Yield regulation in the continuous cover forest is done by dividing the forest into stands of similar species and size classes and making inventories of the growing stock every six to 10 years. This enables determination of the relationship between increment and growing stock, the determination of yield for the next period and planning felling in order to maintain a normal distribution of size classes.
The basic rules are –
- Maintain various tree age and size classes in the correct proportion, the number of plants in each size class should be about double that of the class above it.
- With a mixture of tree species, try and maintain a consistent percentage mix of species in each age class.
- Free young seedlings and saplings from suppression
- Remove defective stems whenever they hamper better ones, unless they are important for habitat.
The focus is on size rather than age and target diameters should be adopted for the forest.
