Let's talk paper birch!  There are few tree species that have such a rich and diverse relationship with the inhabitants of North America, being prized for food, medicine, transportation, fuel, lumber, pulpwood, shelter, and aesthetic beauty.  Paper birch is an ecological opportunist, taking advantage of disturbances that expose mineral soil and allow its abundant, tiny seeds to take root.  Still, in the Lake States at least, many birch stands are disappearing to the forces of succession and changing disturbance patterns.  Today we talk with Colleen Matula, Wisconsin DNR Forest Ecologist and Silviculturist, and John Zasada, retired forest research scientist with the US Forest Service, about paper birch silviculture and how we can sustain this fascinating species.

Guests: Colleen Matula and John Zasada

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Foresters love terminology.  In fact, foresters have a long history coining detailed words to describe their forest management, dating back to Germany where many terms were developed to describe regional silvicultural systems and methods.  It's no wonder that as foresters we still come across silviculture terms that make us say "hmmm, what exactly does that mean."  Today we are going to talk with Professor Tony D'Amato from the University of Vermont about one such term that we are hearing mentioned a lot these days… irregular shelterwood.  This regeneration method is becoming popular in many forest types to develop diverse forest composition and structure.  But how do we define and implement a method that is, well, irregular?

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Foresters often encounter stand trees that have been “degraded” by past land use practices, whether that is destructive cutting, over-grazing, invasive species, insects and disease, or other impactful disturbances.  How do foresters begin to manage these stands in a way that restores productivity and function?  What are some the silviculture techniques to consider in these highly variable forests with mostly low-quality growing stock?  And how do you motivate a landowner to make these long-term investments in the health of their forest?  Today we talk with Tom Hill, a Wisconsin DNR forester who has worked on both public and private forest lands in southern Wisconsin for more than two decades, to find out some approaches he has tried to put these stands on a better track. 

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On this episode, we discuss all things oak with Dan Dey, a research forester with the US Forest Service Northern Research Station.  Nationally, Dan is one of the leading voices in conversations surrounding oak.  In particular we delve into what we get wrong about oak regeneration and recruitment and what we could do better to secure a sustainable future for oak.

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In this episode we sit down to have a chat (virtually that is) with Jed Meunier, a research scientist with WDNR – Division of Forestry, to discuss how frequent low to moderate intensity fires shaped Wisconsin's mixed conifer forests in ways we never realized and how foresters today can learn lessons from these historic fire-dependent ecosystems to design silvicultural treatments that increase forest resilience.  Our conversation will touch on some of the important findings in Jed's recently published research papers on this subject.

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When it comes to regenerating a forest in eastern United States, most foresters know that deer browse will often be part of the equation.  But assessing the severity of browse and ultimately its impact on successful recruitment of trees is not always easy.  We continue our conversation with Dustin Bronson, a Research Plant Physiologist with the US Forest Service, Northern Research Station and Casey Menick, Forest Regeneration Program Specialist with Wisconsin DNR, Division of Forestry to learn how good regeneration monitoring can help us answer some of these challenging questions.   

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Ensuring forests regenerate well following a harvest is a basic element of sustainable forestry and that is why good monitoring is so important.  In this episode we introduce a new natural regeneration monitoring method and program being implemented in Wisconsin, the Forest Regeneration Metric or FRM.  What is FRM, how can foresters use it effectively, and what do we hope to learn about regeneration success and failure in Wisconsin?

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