Making selection management work in Nova Scotia

摘要

Despite provincial, national, and even global political migration towards partial-cutting methods in forest management, many challenges remain in the practical application of selection harvesting systems on small, private land in Nova Scotia. In the absence of hard-and-fast rules for non-clearcut harvesting, wide-ranging and not wholly effective methods have been implemented under the banner of selection management. This is not necessarily a bad thing: a bit of common sense can go a long way when objectives are realistic. However, while more traditional silviculture methods such as commercial thinning and shelterwood harvesting have had decades of established guidelines, approaches to selection management have been less conventional and certainly less rigid.