Aspen Forest After Harvest

Aspen is a unique forest tree with respect to regeneration. It produces abundant root suckers, up to 40,000 per acre are common, after clearcutting or fire removes the parent stand. The rapidly growing sucker stand competes well with other vegetation, but is susceptible to destruction by excessive ungulate browsing. Clearcut areas produce more streamflow and more growth on shrubs and herbaceous vegetation than does the uncut forest. The patchwork of age classes that results from even-age management optimizes wildlife habitat requirements for several desired species