| The January 1998 ice storm offered an opportunity to study the effects of a rehabilitation treatment and secondary disturbances on the recovery of dominant and co-dominant sugar maples (Acer saccharum ) within northern hardwood forests. A post-storm release demonstrated that, on average, trees in the rehabilitated stand not only had greater radial growth than trees in the control, but recovered and grew faster than their pre-storm growth rates. Following the ice storm, a second disturbance caused by forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria) defoliation initially had a greater negative impact on tree growth in the rehabilitated stand relative to the control, yet a more responsive recovery. In comparison, the Ranger School site, which was only impacted by a defoliation outbreak, displayed a more moderate reduction in growth during the defoliation period, and had less responsive recovery than trees in the rehabilitated ice storm damaged stand. |
