Effects of site quality and season of clearcutting on upland hardwood forest composition 38 years after harvest Roger A. Williams * , Randall B. Heiligmann School of Natural Resources, 210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1038, USA Accepted 4 February 2002 Abstract Thisstudyisanexaminationoftheeffectsofsitequalityandseason(summerandwinter)ofclearcutting38yearsafterharvest inuplandcentralhardwoodstandsatalocationinOhio.Comparisonsaremadewithdatacollected18±20yearsafterharvest. Mesophyticstandsdominatedbymixedhardwoodsandredmapledevelopedongoodsites(blackoak(Quercus velutina Lam.) site index >23 m at reference age 50) regardless of harvest season. On medium sites (black oak site index 18±23 m) summer clearcutting produced oak-hickory dominated stands whilewinter clearcutting produced a more equal mixture of oak-hickory, mixed hardwoods, and red maple. The oak-hickory composition in the overstory of these stands could be predicted from potentialcroptreesidenti®edatage18±20years.Redmaplecontinuedtorepresentamajorcomponentoftheoverstoryinall treatmentcombinations,butisdecreasingindiametergrowthandcrowndominance.Itisunlikelythatredmaplewilldominate the overstory of the stands studied unless released. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Clearcutting; Oak-hickory forests; Site quality; Upland hardwoods 1. Introduction Oaks are one of the most economically valuable speciesgroupsintheeasterndeciduousforestofNorth Americaandsubstantiallyenhanceotherforestvalues including wildlife habitat and aesthetics. However, maintainingoakasamajorcomponentinstandswhen they are regenerated is a challenge for forest man- agers, particularly on productive sites. Clearcutting has often been the recommended regeneration method where advanced oak regenera- tionispresentandgoodpotentialexistsforoakstump sprouts. Estimates of the number of oak saplings and sproutsconsideredadequatetoregenerateanoakstand rangefrom140/ha(Oliver,1978)to1070/ha(Sander, 1977). This range of estimates re¯ects the variable nature of forest and site conditions that determine adequacy for regeneration. Speci®c combinations of forest and site character- istics together with harvest methods to reproduce a stand with the desired oak components cannot be prescribed reliably on most sites. Several studies document stand development following clearcutting (Marquis,1967;Smith,1983;BeckandHooper,1986; WardandHeiligmann,1990;Clatterbucketal.,1999; Ward and Stephens, 1999). However, these studies report stand conditions and development for less than 20 years following clearcutting and most for less Forest Ecology and Management 177 (2003) 1±10 * Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-614-688-4061; fax: 1-614-292-7432. E-mail address: williams.1577@osu.edu (R.A. Williams). 0378-1127/02/$ ± see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0378-1127(02)00328-6