Research Strategies for Increasing Productivity of Intensively Managed Forest Plantations

Intensive management practices increase productivity of forest plantations by reducing site, stand, and biological limitations to dry matter production and by maximizing the allocation of production to harvestable tree components. The resulting increase allows greater fiber production from a smaller land base and provides market incentives to keep these lands under forest use. The Southeast and Pacific Northwest contain the largest area of intensively managed plantations in the United States, with smaller pockets in the Midwest and other regions. Projected increases in US planted forest area are among the highest of any world region but maximum tree growth rates and returns on forestry investments are lower than those in South America. Addressing four critical information needs may help ensure that planted forests remain a competitive timber resource and sustainable land use in the United States: (1) improved capacity for understanding and predicting responses to intensive management; (2) technology for sustaining productivity, particularly under intensive biomass harvest; (3) expansion of silvicultural research networks to examine responses across a variety of sites; and (4) improved technology transfer to a broader range of landowners.