Commercial Thinning - Digby County

Commercial thinning is a common forest harvesting practise that is typically done in mature, even-aged stands, when the forest has reached a point where too many trees are competing for light and nutrients, and the overall growth rate of trees begins to slow down.

Commercial thinning is a tending-aimed treatment, which involves the partial removal of trees in a forested stand. It focuses on removing the less-desirable trees of the poorest quality and health in order to increase the health, growth and value of the remaining trees in the stand. By removing a percentage of the trees in a stand, commercial thinning can also help improve the diversity of a stand, by bringing light into the understory and creating conditions for younger generations of trees to regenerate. In the appropriate situation, commercial thinning provides the ecological benefit of influencing stand succession by favoring longer lived, higher quality species, and improving overall structural conditions for a stand to progress to a later successional forest type.

Have you ever been in a forest stand that was very shaded, had very little light coming through the canopy and sparse vegetation in the understory? This is the type of stand where a commercial thinning may be beneficial. If left to its own devices, the forest would naturally “thin itself out” as the trees with the poorest health and quality would be outcompeted by the healthiest, and eventually die. While this mortality is a natural process, it also represents a potential economic loss to the landowner. Through commercial thinning, trees that would normally die are salvaged and the health, value, and biodiversity of the forest is improved!

If you have an area on your woodlot that you think may benefit from this type of treatment, or would like to learn more, please reach out to us by sending a Direct Message, visiting our website or emailing info@westernwoodlotcoop.com