Effects of regeneration harvests on stand development and oak (Quercus spp.) regeneration through 15 years in bottomland hardwood forests of Northern Missouri

Abstract

Bottomland hardwood forests provide important economic and ecological values within the midwestern United States, yet silvicultural guidelines for reaching management objectives have been poorly developed outside the southern United States. This study was conducted in a mixed bottomland hardwood forest located within Deer Ridge Conservation Area in northeastern Missouri. Broadly, the purpose of the study was to determine the effects two silvicultural treatments and a control treatment had on stand development and the competitive environment surrounding midstory oaks (pin oak (Quercus palustris Muenchh.), bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor Willd.)) through the first 15 years after regeneration harvests. The three treatments were applied in the fall and winter of 1999/2000 and included clearcut with reserves (CC; basal area reduced to 2.3 m2 /ha or 10 ft2 /ac; n=8); basal area retention (BAR; basal area reduced to 6.9 m2 /ha or 30 ft2 /ac; n=7), and a control (CO; no harvest, basal area 32.0 m2 /ha or 139 ft2 /ac; n=5). From 2010 to 2014, stands treated with the BAR and CC treatments exhibited a significant increase in the trees per hectare and basal area per hectare for rapid growing, light seeded species including green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) and American elm (Ulmus americana L.), while they exhibited no significant effect on the number trees per hectare of oaks during that period. An analysis of the average annual diameter increment (AADI) and the average annual basal area increment (AABAI) by species for all trees that were recruited into the overstory following 2003 indicated that average growth rates (AADI and AABAI) of silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.), American elm, green ash, and oak species were not significantly different between 2010 and 2014.