 There's a future for our children, a future that is good. Have you given much thought to the trees in your wood lot? Many forest land owners want to learn how to be good stewards of the forest resource by managing their trees to produce valuable benefits for them and their communities. The objective of this presentation is to explain the concept of crop tree management, which focuses on increasing growth of selected trees to provide timber, wildlife, and aesthetic benefits. Let's begin by taking a look at a few basic facts about the forest environment. We call this information the facts of life for forest-grown trees. Life is tough for trees. Not only must they withstand the elements, but they're also forced to compete with neighboring trees for water, light, nutrients, and space in order to survive. This competition is intense. From the time it's first established as a seedling or sprout, a tree must constantly struggle to exist and grow. Trees that are unable to compete successfully soon fall behind their neighbors and become desperately disadvantaged in the ever-present struggle for life. They lose vigor, become suppressed, and frequently suffer attack by insects and disease. Many of these trees that have obviously lost out in the race should be removed from the forest, thus turning over their water, light, nutrients, and space to a neighbor with more potential to grow. Directing these resources to selected crop trees contributes to the maintenance of a healthy forest. All trees are not created equal. Some trees are prettier than others. Some produce more food for wildlife. And some are more valuable for producing timber products. Environmental circumstances and genetic makeup are factors that influence the desirability of individual trees. No tree is perfect. Quality varies from tree to tree, but no tree is absolutely perfect. Therefore, selecting the best trees within a wood lot means choosing those having the most desirable characteristics. Regardless of what you have to pick from, there is always a best choice. It's okay to discriminate against inferior trees. Removing disadvantaged and undesirable trees to favor better trees is not wrong. Trees in good condition will take advantage of opportunities to utilize additional water, light, nutrients, and space. When disadvantaged trees are removed from competition, the healthy trees that remain will respond with increased growth. Trees can be regenerated. Given the proper time, place, and environmental conditions, trees will reproduce. It's difficult to identify specific crop trees at this stage of development, but if we're going to harvest bountiful crops in the future, we must provide proper conditions now for regeneration of desirable crop trees. Perhaps some of these statements or facts of life sound harsh, but they're intended to serve as guiding principles for making decisions about the trees in your wood lot. Most people recognize a field of corn as a crop, but few think of the trees in the forest as a crop. A major difference is that corn requires only one growing season, but trees need many years to develop and mature. However, just as the corn is cultured and harvested, so too are trees. It's important for you to realize that a crop tree can be any tree that has potential to produce a desired benefit. Although we traditionally think of wood products as the primary benefit of trees, things like wildlife habitat and aesthetics should also be considered. Therefore, crop trees can be grouped into three different categories, wildlife, aesthetic, and timber. If wildlife is important to you, then you can help your wood lot support the kinds and numbers of animals you like by managing the species of trees that are beneficial to them. Of course, there are limits on how much influence you can have, but in many instances, the decisions we make regarding the vegetation in wood lots will have an important effect on the wildlife in the area. The visual benefits you currently enjoy in your wood lot can be enhanced by managing aesthetic crop trees. For example, you may enjoy the brilliance of colorful foliage in the fall, and in springtime, you might look forward to seeing attractive blossoms like these. Frequently, people think of timber products as the crop and dollar income as the benefit. Consequently, trees that have the greatest potential to produce valuable timber products are the ones that are favored and given the best growing conditions. Crop tree management can produce results like this. The two cross sections shown here are from trees of the same age. The tree on the left, however, had the benefit of crop tree management, while the one on the right did not. Generally, trees having potential to produce veneer or lumber are much more valuable than those that can be used only for pulp or firewood. The large white oak on the right is a high quality tree and therefore is more valuable than a smaller tree on the left, which at this time can be used only for pulp or firewood. So how do you go about managing crop trees? You begin by finding out what you have to work with on your property. This information can easily be obtained by walking through your wood lot with a forester. It's important for you and your forester to have good, clear communication. First, your forester needs to explain what potential you have in your wood lot. Then you, the landowner, need to identify the benefits you want your wood lot to produce. You both need to discuss and agree on what objectives are obtainable. For instance, if you have trees this size in your wood lot now, you cannot expect to end up with trees this size in 15 years. That is not an obtainable objective. After you have an idea of the type of trees on your property, you may then establish specific objectives that can be accomplished by crop tree management. Usually two or three objectives are all that you can effectively focus your attention on at one time. Here's an example of three typical objectives, all of which can be achieved within a wood lot over the same period of time. Once your wood lot objectives have been established and documented, you and your forester need to set up a schedule of the actions needed to meet them and a timetable for completion of each. The next important step is deciding which trees will best meet your wood lot objectives. To help us do this, we need to identify crop tree selection criteria. This is done by describing for each crop tree category the specific characteristics trees should have to qualify them for selection. Let's take a look first at timber crop tree selection criteria. Species is a primary factor since value varies according to species. Crown condition, size or diameter of the tree, and quality and height of the bowl or trunk are also important considerations. Favor trees with large healthy symmetrical crowns. Trees having relatively small crowns compared to the size of their trunks are less desirable choices. Think of the crown as the trees factory. Once released from competition, trees that have a factory in good condition are ready to go online and start producing benefits right away. Trees with small crowns must first invest their available resources in building up their factories. Look for bowls or trunks that are straight, particularly in the bottom 17 feet since the lower portion of the tree yields the highest value timber products. Low forks in the main stem are undesirable because they often limit the length of high value timber products that can be produced. Forks also predispose the tree to damage during wind and ice storms since they are likely to break. Large dead limbs located in the lower, more valuable portion of the tree can be a serious defect because they invite decay to enter the trunk. Epichormic branches are an undesirable characteristic. Epi means upon, and cormic means stem. Since the lower stem or trunk of a tree is the most valuable, these branches that appear upon the stem tend to reduce the tree's value. Knots, which form in the wood wherever branches occur on a tree, lower the value of the lumber produced. This lumber, which contains knots, is worth considerably less than this knot-free lumber. Trees that lean are generally not good choices for crop trees. Not only are they at risk of coming down during storms, but the timber products they yield are often not as valuable as those produced by straight trees. If you plan to sell your timber crop trees in 15 or 20 years, they should have a current diameter of at least 12 inches in order to yield high quality products at harvest time. Trees of this size, with healthy crowns, will respond well to the opportunities available to them when they are released. Releasing crop trees means removing selected neighboring trees to open things up and give the crop trees room to grow. Trees that originate from stump sprouts may be chosen as crop trees if the sprout developed at or near ground line. Stumps that have been cut very low to the ground tend to produce sprouts that are acceptable choices for crop trees. Stump sprouts join at the base in two forms. The two sprouts shown in the center of this illustration have grown together to form a V-shape connection. The other two sprouts on either side of the stump represent what is known as a U-shape connection. Trees joined with a V-shape connection generally do not make good crop trees. In most cases, a decision must be made to either cut both or leave both. If one is cut in the other left, the decaying stump of the removed tree provides an entry for rot into the tree that remains. Trees having a U-shape connection may be considered individually as crop trees. Since their bases are independent of each other, they can be harvested at different times. This means that one can be removed without providing an avenue of decay into the other. Now let's move on to the selection criteria for wildlife crop trees. Species is a primary consideration along with crown condition, size or diameter of the tree, and den potential. Favor species which produce mast or food for wildlife such as this white oak in the center. These acorns produced by oak trees are an example of hard mast. These fruits of the black cherry tree are an example of soft mast. Crop trees selected to produce masts should have a minimum diameter of 10 inches since that's the size at which most of them start bearing good crops. They should also have large, healthy crowns. For hard mast production, seek a mixture of both red and white oaks. This diversity is important for several reasons. Compared to white oak, red oak tends to produce larger quantities of mast. Since the acorns don't germinate until spring, they're available to wildlife for a longer period of time. Although many wildlife species prefer the taste of white oak acorns such as these, they also depend heavily upon the availability of red oak acorns. Having more than one species reduces the probability of severe damage to the entire acorn crop by adverse weather conditions. To increase mast production, it's very important to release these wildlife crop trees as fully as possible. Providing full sunlight to the entire perimeter of the crown is critical for more abundant production of mast. Notice the flowering pattern of this red oak crown. As you can see, the bloom is denser in the area that is exposed to full sunlight. The bloom becomes sparse as interference from competing trees and shade from the upper crown decrease the amount of sunlight reaching lower branches. More nuts will be produced where there is a heavier concentration of bloom. Increasing the production of food is not the only consideration when managing crop trees for wildlife. It's also important to provide homes and shelter for the forest creatures. Trees with holes or cavities may be utilized by wildlife as den trees. They provide places for many animals to rear their young and stay warm in the winter. You may have some trees with active dens within your woodlot now. Identifying these trees requires close observation because many cavities are located high on the trunk and they're often small enough to be easily overlooked. If you're interested in increasing the number of available den trees in your woodlot, your forester can help you identify trees with good den potential. Here's one example of such a tree. The large dead limb near the top will eventually break off and a cavity will likely be formed by decay. This cross-sectional view of a tree shows an existing cavity on the left and a developing cavity on the right. Snags or the remains of dead trees such as this should also be retained in your woodlot for use by wildlife, especially if they contain usable dens. It's time now to talk about the selection criteria for aesthetic crop trees. Once again, we see that species heads the list. Crown condition is important here too. Look for trees that produce spring blossoms and or colorful fall foliage. Form and uniqueness may also warrant consideration. When thinking about the attractiveness of your woodlot, you may have in mind some of the flowering species such as dogwoods. You might also consider those species such as maples whose foliage turns to brilliant colors in the fall. If the species you prefer are present in your woodlot, they can be cultured to produce more of the visual benefits you desire. You may have a few trees in your woodlot that are unique due to their size, shape or form. If these trees are special to you, they can be retained and favored. You need to communicate to your forester what things you do and don't like about individual trees, so he or she will know how to consider these preferences when selecting crop trees. Some trees may meet the selection criteria for more than one crop tree category. For example, this red oak is a good hard mass producer which qualifies it as a wildlife crop tree. However, it also has potential as a high value timber crop tree. Therefore, depending upon the landowner's objectives, this tree may be considered a doubly high priority for retaining in the woodlot. Frequently when deciding which trees to manage and which to remove, choices have to be made. For instance, this forester has decided to retain the rib and white oak because it meets the criteria for both the timber and wildlife crop tree categories. We're marking the smaller tree for removal to release the crop tree for added timber growth and mass production. Now that we've discussed the concept of crop tree management, we need to think about how many crop trees to manage on a per acre basis. In West Virginia, the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station is currently conducting research on this subject. At this site, 32 timber crop trees were released per acre. This may look a little drastic to you, but the work being done here will provide valuable information regarding growth relative to degree of release. Many private, non-industrial landowners are interested in wildlife and aesthetics as well as timber production. At this site, 21 timber, wildlife and aesthetic crop trees were released to accomplish these multiple objectives. Determining how many crop trees to manage per acre in your woodlot depends not only on the type and quality of trees on your property, but also on how intensively you're willing to manage them. If you don't want dense undergrowth to develop in your forest, then you won't be able to fully release a large number of crop trees per acre. Greenbriars are an example of what you can expect to appear in your woodlot if it's opened up very much. They're quite beneficial to wildlife, but not very pleasant to walk through. Probably the best way to understand the impact that various intensities of cutting have on the understory is to look at some stands that have been previously harvested. Regardless of the number of crop trees you decide to manage per acre, be sure to focus your attention on choosing the ones with the greatest potential to produce the benefits you desire. Concentrate your efforts on releasing these best trees from competition from neighboring trees. A good means of doing this is to apply a crown-touching release, which essentially removes all trees except for other crop trees whose crowns come in contact with or touch the crop tree. Here's a crop tree in the center whose crown is restricted by its neighbors crowding in around it. This picture shows a fully released crop tree that is now free to grow because its competitors have been removed. Up to this point we've talked about producing benefits that you, the current landowner, may have at least a reasonable expectation of realizing in your lifetime. Now comes the tough part. Convincing you to do something that you may not receive personal financial benefit from. We would like to persuade you to dedicate a portion of your wood lot to the establishment of desirable regeneration. We must renew and perpetuate our valuable forest resource so that our children and our children's children will be assured use of it during their lifetimes. To do this, we need to act now by helping new young trees get started. There may be a portion of the wood lot that already has desirable regeneration or young trees established. If so, you can treat that area in a way that will encourage development of new crop trees. If there is nowhere that new growth is plentiful, then select an area to treat in whatever way is needed to establish future crop trees. Your forester can advise you on how to go about establishing and developing regeneration in your wood lot. Since most desirable species are quite long lived, many landowners will not personally receive the benefits of regenerating and managing very young crop trees. This is essentially something that is done to benefit future generations of Americans. However, our ancestors left us a very valuable legacy, a precious forest resource. Good stewardship through sound forest management could ensure that this generation will leave an even greater legacy to those who follow us. Let's take a few minutes to look back at the major points we covered about managing crop trees in your wood lot. First, a tree's crown or factory is very important. It should be large in proportion to the size of its trunk, healthy and somewhat symmetrical. Timber crop trees should be straight and free of forks and epicormic branches in the lower 17 feet of the bowl or trunk. Trees that form a U-shaped connection can be chosen as timber crop trees because one can be removed without leaving an avenue of decay into the one that remains. Trees joined by V-shaped connections should be avoided when selecting timber crop trees. Wildlife crop trees produce mast or food for wildlife and dens or homes for forest creatures. Woodlots may be managed for aesthetic benefits. The crop tree in the center is being crowded by its neighbors. Its growth is being restricted due to these competitors. Managing crop trees often means releasing them from competition. A crown touching release has provided this tree with more room and resources for accelerated growth. Trees can and should be regenerated so that our precious forest resource will be around for generations to come. For those who would like to evaluate their current knowledge about managing crop trees, here are a few questions. Question number one. The primary purpose of crop tree management is to A. Maintain diversity of species in the forest. B. Produce benefits consistent with landowner objectives or C. Improve timber quality. Question number two. This oak tree was selected as a wildlife crop tree. Which two benefits will it likely produce? A. Hard mast. B. High quality timber products. C. Soft mast. Or D. Densite. Question number three. These two red oaks both have good, healthy crowns. The ribboned tree on the left has been selected as a timber crop tree. The tree on the right has two visible imperfections that contributed to its non-selection. What are they? Question number four. Epichormic branching is undesirable because it A. Interfers with mast production. B. Reduces the tree's value as a high quality timber product. Or C. Reduces the tree's growth rate. Question number five. These two trees are joined by a U-shaped connection. Could we select the better of them as a crop tree and remove the other? Yes or no? Question number six. Is this crop tree sufficiently released or free to grow? Yes or no? Question number seven. One of these trees is a good choice for a timber crop tree. Which one? A. The tree on the left or B. The tree on the right. Question number eight. This American beach was selected as a crop tree. It is least likely to produce benefits as A. An aesthetic crop tree. B. A timber crop tree. Or C. A wildlife crop tree. Question number nine. You're standing along the edge of your 15-acre wood lot when an acquaintance stops by and says he would like to purchase some firewood from you. He says he's experienced at cutting firewood and doesn't need to have it marked. He indicates he would like to take out some of the bigger trees like the white oak on the right to let some of the smaller trees like the one on the left grow. You should A. Ask for more details about how he would cut the wood lot. B. Sell in the wood or C. Seek the advice of a professional forester. Question number ten. Why is it important to dedicate a portion of your wood lot to the establishment and development of good regeneration? Answers to the crop tree management exercise are as follows. Question one. The primary purpose of crop tree management is to B. Produce benefits consistent with landowner objectives. Question two. This oak tree was selected as a wildlife crop tree. Which two benefits will it likely produce? A. Hard mast and D. Densite. Question three. These two red oaks both have good healthy crowns. The ribboned tree on the left has been selected as a timber crop tree. The tree on the right has two visible imperfections that contributed to its non-selection. What are they? Lean and low fork. Question four. Epichormic branching is undesirable because it B. Reduces the tree's value as a high quality timber product. Question five. These two trees are joined by a U-shaped connection. Could we select the better of them as a crop tree and remove the other? Yes. Question six. Is this crop tree sufficiently released or free to grow? No. Question seven. One of these trees is a good choice for a timber crop tree. Which one? B. The tree on the right. Question eight. This American beach was selected as a crop tree. It is least likely to produce benefits as B. A timber crop tree. Question nine. You're standing along the edge of your 15 acre wood lot when an acquaintance stops by and says he'd like to purchase some firewood from you. He says he's experienced at cutting firewood and doesn't need to have it marked. He indicates he would like to take out some of the bigger trees like the white oak on the right and let some of the smaller trees like the one on the left grow. You should see. Seek the advice of a professional forester. The white oak on the right is a valuable timber and wildlife crop tree. The decision to harvest it should not be made without the assistance of a professional forester. And question ten. Is it important to dedicate a portion of your wood lot to the establishment and development of good regeneration? The answer to this question should read something like this. It's important to establish and culture desirable regeneration so our descendants will inherit a good forest resource made up of valuable crop trees capable of producing timber, wildlife and aesthetic benefits. There is life upon the breeze. You can gaze upon the beauty. You can walk among the trees. You can watch the forest creatures. Feel the gentle breeze. There is value in the resource. There is value in the way. There's a future for our children. A future that is good.