Non-Assignment Decay

Nothing needs to be handed in, yet it might be worth doing.

Provide advice to the VIU Woodlot Managers regarding stem wounds and potential losses from decay.  The managers are contemplating a cutblock that consists of 80% Fd and 20% Cw.  The stand is ~80 years old.  The two harvest options under consideration are (using terminology from table 4 of the Tree Wounding and Decay Guidebook) "short-term retention" and "uneven-age management".  In more familiar terms, commercial thinning and singletree selection, respectively.  In your own words, provide specific advice regarding:

- criteria where trees are considered not acceptable as a residual crop trees for each harvesting option

- provide 3 recommendations to reduce stand damage for both before harvest and during harvest

- provide a statement regarding the relation of wound height to occurrence of decay and wound size to occurrence of decay

You can draw all the necessary information from the Tree Wounding and Decay Guidebook.