AGE CLASS SIDESTEP

One of several problems facing the Forest Service regarding management strategy is the issue of balanced age classification.  Documents that address the issue under the current forest plan and subsequent studies refer to a distribution that looks much like the following:

                                    0-20 years -       seedling/sapling

                                    21-50 years -     pole timber

                                    51-110 years -   sawtimber

                                    111+ years -       old growth

Most analysis to date regarding sussessional forest mimicked this distribution rather closely until the “Draft Alternatives for Forest Plan Revision” were recently released.  For some unexplained reason, the new distribution looks like this:

                                    0-20 years –      early seral stage

                                    21-150 years –  mid seral stage

                                    151+ years –     late seral stage

Why is this a significant shift?  Consider the fact that the ANF is predominently stocked with Allegheny Hardwoods that by all accounts mature within 80 to 100 years, far more rapidly than all other hardwoods on the forest.  Some analysts believe as high as 60% of the current forest inventory is now mature primarily because the ANF was established 80 years ago.

Reclassifying what was considered old growth (111+ years) as now being mid seral opens the door for a much older climax forest, one that will not include Allegheny hardwoods for the most part because they just do not live that long.  The new reclassification, however, aligns well to Northern Hardwoods (hemlock and beech predominently) because their rate of maturity is much longer (150 to 200 years). 

One must wonder, what is the real agenda for successional reclassification in the draft alternatives?  It certainly is of no benefit to black cherry, the premier hardwood not only on the Allegheny, but worldwide.