Changes in climate are predicted to significantly affect the productivity of trees in the Great Lakes region over the next century. Forest management techniques, such as thinning and initial stand density, can promote climatic resiliency and moderate decreased productivity through the reduction of tree competition. In terms of thinning, it was found that climatic resiliency was predominantly influenced by thinning intensity (a more intense thinning generally led to a higher climatic resilience) with thinning method having a less significant role (thinning from below increased climatic resiliency more than thinning from above). Overall, the thinning from below to a residual basal area of 21 square meters per hectare (90 square feet per acre) was the best compromise to maximize tree size, biomass per hectare, and climatic resiliency. In a separate study, initial stand density was considered as an forest management technique to generate climatic resilience across multiple sites. It was found that low initial density stands (988 trees per hectare) (400 trees per acre) had equal or great measures of productivity while maintaining a greater climatic resilience, particularly to summer drought, compared to high initial density stands (1977 trees per hectare) (800 trees per acre).
Read
