Improvement Cutting

Smith (1986) defines improvement cutting as cuttings done in stands past the sapling stage for the purpose of improving composition and quality by removing trees of undesirable species, form, or condition from the main canopy. Unlike crown thinning and crop-tree management, the focus of improvement cutting is on the “undesirable trees.” Improvement cutting is widely applicable to southern upland hardwood stands. It is appropriate for use in mixed oak, oak-hickory, and mixed mesophytic hardwood stands. The silvical characteristics of the species present should be a prime consideration, but improvement cutting can generally be applied to stands well beyond age 50. Depending on the owners objectives, species typically targeted for removal can include red maple, American beech, hickories, blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.), scarlet oak (Q. coccinea Muenchh.), and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in addition to poor-quality individuals of more favored species. Improvement cutting is widely applicable to current upland hardwood stands because of the age and current composition of many such stands, although marketing of trees removed may be difficult. Many upland hardwood stands have a past history of high-grading (Nyland 1992) which may limit the number of desirable trees available to leave in the residual stand. At some point, it becomes advisable to regenerate severely impoverished stands rather than apply intermediate management to them.