Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, University of Alaska-Fairbanks
Abstract
The regeneration of interior Alaska’s commercial forest lands is mandated by
Alaska’s Forest Resources and Practices Act (1979). This act requires that regeneration
be established adequate to ensure a sustained yield on forested lands from
which the timber has been harvested. Post-logging regeneration efforts now are
aimed at exposing mineral soil for the natural seeding of white spruce. Soil exposure
has been accomplished by blade scarifying with a crawler tractor which
provides large seed sites or by using a Bracke-type patch scarifier which produces
small seed sites of about 2 ft2. Arlidge (1967) reports that larger seedbeds have
greater regeneration success than smaller ones. Some researchers have found that
the regeneration of the larger plots may be too successful, requiring weeding and
precommercial thinning to bring stocking to satisfactory levels (Zasada and Grigal
1978). The Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) has not been satisfied with the
cost or effectiveness of either of these site-preparation practices.Introduction -- Methods -- Results and Discussion: Contractor #2, Contractor #3 -- Comparisons -- Conclusions -- Resources Cite
