Financial maturity, diameter-limit (FMDL) selection was proposed more than three decades ago as a replacement for diameter-limit cutting. FMDL incorporates financial maturity guidelines for individual trees, high-priority removal of poor-quality trees, and guidelines for residual basal area. We provide the first long-term assessment of this practice after more than three decades of implementation. FMDL selection is evaluated in terms periodic yield of merchantable board feet, residual basal area, butt-log quality, and species composition. Recommendations for lowering the minimum residual basal area are presented. Management implications regarding controlling species composition are discussed.

Silviculture: Concepts and Applications reflects a belief that all the tools of silviculture have a useful role in modern forestry. Through careful analysis and creative planning, foresters can address a wide array of commodity and nonmarket interests and opportunities while maintaining dynamic and resilient forests. A landowner’s needs, circumstances, and site conditions guide a silviculturist’s judgment and decision making in finding the best ways to integrate the biologic-ecologic, economic-financial, and managerial-administrative requirements at hand. The Third Edition of this influential text provides a foundational basis for rigorous discussion of techniques. The inclusion of numerous real-world examples and balanced coverage of past and current practices broadens the concept of silviculture and the ways that managers can use it to address both traditional and emerging interests in forests. A thorough discussion of new and proven interpretations increasingly directs the attention of foresters toward the role silviculture plays in creating, maintaining, rehabilitating, and restoring forests that can sustain an expanding variety of ecosystem services.