• Maass, David
  The Irland Group
  

To those of us dedicated to managing the forests of the north for use by the public and to provide wood, it is important to know where we fit in the scheme of things. How does out management of the forests we work in compare with others? What other practices are being conducted? Who is participating? It is these questions that we are trying to address in this broad review of forest management practices across the northern United States and eastern Canada.

This report is the second of two surveys conducted among large industrial and government landowners in eight northern United States. It updates the first to 1989. There has been greater refinement in the information collected. For example, we were able to collect information from individual counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We were also able to collect more detailed information from some interviewees, because the most recent data was readily available.

We also include information from eastern Canada in this update. This data was provided from published information from the Forestry Canada and Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. We include information on planting, stand tending and site preparation for the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland for the years 1985 to 1988.

Including the information from eastern Canada changes the perspective of the comparison between states. All the states  considered here, with the exception of Vermont and New Hampshire, have approximately the same commercial forest land. So comparison of practices were easily made. Ontario has seven times and Quebec has more than 11 times the forest land of Maine, Pennsylvania, or Michigan. Newfoundland has three times the forest land of any of those states.

There is some modification of the categories for the data from last year's report. These lead to a more comprehensive report. Non-commercial entries have included information on pruning where it is available. Improvement cuttings have been broadened to include information on improvement cuttings and thinnings as well as preparatory cuts for shelterwood. We also separated site preparation for natural regeneration from activities for artificial regeneration.