History of the red pine management guides

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This Red Pine Management Guide provides essential and optional information for managing stands that are predominately red pine and also stands that may contain a mix of other species as well. This section further provides diagnostics to help in describing the actual conditions of your stand and in choosing the appropriate management examples for the subject stand given your management objectives. This site also contains numerous links to basic information about forest management, options in management, habitat benefits, treatment costs, and economic returns.

Why the interest in red pine?

Pole-size red pine stand, Central WI (2005, A. Ek University of Minnesota)

Extent across the region:

• Nearly 1.9 million acres of this covertype exist in the Lake States, much of it in pole and sawtimber size classes.
• The existing acreage is 44% private and 56% public.
• Stands are typically 5-20 acres in size, larger stands are found on public and industry lands.

Recreation and wildlife habitat:

• Accessibility (via roads and seasonally) is generally very good.
• This tree species and covertype is highly valued from an aesthetic standpoint
• Value as wildlife habitat varies considerably with stand age, density, and mix of other tree species
  • provides thermal cover, protection and nesting habitat for wildlife though dense stands provide low food values
  • older and more open stands allow for understory development, increased biodiversity, and increased overall habitat value
• Red pine dominated forests can be managed for increased habitat value and species biodiversity through greater use of ecological management techniques such as legacy retention, mixed-species and multi-age management, variable density thinning, and long rotations.

Economics:

• Most of the red pine covertype volume is from the dominant species.
• There is considerable red pine volume in other covertypes as well.
• Volumes per acre are high compared to other cover types.
• Harvesting is facilitated by regular spacings typical of plantations.
• Many existing stands in the pole and larger size classes have already been thinned.
• Most stands and trees have very few defects
• Few stands have been pruned (although pruning can lead to improved sawlog quality which can increase financial returns by 15-20%) .

Management:

• It is the most commonly planted species...people know how to grow it and it has relatively few problems in terms of insects, diseases, wind, snow, ice.
• Tree improvement research has led to numerous improved red pine seed orchards across the region and considerable knowledge of species genetics.
• Maximum fiber yields per acre per year are obtained over rotations of 90-110 years with 2-3+ thinnings (roughly).
• More agressive thinning strategies are possible and would begin at early ages.
• Economic rotations are 60-90 years (roughly).
• Long life and ability to thin repeatedly reduces public concerns about harvesting and provides options to manage red pine forests for increased habitat and biodiversity values.