Northern hardwood species improvement harvests are intended to reduce the overstocked pole size category of most hardwood stands in Northern Michigan.  Each wood lot should be walked and harvest trees selected for removal are marked with a highly visible band of paint.  The thinning is intended to remove obviously defective trees.  Trees with excessive sweep, fork or split tops, exposed rot or other stem defect should be removed.  The residual stand will then display tall, straight alignment of quality stems that are the crop trees of a future harvest.

Northern hardwoods include hard maple, basswood, white ash, black cherry, beech with a trace of ironwood and aspen.