Our friend in Hancock, WI - Clyde Samsel brought these articles to our attention.
Here I thought we had developed Full Vigor Forestry on our own.  Now I see that we are just catching up to the Germans and Menominee who are many decades ahead of us all around here.  Once again, "new" ideas are often just "old" ideas revisited again.

Excepts from:  The Dauerwald: Its Role in the Restoration of the Natural Forest
by Hans G. Schabel and Siegfried L. Palmer  Journal of Forestry, Nov.  1999

"Dauerwald," is a concept that has recently gained broad acceptance in much of central Europe.  This German word means permanent, perpetual, or sustainable forest.  In simple terms, it refers to natural forest management systems based on uneven-aged silviculture.  ....      recreate forests which closely express their natural potential in structure, composition and stability while meeting various product and service      functions.  ...emphasis on more timber species..... 

Moller, 1922, interpreted  forests as complex, dynamic organisms that can      express their inherent vigor and productivity only if all parts are healthy.      Moller's main principles included abstention from clearcutting and preference for natural regeneration of indigenous, site-specific trees, leading to mixed, uneven-aged forests.  His demand for cessation of clearcutting did, however, "not necessarily mean that all age classes be represented on the same area,"  only that the intrinsic potential of forests for complexity be respected.    By bringing "forest art" to its perfection, Moller asserted, "the most beautiful forests will also be the most productive." 
Dauerwald "represents the antithesis of quantification and regulation"

Though Dauerwald promises rich rewards in the long run, Moller acknowledged that the transition to a Dauerwald would be a generational effort requiring    patience and possibly temporary economic sacrifice.      The transition would depend on a cadre of "trustworthy and skillful foresters... who spend more time in the woods than in the office."  He also expressed the need to defer the harvest of quality timber and, through frequent silvicultural interventions throughout the forest, to create a progressively more complex, eventually nature-like forest with large volumes of high-quality timber. 

Once established, tree removal in a Dauerwald would be strictly by low grading criteria, i.e. removal of lesser trees.  Age of a tree would be of no concern in its selection for harvest.        The Dauerwald knows no rotation,  no particular structure, and no regeneration periods.          It offers no patent silvicultural prescriptions, and acknowledges the individuality of every site.                          As a result, its ideas apply universally. 

A main goal of Dauerwald is the sustainable production of large-dimension, high quality timber. 

To allow reestablishment of desirable flora, the Dauerwald transition also includes drastic reduction at least temporarily in  deer densities.      next