Great Lakes Silviculture Library

Forest managers in the Great Lakes can use this library to exchange forest plans and learn about the outcomes of on-the-ground management activities. 

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 such as wildlife habitat, timber, water resources, restoration, and recreation on a sustainable basis. This is accomplished by applying different types of silvicultural treatments such as thinning, harvesting, planting, pruning, prescribed burning, and site preparation."1

This library gives forest managers from Michigan, Minnesota, Ontario, and Wisconsin a way to exchange silviculture prescriptions—documents that describe a planned series of treatments designed to change current stand structure and composition to one that meets management goals, normally considering ecological, economic, and societal objectives and constraints.1 The site also provides real case studies submitted by natural resource managers in the Great Lakes region.

• 1a1bU.S. Forest Service: Silviculture, accessed 23 August 2019.