Stocking standards: Density and espacement

Forest density management techniques, such as espacement, manipulate the growing space and resources available to each tree, which in turn control crown and root development, the size and quality of each tree and the stand's productivity.

These guidelines provide essential information on the biological, economic and forest-level effects of stand-density management, and provides a structured decision process for making density management decisions.

• Guidelines for Developing Stand Density Management Regimes (PDF, 334KB)

This handbook discusses the silviculture survey system used by government to assess stands for free-growing status and explains the decision curve as a statistical tool to assess risk. Decision curves are used to explore the effects of changes to survey parameters, as determined by a simulation study of homogeneous stem maps. Projected volumes for homogeneous lodgepole pine stands (based on TASS, a growth and yield model) are also presented and discussed.

• Land Management Handbook 50 (PDF, 1.9MB)  - The Effect of the Silviculture Survey Parameters on the Free-Growing Decision Probabilities and Projected Volume at Rotation

A presentation highlighting the influence of density, distribution, minimum intertree distance and stratification on long-term projected yields.

• Looking ahead: Will Free-growing stands produce the volumes we expect? (PDF, 5MB)

A memo describing the ministry's position on the legal requirements regarding stocking standards, the unsuitability of standards that average tree density over the entire SU, and ministry actions to clarify stocking standards.  

• Chief Forester Memo - FSP Stocking Standards Based on Tree Density Averaged Over the Standards Unit (PDF, 388KB)