Does the treatment remove old-growth trees?
No. One of the goals of the treatments is to protect and restore vigor to old-growth trees. Research shows that the few remaining old-growth trees are dying at an unprecedented rate and that competition from small trees is the principal contributing factor. The treatment explicitly protects all old growth trees. At the Ft. Valley research site no trees over 16 inches dbh are removed. In other projects, where diameter limits are not in place, no trees established prior to European settlement are removed.
