Grand Portage - Moose Browse

Declining moose populations in northeastern Minnesota are a concern for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Tribal forest managers have been implementing a variety of novel forest management approaches to improve moose habitat and reverse the population decline. Forest management objectives for moose include creation and maintenance of abundant high-quality moose browse, calving cover, and summer heat cover, as well as control of parasites such as winter tick, liver fluke, and brain worm.
Grand Portage Forestry is experimenting with innovative silvicultural practices with the potential to improve timber revenue while improving moose habitat. Preliminary research into one such practice - low density conifer management - has found that shrub and tree regrowth following release treatments produces high density preferred moose browse.
A practice with similar potential is pre-commercial aspen row thinning (PCART). Aspen row thinning is the cutting of strips in immature aspen stands, typically between the ages of 10 to 25 years old. While research results are mixed, the general consensus is that PCART increases diameter growth rate, lowers time to commercial maturity, may or may not increase total yield, and is generally most effective on high productivity sites. And, if the creation of high-density preferred browse also occurs in cut strips following PCART, it could significantly improve browse resources during the middle of an aspen rotation when they are typically very low.
Taken from: Pre-Commercial Aspen Row-Thinning (PCART) Monitoring Protocol 2021 v1.04