A comprehensive study to determine the effects of initial espacement and subsequent thinning on the growth and yield of lodgepole pine plantations (EP 962)
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Introduction
Lodgepole pine is particularly sensitive to changes in stand density yet optimum stand-density regimes were yet to be identified.
Objectives
To determine the effect of initial espacement (plantation density) and subsequent thinning on the growth and yield of lodgepole pine plantations, through the establishment, maintenance, remeasurement, and analysis of a series of long-term permanent sample plots planted and subsequently thinned to specific densities
Treatments
EP962 was successfully planted in 1987 at Prince George Tree Improvement Station on the Red Rock Forest Reserve. The experiment used a randomized complete-block design to test four initial espacements (400, 800, 1600 and 3200 trees/ha), which, with the exception of the 400-tree/ha espacement, would be thinned at 15-year intervals, to age 45, to various residual levels-of-growing-stock in either a single- or multiple-entry regime. In total, there were 35 treatment combinations in this experiment.