Forest Management
The Penn State Forestland Management Office's forest management is guided by the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management's mission, the forests' biological conditions and more specifically the need for teaching, research, and demonstration opportunities.
Our forests' are actively managed as renewable natural resources to provide timber, habitat for wildlife, opportunities for recreation, and protection of our water resources.
All Penn State forestlands are managed at a stand level under the guidance of forest management plans. A stand is a contiguous group of trees uniform in species composition, arrangement of age classes and condition to be a distinguishable unit. (David M. Smith, The Practice of Silviculture, 1986, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
Every forested stand is subjected to a thorough evaluation prior to, during, and after a management treatment.
Images of Penn State Forest Harvesting Activities