Management of a 40 Acre Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) Stand in Southern Michigan for Sustained Production of Sawtimber. :: Ecology Sugar Maple Trees Essays

Management of a 40 Acre Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) Stand in Southern Michigan for Sustained Production of Sawtimber Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is a hard maple used primarily for its lumber and sap. In fact, 9% of the hardwood sawtimber volume in the U.S. comes from this species (5). My client would like to begin extracting sawtimber from her 40 acre maple-dominated stand that has been unmanaged to this point. She sees a market for her sawtimber in the regional flooring industry, but would also like to manage for sustained yield. The sugar maple needs a cool, moist climate in which to grow, and my client ¡Ã‚ ¯s stand in southern Michigan is well within its natural range. The Lake States in general have the following habitat characteristics optimal for the sugar maple (5): . temperatures averaging 00 to 600 F, . precipitation averaging 15 (west) to 40 (east) inches per year, . a growing season of 80 to 260 days, . well-drained, loam soils, . elevations up to 1,600 ft., and . associated Beech, Basswood, Yellow Birch, and Red Spruce trees. Under these conditions, the sugar maple is commonly the dominant species, because it is so shade tolerant. Its seedlings are aggressive under the canopy ¡Ã‚ ¯s shade and restrict the establishment of other species (11). Natural sugar maple regeneration is typically sufficient for this reason, and the selection harvesting system is commonly chosen. I will now describe characteristics of various sugar maple growth stages, beginning with the seed stage. Seed The sugar maple is a very prolific seed producer. It produces a good seed crop every two to five years and can disperse 8.56 million samaras per acre in a virgin stand or 4.3 million in a selectively cut stand during an exceptional year (5). This is a large number, but only about 1 in 100 of these seeds will reach the seedling stage because of mortality, predation, competition, and the very low light levels in a sugar maple stand. Artificial regenerative measures are usually unnecessary in places such as the Lake States where the sugar maple grows naturally. A sugar maple tree begins seed production between the ages of 40 and 60, with the best seed coming near ages 70 to 100 (9). My client ¡Ã‚ ¯s stand should be producing adequate seed, as the oldest age class is over 100 years old. The seed that is produced has a high germination capacity of 95% (5).