Constraining Irregular Shelterwood System for use at Haliburton Forest

Thomas McCay, RPF, MFC., Chief Forester, Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve, Ontario, presents the current approach Haliburton Forest has taken to improve ISS outcomes at the stand and forest level. This approach includes putting limits on the number and area of sub-stand treatments, novel stand analysis to identify dominant treatment needs, and a preference for the Extended or Expanding Gap variants of ISS over the Continuous Cover variant. In aggregate these principles bring Irregular Shelterwood System closer to conventional silvicultural systems but emphasize differences that may allow for better stand diversity, growth, and value recovery.