Managing for Tomorrow's Panawahpskek Forests Today: An Integrative Approach to Submerchantable Competition Control

Success of forest management rests not only on shaping composition and vigor of existing overstories but stewarding the next generation of trees. In the Northern Forest region encompassing the ancestral homelands and Sovereign Nation of the Panawahpskek (Penobscot), sprouting hardwoods (e.g., American beech, red maple) compete strongly against other trees in the regenerating stratum, compromising management aimed at diverse compositions including cultural resource species like paper birch and brown ash. To address this problem, we will co-develop, evaluate, and demonstrate approaches to submerchantable hardwood management that accomplish silvicultural objectives while adhering to cultural mores and incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing.