8:30am Registration 8:50 Welcome—Dr. David Dickens—Forest Productivity Prof. 9:00—10:10 Overview and Some Needed General Concepts ►Growth potential of Southern pines ►We can greatly increase growth over current rates— should we? ►Time value of money ►Financial Analysis of Forestry Investments (BLV, NPV, ROI) ) ►How we Quantify silvicultural treatment responses and calculate financial returns ►Growth and Yield Models—uses and limitations 10:10-10:25 Break 10:25—noon Making Objective Timberland Mgmt. Decisions ►Types of Treatment Responses ►Limiting factors for growth ►Decision Drivers (site quality, treatment cost, response type, markets, investment length) ►Ways for timberland owners to lose money Noon Lunch 1:00—2:30pm Regeneration Decisions ►Species choice—properties of slash, loblolly and longleaf and what might push a decision toward one species or another ►Genetics choice—Open pollinated, control pollinated, varietals, PRS systems, impacts of genetics decisions on investment returns ►Planting density—effects of height, dbh; concept of limiting density, impact of markets on planting density decisions ►Site preparation—objectives of chemical & mechanical site prep; impacts on investment returns 2:30—2:45 Break
Regeneration Decisions (continued) ►Herbaceous Weed Control (HWC) – potential impacts of HWC including timing, magnitude and duration of response ►How to achieve potential—short and longer term results of trials in loblolly and longleaf—Dr. Dickens ►Interaction of HWC and hardwood levels—impact on investment returns
Thursday, 16 August 8:00 a.m. Established Stand Silvicultural Treatments—Woody Release ►Woody Release age 1 to late teens; type, length and magnitude of response; impacts on dbh distribution; control of upland and waxy leaf species ►Concept of marginal rate of return and typical rates of return for woody release; trends in woody release costs and impacts on investment returns ►Additional benefits of woody release beyond growth (fire danger, harvesting costs, inventory costs, expensing costs rather than capitalizing, quicker turnaround after clearcut) 10:00 Break 10:15 Established Stand Silvicultural Treatments—Fertilization ►P deficient sites; threshold levels and sampling for nutrient levels; ratios needed ►Concept of leaf area; efficient ways to fertilize; type, duration, and magnitude of response; N alone vs N+P fertilization ►Piedmont vs coastal plain native nutrient levels; impacts on dbh distribution; trends in fertilization costs and impacts on investment returns ►Release and fertilization combined 12:00-1:00pm lunch 1:00 Established Stand Silvicultural Treatments -Thinning ►Reasons to thin (or not to thin) - the importance of markets ►Timing, frequency, intensity of thins and which trees to thin ►Importance of inventory data and what detail is needed; concept of TQI; difference in investment returns for different thinning strategies; thinning loblolly vs slash vs pine ►When thinning is not optimal 5:00 Adjourn
