Project Overview
The Connecticut Blue Ribbon forest plots are a network of long-term permanent study areas established by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station to track individual tree growth, mortality, and stand dynamics across decades of partial cutting and natural disturbance. Plots span mature white pine–hemlock, upland oak, and mixed hardwood stands in western and eastern Connecticut. Collectively they document how uneven-aged management, hemlock woolly adelgid, and gypsy moth defoliation reshape forest composition and productivity over 60+ years.
Objectives
Core purpose - demonstration of exemplary forest management. The plots were established by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), and the "Blue Ribbon" designation itself signals their role as showcase stands, reference examples of what decades of careful, selective management produces. They aren't control plots in a randomized experiment; they are curated case studies of sustained silvicultural practice, intended to be revisited and published from repeatedly as the stand ages.
Dataset Availability
There are no datasets associated with this project
Tags
Status - Active
Start date: 1994-06-01
Study Area
