A Growth Rate Classification of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine

Abstract A knowledge of the growth rates of individual trees as well as of the forest as a whole is essential to proper silvicultural management. In marking ponderosa pine, the forester removes the trees growing at a slow rate, incapable of responding to release, and of poor vigor, leaving the faster growing trees and those capable of responding satisfactorily when the stand is opened by cutting. This classification furnishes a guide to the relative growth rates of individual trees which is readily applied in the field.