{"id":93,"date":"2019-09-12T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8009\/stories\/?p=93"},"modified":"2020-04-17T15:46:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T15:46:38","slug":"what-is-thinning-trees-and-why-do-foresters-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forestrycareers.com\/stories\/what-is-thinning-trees-and-why-do-foresters-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Thinning Trees, and Why Do Foresters Do It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thinning trees is a common practice in forest management that removes full rows of trees. We take you into the forest to show you how, much like weeding a garden, this operation has important benefits for our crop trees. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

KINGSLAND, Georgia\u2014A row of south Georgia pines appears to be on the move as an aptly-named feller buncher saws through more than a dozen trees in a row, gathering them in its claw-like grip while they\u2019re still upright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the buncher is at capacity with a large bundle of pines, it lowers them to the ground and drags them out of the forest in one trip, careful to leave neighboring rows of trees unharmed; what remains will be growing for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a thinning operation, and only a portion of the trees will be harvested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHAT IS THINNING TREES?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, thinning trees is one of the healthiest activities that can be done for a growing forest. Once trees have matured to a certain age\u2014here in this Georgia forest, they\u2019re about a decade old\u2014they begin to compete with each other for nutrients, water and light. Full rows of trees are removed, allowing the remaining pines to grow to their full potential over the next six to eight years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to removing full rows, a thinning operation will pick off less desirable trees from the remaining rows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remove trees that are small, forked, diseased. Any trees with defects,\u201d explains Resource Land Manager Josh Steiger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What remains to grow in the forest are the healthiest, strongest trees with the highest potential to become the products future generations will need, from poles for docks and utilities, to lumber for homes, to the wood used in furniture and countless other products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThinning is a big part of what we do. It allows the crop trees to grow and expand into the solid wood product that we want when we clear cut that stand. We want to have a lot of really good options for whatever our customers will need,\u201d Josh explains. (\u201cCrop trees\u201d refers to trees that will be managed to full maturity and then marketed for their highest and best use).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to weeding a garden, the removal of trees in a thinning leaves the forest less crowded so light can reach more of the tree canopy, and nutrients and water aren\u2019t so hard to come by. After all, there are no sprinkler systems in the forest: there\u2019s only so much water to go around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TREES THAT ARE REMOVED IN A THINNING?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After growing for about 10 to 14 years, the trees removed in a thinning have an important role to play. The majority will go to pulp mills, where they will be processed into the pulp substance that is used in thousands of everyday products, such as paper, cardboard, fabrics, bath products, rubber tires and LCD screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHY NOT PLANT LESS TREES IN THE FIRST PLACE RATHER THAN THIN LATER?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Foresters plant a certain number of trees per-acre with the full knowledge that some of those trees will later be thinned from the forest. In the meantime, those trees help develop a healthy forest in a number of ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n