In 1987 Thom McEvoy received a small grant from the University of Vermont Extension Service through its Renewable Resources Extension Program to develop, deliver, and evaluate an educational program for loggers in Vermont. The primary subjects of the program were forest ecology and silviculture. Over the course of the succeeding six years, the three-day curriculum - known as the Silviculture Education for Loggers Project - was delivered three times throughout the state. About 250 loggers completed the program, nearly half the population of full-time loggers in Vermont. The program was so successful that it served as a national model pilot program known as LEAP - Logger Education to Advance Professionalism. From 1991 to 1994 the LEAP Program was piloted in thirteen states representing every major timber type in the U.S. Now LEAP - although greatly expanded beyond it original ecological focus - is serving as a national model at a time when the forest industry has identified logger education as a primary thrust of its "Sustainable Forestry Initiative."
During the original Silviculture Education for Loggers Project, two booklets were developed for workshop participants. The first, called "Forest Ecology for Loggers," coauthored with Yury Bihun, was published in 1990. The second, called "Silviculture Handbook for Loggers," which relied heavily on knowledge from the forest ecology booklet, was published in 1993. Both publications were well received by a wider-than-intended audience including foresters and forest owners.
In 1994 Brian Stone, Chief of Forest Management, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation, asked if it was possible to combine the two publications in such a way as to broaden the audience to include woodland owners, since many forest owners had already found the original booklets useful. As usually is the case, the project to combine these publications proved more difficult than originally anticipated. However, the result was truly a hybrid of the earlier works, and yet also a new publication.
The University of Vermont Extension System printed 3,000 copies of the First Edition of this work in 1995. In less than three years the entire inventory was depleted. Much to everyone's surprise, the work was used widely outside of Vermont. The Second Edition, published in 2000 by the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES) was prepared for a broader audience including foresters, forest owners, and as an introductory textbook for college level forestry programs. Virtually, all of the concepts applied not only to the Northeastern States, but to the entire area from West Virginia to Maine and from Massachusetts to Minnesota. And although the forest communities, species, and site descriptions probably looked foreign to those outside the northeastern states, the concepts of ecology and silviculture still applied.
In 2013 Forestry Press, Inc. discovered that once again the inventory for the Second Edition was depleted with 7,000 copies being sold since 2000. Forestry Press entered into an agreement with Thom McEvoy to produce an updated Third Edition. This Third Edition has doubled in the number of pages since the Second Edition with text and figures reflecting changes and updates in forest ecology and silviculture since 2000. The Third Edition has been modified to approach forest ecology and silviculture from a national coterminous perspective rather than from a concentration on the Northeast region of the United States.
It is with pride that we publish the Third Edition of Introduction to Forest Ecology and Silviculture. We feel that the Third Edition will be another valuable winner in Forestry Press’s catalog of premium products for the person involved with forestry, trees and the woodlands. We hope this Edition meets your highest expectations and welcome all comments and suggestions for future Editions.
Please note that the book is being published both with perfect binding and spiral binding for the reader's choice. While most readers think that spiral is cheaper, it is more expensive to produce. Many readers like the appearance on the book shelf of a perfect binding book, while students in forestry courses prefer the spiral so that the book will remain on the selected page without any effort by the student.
Table of Contents
Note from the Publisher
List of Figures and Tables
Preface and Acknowledgements to 3rd Edition
Chapter 1 Introduction to Forest Ecology
Chapter 2 Forest Site
Biological Communities in Forest Soils
Characterizing Site Quality
Chapter 3 Forests of North America
Chapter 4 How Forest Trees Grow and Change
Basic Tree Biology
Branches and Buds
Chapter 5 Forest Succession and Tolerance
Chapter 6 Silvics of Important Timber Species
Eastern white pine
Northern red oak
Chapter 7 Stress and Disturbance in Forest Ecosystems
Chapter 8 Effects of Changing Climates on Forests
Chapter 9 Ecology of Fall Color
Chapter 10 Introduction to Silviculture
Silvicultural Practice in North America
Purpose of Silviculture
Stocking and Density
Even-aged Regeneration Methods
Uneven-aged Regeneration Methods
Developing Silvicultural Prescriptions
Evolution of a Prescription
Crop Tree Management
Practicing Silviculturein Stands Susceptible to ice damage
Chapter 11 Common Silvicultural Myths
Working with Foresters and Loggers
Chapter 12 Combining Timber Goals with Other
Managing Forests for Wildlife
B. Further Reading