Dr. Connie Harrington and Leslie Brodie are foresters and researchers with the U.S. Forest Service based in Olympia. Over the last two decades they’ve explored a new form of thinning that focuses on reintroducing structural complexity and diversity to forest plantations in order to improve wildlife habitat and other ecosystem services. This practice, called variable density thinning, creates canopy gaps, dense areas, and heterogeneous tree spacing, resulting in a forest that more closely resembles pre-settlement forest structure. Connie and Leslie share their experiences researching and implementing VDT in the field, lessons learned, and how they think it applies to small forest owners in Washington. Click here to listen.
