Forestry in the Southeastern United States has long focused on converting natural stands into pine plantations or managing exclusively for hardwoods. Little consideration has been given to managing stands containing pine and hardwood mixtures, as these stands were considered inferior in terms of productivity and/or quality. Recent declines in small-diameter softwood markets and logging workforce have, however, begun to stress the traditional pine production model in some locations, raising interest in management alternatives. Here, we provide biological, economic, and sociocultural rationale for pine-hardwood mixtures as an alternative strategy for landowners with multiple management objectives. To support this idea, an illustration compares a mixed-species plantation to pine and hardwood monocultures under a variety of simulated scenarios to demonstrate growth potential and economic and biological resilience. Moreover, to identify scenarios where managing pine-hardwood mixtures would be most appropriate, and to help conceptualize landowner interest in mixed stands, we present a guide combining biological, economic, and sociocultural factors that we anticipate influencing the adoption of mixed-stand management. The aim of this conceptual paper is not to suggest that mixed-species stand management should become the dominant management paradigm; rather, we seek to encourage researchers and land managers to consider it as part of the broader silvicultural toolbox.

Mechanical site preparation is often prescribed as a tool for correcting soil condition problems encountered when planting former agricultural fields. While the impact of mechanical site preparation on early growth and survival of young oak seedlings is well-known, there is a shortage of information regarding the longer-term effects of these treatments. Four hundred and eighty, 1-0 bare-root seedlings each of Nuttall oak (Quercus texana Buckley), Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii Buckley), and swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii Nutt.) seedlings were planted in February 2008 on a retired agricultural site in northwest Mississippi. Four site preparation treatments were utilized, with 160 seedlings of each species per species/mechanical treatment combination, totaling 1440 seedlings for the study. Mechanical site preparation included control, subsoiling, bedding, and combination plowing treatments applied on 3.1 m row centers. Eleven-year diameter (DBH), total height growth (HT), height-to-live crown (HTLC), and survival data were recorded in early 2019. Treatment effects were analyzed, and significant differences were not detected for tree survival. However, differences were observed in the DBH, HT, and HTLC averages of swamp chestnut oak and the DBH of Shumard oak.