Regeneration of Northern Hardwoods Under Shelterwood Cutting

Shelterwood regeneration cuts were made on hemlock-hardwood and sugar maple sites in mature timber. On both sites three understory treatments were compared: (1) no treatment, (2) all advance regeneration poisoned, and (3) all advance regeneration poisoned and the plots scarified.Sugar maple responded well on untreated plots of the sugar maple site. Removing competition by poisoning stimulated yellow birch establishment on both sites, and removing competition plus scarifying, yielded the most yellow birch on both sites. However, yellow birch regeneration predominated on the treated areas of the hemlock-hardwood site, while sugar maple regeneration predominated on comparable areas of the sugar maple site.