| Natural Regeneration
Natural regeneration is the natural establishment of seedlings in a healthy
forest stand. Most mature softwood stands in Newfoundland have a sufficient
amount of advanced regeneration at the time of harvest to form a new stand.
The term "advanced" refers to the presence of regeneration in the stand even
before it is harvested, often a dense carpet of seedlings on the forest
floor. Corner Brook Pulp and Paper's strategy is one of tending natural
regeneration rather than establishing large scale single species
plantations.
Pre-Commercial Thinning (Juvenile
Stand Spacing)
The main silviculture treatment for natural stands is pre-commercial
thinning. This is a treatment carried out when stands are 10 to 15 years
old to reduce the density from the natural 20,000 to 100,000 stems per
hectare to approximately 2,500 stems per hectare. This provides the
remaining trees with sufficient space for optimal growth. Pre-commercial
thinning can increase the growth of merchantable wood fiber in a stand from
1 to 2 cubic meters per hectare per year in unthinned stands to 4 to 6 cubic
meters per hectare per year in thinned stands.
Harvested areas which do not regenerate naturally are planted with spruce
seedlings grown at the Provincial nursery at Wooddale. Seedlings are
planted at a density of 1,800 to 2,500 stems per hectare, depending on site
conditions.
Some 118,000 ha. (300,000 acres) of young forest has been silviculturally
treated by Corner Brook Pulp and Paper since 1976. The bulk of the
treatment (56%) has been pre-commercial thinning of naturally regenerating
balsam fir stands. The remaining treatments are aimed at reforesting areas
that have not regenerated naturally after disturbance such as wildfire or
logging. These treatments are planting, seeding, site preparation, and
vegetation management using herbicides. To date more than 50 million
seedlings have been planted by Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, and we have a
greater than 90% survival rate in our plantations three years after
planting. Our strategy of tending natural regeneration rather than
establishing large scale single species plantations gives us one of the most
natural and biologically diverse industrially managed forests in Canada.
Our silviculture program is very labor intensive. Each year 120 to 150
people are employed by the Company on silviculture projects providing more
than 2,000 person weeks of employment. This is high quality employment; the
average earnings of our pre-commercial thinning employees is over $33 per
hour.
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Growth rate in pre-commercially
treated stands is increased 2 - 3 times
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Because almost 90% of the harvested
areas on Corner Brook Pulp and Paper limits regenerate naturally, the Company's
silviculture program focuses on the management of natural regeneration. Using a
treatment called Pre-Commercial Thinning, the growth rate within a treated stand can be
doubled and sometimes tripled. |
For more information on
Silviculture download section 9 on our FMPOPs page
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