DWD Creation

 Standard Guidelines for Choosing Trees to Create Down Woody Debris (DWD)  

• Avoid cutting down snags or snag-recruitment trees (e.g. trees that are declining in health such as broken- and cut-off tops, forked tops, spiked tops, or trees with disease-infested or very unhealthy-looking crowns.  Instead choose healthy-looking trees to cut. 

• No cutting of any remnant old-growth trees.  Don’t cut the “biggest and best” trees.  When choosing between similar trees for cutting, select the tree with the least dominant crown.

• Cut species representative of the unit.  Don’t cut minor species like cedar or pine, or any other species that is uncommon in the unit.

• Avoid cutting trees that are within 5 feet of another tree (i.e., this avoids removing any stand spatial diversity that is currently present in the stand for wildlife).  You can create a few clumps of down trees (three trees to a clump) but don’t create too large of an opening in the stand.

• Periodically create clumps by “jackstrawing” three cut trees.  Create a clump after every 10 individual trees felled at the designated spacing.

• Each unit will have a target # trees and a size range to shoot for when choosing trees to cut.  Tree species in most circumstances will not be a determining factor in tree selection.

• Trees chosen for DWD creation should be representative of the average size class (e.g. DBH) present in the stand.  Modify on the ground if representative DBH’s vary within the unit.

• Unless otherwise noted, try to scatter trees cut rather than clumping them.

• The boundary tagged trees are still considered within the unit.   Thus these may be considered in your selection of trees to fell.

• Don’t buck trees.

• Fall all trees within unit boundary.