What is silviculture?
(January 2003) Silviculture involves managing and manipulating a forest with a view to harvesting forest products for human use. In Australia this has a fairly narrow application. Silviculture here seeks to promote certain desirable forest tree species, often at the expense of others. It may entail selective thinning, removal, planting, pruning and other techniques to maximise the yield of the desirable species without a lot of attention to the needs of other species of plants or animals or consideration of biodiversity. In the case of native eucalypt hardwoods the range of uses tends to be fairly narrow, being primarily pulpwood and structural timber though much more thought and recognition is now being given to potential for furniture. Other hardwoods here like rainforest species are hardly “managed” at all primarily due to the time it takes for most species to mature.
Silviculture is an integrated practice that involves silvics and silviculture. Silvics is a science which studies the growth and development of a single tree and its relation to the forest-biological-unit. Silviculture deals with development of techniques and technologies of cultivation of forests in various conditions- natural and economic. It also includes regular establishment, tending and regeneration of forests to maintain and improve its protective and recreational functions.
Silviculture is the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis. Silvicultural prescriptions or treatments are specific, science-based steps designed to achieve specific forest management objectives. For example, if the management objective is to maintain an oak component in a mixed stand, the silvicultural prescription may include reducing the midstory to encourage the development of oak seedlings. Removing the overstory to regenerate a new age class of trees is also a silvicultural prescription, as is thinning in an established stand. The combination of all planned silvicultural treatments is called a silvicultural system. Back to: A Burning Question: Can an Old Tool Reshape Upland Hardwood Forests?
