• Cobb, Richard C.
  University of Maine Graduate School
  

Forests are a key part of the economy, environment, and social structure of many societies. The state of Maine is notable for its strong ties with its forests both as commodities and as social and personal resources. This state is also notable because of a projected timber supply shortfall. As a measure of remediation, application of herbicides, precommerical thinning, and commercial thinning have been suggested. However, before this intensification can be considered wise or prudent, a better understanding of the influence of silvicultural perturbations on soil and ecosystem processes is critical. This study is part of ongoing research at the Weymouth Point Paired Watershed Study whose overall goal is to form an encompassing model of silviculture on ecosystem processes and site productivity. In 1998, a study investigating the 17-year impacts of whole tree harvest (WTH) and the short term impacts of superimposing precommerical thinning (PCT) on top of a 11-year old WTH was initiated at Weymouth Point.