  Every year you wait to think about it is one year of growth that is gone.  That's called opportunity cost.  I'm reminded that the oak trees we planted more than twenty years ago are likely going to be enjoyed by someone who hasn't even been born.  

Next week I'll publish more about the process of thinning.