Habitat Improvement Projects for Your Woodlot
On our 38-acre spread in southwest Virginia, my wife, Elaine, and I enjoy making our woodlot more productive for both wildlife and ourselves. Toward that goal, we asked two Virginia Department of Forestry employees, forester Dennis McCarthy and sawyer Trevor Saville, to help us improve our land. Many state forestry departments offer free visits and advice to assist landowners in improving their forestland. Here are some of the projects McCarthy and Saville suggest, many of them do-it-yourself.
Crop Tree Release
Crop tree release, or CTR, is when a number of trees are cut so that remaining ones can receive more sunlight, expand their crowns, and produce more hard mast, such as acorns and walnuts, and soft mast, such as berries. Ideally, the remaining trees won’t have competition for several yards on all sides.
“Generally, I recommend leaving about 100 to 110 trees per acre, which puts the trees at about a 20-foot-by-20-foot spacing,” McCarthy said. “Our goal is to find the best trees to keep, based on a landowner’s objectives. Typically, the No. 1 tree of choice is a white oak, as it’s known as the most productive for wildlife and is also very valuable for commercial timber production for everything from furniture
