Overstory tree and regeneration data from the "Management Intensity Demonstration" study at Penobscot Experimental Forest

This data publication contains overstory and sapling tree measurements, seedling stocking tallies, and permanent sample plot location data collected from 1950 to 2011 at the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Maine. These data were collected under the working plan: RS-NE "Cutting Practice Level Plots: Penobscot Experimental Forest" and later revisions (see Methodology citation section). This study provides data for four different management regimes: selection cutting on 5-year ("high-order") and 15-year ("good") cycles, fixed diameter-limit cutting on a 15-year cycle ("fair"), and unregulated harvest ("poor") which is also called commercial clearcutting.
The primary objective of the management intensity demonstration (MID) study is to provide a publicly accessible comparsion of long-term consequences of the four different management regimes, originally referred to as "Cutting Practice Levels (CPLs)". These management units served as a pilot for larger-scale silvicultural studies that have since been established; their accompanying records provide data on growth and development over more than 60 years of management.
A number of revisions have been made to this long-term study over time, including but not limited to changes in silvicultural prescriptions (e.g., target residual basal areas and tree size thresholds for removals), sampling protocols (e.g., numbers and sizes of plots, tree species and condition codes, and measurements), and response variables (e.g., overstory tree attributes, regeneration, and recruited deadwood). We strongly recommend that users read the working plan and accompanying documentation provided with the full data publication download before proceeding with data summary or analysis. Original metadata date was 03/06/2014. Minor updates on 04/17/2014. Minor metadata updates on 12/09/2016.