Additional Resources
Silviculture
This section contains resources that are general and cover a lot of different topics related to a Silvicultural system. This pertains to site preparation, planting, tending, and harvest.
This is a first stop for anyone interested in the silvicultural aspects of common commercial tree species in North America produced by the US Forest Service. This is currently being updated and modernized and a new version should be available in the next couple of years. Volume 1 covers conifers while volume 2 covers hardwoods.
Redwoods in New Zealand: New Zealand Farm Forestry Association
New Zealand is experimenting with Redwoods as a commercial timber crop. This is interesting in that redwoods are being planted where they didn’t exist previously. Similar to in the Pacific Northwest, landowners must start with planting rather than relying on previous stump sprouts.
Within this link there are many useful articles on all aspects of silviculture, but be ready to work on your metric-to-English unit conversions!
Here is a basic conversion table to help you out:
| Measurement type | Metric measurement | Equivalent English measurement |
| Diameter | 1 cm | 0.4 in |
| Height | 1 m | 3.28 ft |
| Basal area | 1 m2 per hectare | 4.36 ft2 per ac |
| Tree density | 1 tree per hectare | 0.4 trees per acre |
| Wood volume | 1 m3 | 0.4 MBF* |
* This is an approximate average because m3 measures all wood, while MBF only measures wood that makes it into boards. The amount of wood that makes it into a board is dependent on log length, diameter, and species.
Oregon State University (OSU) extension service
This service has many facets including being a storehouse of informational resources, and hosting meetings, symposia, classes, and networking events. As interest in redwoods increases in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the OSU extension service has been creating material specific to redwoods (see below). Each year, different regions offer “Tree School” where private landowners can attend classes to learn about different aspects of forest management. The largest of these is in Clackamas County, OR and is held at the community college.
Another great resource is the online tree school library, which can help forest owners navigate the regulations surrounding forest ownership.
Growing Redwoods Working Group OSU extension
This group hosted a Science meeting October 12-13, 2021: The link includes a schedule with online recordings of talks and Q and A sessions with various academic and industry participants. It includes a suite of topics that will be of interest to landowners including a lot of practical first-hand anecdotes from forest managers. This series of talks is largely focused on the silviculture of Redwood as a wood crop rather than redwood as a forest for habitat, carbon sequestration, or aesthetics. There is a forthcoming publication/reference manual that should be out this fall (2024)! PropagationNation is on a list to receive this publication as soon as it is made available.
Meeting topics included:
- Basic biology & ecology of coast redwood and giant sequoia
- Genetics & seed zones
- Planting, stocking, & vegetation management
Stand management - Forest health, including wildlife damage
Forest products - Oregon-specific case studies
This is an advanced tool to help managers decide on planting densities based on managing the stand within a certain stand density index, TPH, and QMD. It makes use of growth curves from various species, but does not include redwood growth data in its underlying assumptions. Users need to be familiar with concepts such as stand density index and density management zones.
This is a tree spacing to density calculator for converting spacing in ft between trees to trees per acre to help determine how many seedlings to order for a set number of acres and the average distances to plant them apart.
This is an excellent resource to help landowners understand the costs and planning associated with reforestation. It covers planning, finding funding, and choice of seed/cultivars and nursery stock. While not specific to Redwood, it contains a lot of related information. Within each section of planning, funding, and planting are links to additional useful resources.
This link provides nationwide information about reforestation. The most relevant links on this page for those interested in planting redwoods are the following:
Nursery Directory and Marketplace
A searchable directory of Nurseries by keyword, state, product (plants, seeds, services), and nursery type (e.g. Federal, Private, Tribal, State).
Publications: Subtopics include Restoration, Manuals, and Assisted Migration among other resources.
Mills
The only mills that routinely process redwoods outside of California are in southern Oregon. Redwood tends to fetch prices ~60% higher than Douglas-fir there. This list of mills is included so landowners can research potential future premiums they may receive from growing redwoods.
California Mills
Oregon Mills
Forest pathology is the study of tree diseases. Although redwoods are resistant to most diseases, they are susceptible to a few when young.
Carbon Credits
Many landowners are interested in acquiring carbon credits. Unfortunately getting carbon credits is an involved and expensive process because data has to be collected by a reputable consultant, independently verified, and remeasured periodically. Landowners also need to show “additionality,” meaning that to get carbon credits, they have to show that their land is storing more carbon than it would have if they continue to manage as they have in the past. Typically, a landowner will need at least 4000 to 6000 acres for this to be feasible, but there are some groups that are working to merge multiple landowners into one carbon project to make an avenue feasible for small landowners. Below are links to organizations that are involved with this and can point landowners in the right direction.
Learn more about broader carbon markets