Quinault Silviculture Program

Quinault Silviculture Department — Sitka Spruce seedling

The Quinault Silviculture Program mission is to promote the Quinault tradition of being good stewards of all natural resources by protecting and maintaining forest health and productivity for future use. The Program will use the best available science and Quinault traditional ecological knowledge to make balanced decisions and maintain a state of protective readiness to guard Quinault Indian Nation natural resources.

Forest lands of the Quinault Indian Nation can be categorized into four basic forest types: matrix, riparian management zones, potential avulsion and/or erosion zones, wetlands, and unstable slopes.

Matrix – The matrix is the most continuous and interconnected pattern in the landscape, comprising most of the lowland portion of the reservation. It is within the matrix that other forest types reside. Silviculture prescriptions for this portion of the reservation include:

Replanting at 400 to 500 trees per acre depending on site-specific characteristics following harvest
Evaluating the stand for pre-commercial thinning following a ten to fifteen year stand exam
Considering commercial thinning stands depending on site and stand conditions
Applying fertilizer ten to fifteen years prior to final harvest
Clear-cutting stands at final harvest with a targeted rotation age of 40 years.

Quinault Silviculture Program | Quinault Forestry Department — A fast moving stream on QIN land

Riparian Management Zones – Streams on Quinault lands are classified as either type D (Designated waters) such as the Quinault river, type H (Fish habitat), or type O (other, non-fish) waters. All waters have a ‘riparian management zone (RMZ)’ which is measured from the ordinary high water mark of the stream to the edge of an allotted amount depending on the stream type. Harvest activities permitted within these zones differ depending upon the type of water.

Wetlands – Generally, wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface. There are two types of wetlands, forested and non-forested. Forested wetlands are any saturated area with 30% or more crown closure. Forested wetlands are harvestable bur receive equipment limitation to protect the soils. Non-forested wetlands are saturated areas with under 30% crown closure. Such wetlands receive no entry buffers with variable size based on size of the wetland.

Unstable Slopes – Unstable slopes will be managed to minimize acceleration of the naturally occurring rate of landslides secondary to forest practices. Protection measures will be made to safeguard slope stability of the following types of unstable slopes:

Inner gorges, convergent headwalls, and bedrock hollows steeper than 35 degrees (70%)
Toes of deep-seated landslides with slopes steeper than 33 degrees (65%)
Groundwater recharge areas for glacial deep-seated landslides
Outer edge of a meander bend along a valley wall or high terrace of an unconfined meandering stream
Areas that have the potential to threaten public safety, deliver sediment to a public resource, or threaten capital improvement.

Quinault Silviculture Methods

Following regeneration harvest, residual vegetation and logging debris would be treated if necessary to reduce fire hazard, provide room for planting of tree seedlings, lessen initial competition from other vegetation, and limit the cover for seedling damaging rodents. Methods used would include prescribed fire and mechanical clearing.

The Quinault Silviculture Program preferred method of site preparation is mechanically piling concentrations of slash and brush with pile burning. Burning is usually conducted when soil and fuel moistures conditions will keep fire intensity low and lessen the possibility of the fire spreading into the unit or beyond. Low intensity fires on the Quinault lands have insignificant impacts on site productivity. Moderate to high intensity fires have the potential to reduce soil productivity, volatilize significant amounts of available nitrogen and sulfur, and increase leaching of important nutrients

The techniques employed to reduce compaction during mechanical clearing include using low ground pressure machines, clearing only when soils are dry, and rehabilitate by ripping and/or water barring any ground based skid trails after clearing.

Quinault Silviculture Program System

The Quinault Silviculture system is a planned series of treatments for tending, harvesting, and reestablishing a stand to meet management objectives. These treatments are applied throughout the life of the stand and are combinations of regeneration methods and stand tending, called intermediate treatments.

All Quinault Silviculture systems include three basic component treatments or functions: timely regeneration, tending and harvest in a stand. The system, with its attendant regeneration methods, distinctively shapes the structure, either uniform or variable; tending requirements; and yield schedule of the future stand. A systematic approach to Silviculture should:

Harmonize with the goals and specific objectives of the Quinault Indian Nation
Provide for timely regeneration of the desired species
Effectively and efficiently use growing space and site productivity, making wise use of forest capital
Manage forest pathogens and damaging agents within acceptable limits
Protect soil and water resources
Produce predictable harvests over the long term (sustained yield)
Balance ecological and economic concerns to ensure a sustainable ecosystem