Westside Puzzle

The forest in this example is managed to grow trees quickly. This is one of the many ways to manage a Douglas-fir forest west of the Cascade Range to produce timber for wood products. Patches of trees in these managed forests are usually kept even-aged, which means all the trees are the same age. Managers may choose the following activities to achieve their goals: Thinning (cutting some trees) makes more water, nutrients and sunlight available for the remaining trees. Pruning produces wood without knots. Fertilizing encourages faster growth. Prescribed fires, set purposely by forest managers before planting trees, reduce fuel or dead wood and competing vegetation. Look at the First Piece