Photo credit: Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve Ltd.

Presented by Thomas McCay, RPF, MFC., Chief Forester, Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve, Ontario

Thomas recently outlined at the Northern Hardwood Conference, August 2023, the innovative strategies being employed to enhance Irregular Shelterwood System (ISS) outcomes. These strategies involve implementing limits on sub-stand treatments in terms of number and area, utilizing unique stand analysis methods to pinpoint necessary treatments, and favoring specific ISS variants such as Extended or Expanding Gap over Continuous Cover. These principles collectively align ISS more closely with conventional silvicultural systems while highlighting key distinctions that promote improved stand diversity, growth, and value recovery. Watch the full presentation here.