Modeling the long-term effects of oak shelterwood regeneration treatments on species diversity and oak abundance in southern Appalachian forests of North Carolina

In April 2008, the Upland Hardwoods Ecology and Management Research Work Unit of the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station began a long-term cooperative study to describe forest ecosystem response to three oak (Quercus spp.) shelterwood regeneration treatments in the central hardwoods region of the United States. Pretreatment inventory data from 10 mature, mixed-oak forest stands on North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Game Lands were input into the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to analyze the long-term forest ecosystem response to the following oak shelterwood regeneration treatments: (1) shelterwood followed by prescribed fire and overstory removal, (2) shelterwood via herbicide followed by overstory removal, (3) repeated prescribed fire followed by overstory removal, and (4) control. In this study, FVS growth forecasts were used to analyze alternative oak shelterwood regeneration treatment effects on species diversity and oak abundance over the next 50 years.