About 52 percent of Tennessee is covered with forest – that’s about 14 million acres. Some of this acreage is protected, while some is private. When purchasing raw land to be developed for anything from a single-family residence to a retail site or a subdivision, you may have trees that need to be removed. Many people just push them out of the way and burn them. Instead, put those trees to work for you. They are renewable energy, which means that they may be used for other resources.

Of the forested land, 89 percent is hardwood, with oak and hickory making up about 73 percent. That’s about 9.9 million acres of hardwood just in Tennessee, which is one of the top three hardwood lumber-producing states.

New Growth

New growth is often stunted because the taller trees block the necessary sunlight. In order for new growth to become sustainable, some of the old growth must be removed. As a landowner, selling some of the old growth not only earns you income on your property but also helps with the high demand for hardwood in the lumber industry.

In some cases, you may want to thin the forest out a bit so that new growth has a chance to grow. In other cases, you may need space for a home, a retail site, or a new subdivision. In most cases, the removal of the larger and older trees helps to create a new sustainable forest.

New growth also draws in more wild game, including deer. The newer growth makes a better habitat for the game, as they are able to reach the tender shoots. So, if you’re looking to attract deer, wild rabbits and other wildlife and want some of the smaller trees to fill out, you’ll need to cull some of the aging growth.

Aging Forests

A good percentage of the state’s forest is aging. These trees need to be cut before they become too mature. A tree that is too old may be a victim of the common high winds we see on the Plateau, ice storms, and even rainstorms that soak the ground and cause trees with shallow root systems to topple. Trees on flat ground are more likely to survive longer than those precariously hanging over the edge of a bank or those with too many other trees around.

Other natural mortality, such as disease and pests, also make some trees useless, especially as they grow older and require more resources to stay healthy. Culling some of this older growth helps to create renewable forests since younger trees have more light and other resources to become old growth.