USFS NASP Module 4 in 2021 - University of Kentucky Subward

Collaborators from the University of Kentucky (UK) will deliver a field activity-based curriculum supported by targeted use of classroom instruction and selected foundational readings. This component of the USFS NASP Module 4 will be conducted for 35 NASP participates at the University of Kentucky Robinson Forest starting on May 14, 2021 and concluding on May 17, 2021. Educational activities will utilize established professional forester training areas and long-term studies located on Robinson Forest. Additionally, demonstration areas highlighting the impact of early- and mid-rotation silvicultural practices along with even- and multi-aged regeneration practices on stand conditions will be created on Robinson Forest to support our proposed educational activities. To facilitate the use of training and demonstration areas by students, permanent plots within existing and newly created areas will be inventoried. Establishment and monitoring of training and demonstration areas will be completed by January 2021 to facilitate final curriculum and educational material development ahead of the 2021 NASP 4 Module. The curriculum we propose will directly address the NASP program objectives and will complement the educational activities delivered by collaborators at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The proposed curriculum at Robinson Forest includes two focal areas: 1) forest and stand dynamics, 2) silvicultural systems including regeneration. Under these two areas, the proposed curriculum at the UK Robinson Forest will provide an emphasis on the upland hardwood regeneration, recruitment, and growth as well as the ecological basis for oak silviculture. The curriculum will also provide NASP students experience with silvicultural methods both from a traditional even-aged perspective as well as irregular (and gap-based) approaches. Finally, field-based experiential activities, classroom lecture sessions, and a summative prescription writing project developed by collaborators Lhotka and Stringer will integrate the following instructional components: • Site productivity and forest community relationships, delineating forest stands • Site preparation and early stand management • SILVAH oak decision software • Even-aged and gap-based regeneration methods • Marking shelterwood systems • Crop tree release, area-wide thinning, and marking an area-width thinning using the proportional-B method. • Historical perspective of the oak resource and barriers to oak sustainability, • Silvicultural solutions to addressing the regeneration and recruitment pillars of oak management • Thinning and regeneration of mesic cove hardwood stands • Upland oak prescription project – NASP students we conduct stand assessments and write prescriptions for three different oak-dominated stands across a site productivity gradient and a a range of oak regeneration potential