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Crop Tree Release
Crop
tree management is a system designed to increase the growth rate of your most
valuable trees, which in turn increases the financial return from your forestry
investment. Crop tree management accomplishes this by identifying the highest
quality or “crop” trees and removing the competing trees to give the crop trees
more room to grow and more resources to utilize. Crop The aftermath
of crop tree release is messy, with the felled trees creating a dense tangle.
You should not plan on using an area that has been released for several years
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tree selection criteria can include timber, wildlife, aesthetic, and water
quality. When looking at pure timber production you will focus on the trees with
the highest monetary value. When looking at wildlife habitat improvement you
will be looking for trees that produce hard mast and trees with cavities or den
trees. Most landowners combine their selection criteria with the primary focus
on timber production while leaving the better hard mast producing and den trees,
and in areas along road and trails picking crop trees for fall color, spring
blossoms and unique trees such as those unusual shapes or attractive bark
patterns. This is also a good opportunity to create snags. Snags are dead or
dying trees used by wildlife for roosting, foraging, perching, and territorial
displays. You can create snags by girdling trees. The tree in the picture was
marked to be girdled and the contractor used a chainsaw to cut completely
through the bark in two rings about 12 inches apart. 
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Crop tree management is an intermediate stand treatment and it will not produce
any income. You may be able to obtain cost share funds to help offset the cost
of this work through a variety of programs. You can do this treatment yourself
or hire a contractor. We only recommend marking when there is a good amount of
merchantable timber in the stand that could be damaged.