This seminar presents an overview of an innovative daylong course for timber harvesters, landowners, and foresters, which focuses on timber-harvesting decisions. While created for application in Pennsylvania, the approach presented is adaptable to other states and regions. The course focuses on the changes that timber harvesting affects in the forest, and that this change has the potential to either improve or harm that forest. While each of us strives to practice sustainable forestry, there are numerous examples suggesting that we are not always successful.

Sustainable forestry acknowledges that every timber harvest should protect the productive potential of the site. Most importantly, purely from a forestry perspective, every timber harvest must consider the condition of the residual forest and regeneration—the future forest. Practicing good forestry requires that you understand some of the basic ideas of silviculture.

This course focuses on timber resources. An essential element is the proper application of silviculture. Silviculture requires that we focus on at least two things: residual trees and forest regeneration. Forestry, practiced with a concern for residual trees and regeneration, can sustain timber and all the other values associated with forests. To help ensure that forestry is sustainable, it is useful to consider seven questions that focus our attention on sustainable outcomes when considering a timber harvest.

Residual Trees · What has happened to species composition? · What has happened to residual tree quality? · What has happened to the average stand diameter? Regeneration · What is the role of interfering plants? · What is the condition of existing advanced regeneration? · Has the seed source been retained? · What is the impact of deer?

Through this course, we attempt to help participants understand the importance of these questions as they plan and conduct harvesting activities that yield sustainable forestry outcomes. If we are to maintain our access to timber resources and ensure that we will have trees for future generations, we will have to look at the impacts of our cutting decisions from a sustainable perspective.

Finally as part of the introduction to this course, we have to focus on forming a partnership involving the landowner, forester, and timber harvester to obtaining sustainable outcomes. Certainly, the landowners have a responsibility to make the right decisions to achieve sustainable outcomes, but they depend on all us  timber harvesters, foresters, and the forest products industry  to help guide them toward making responsible forestry decisions. We can no longer shift the blame for poor forestry practices onto others – we are all responsible!