Partial harvesting of forest stands would be easier to prescribe if the residual trees were guaranteed to remain standing. However, in Nova Scotia, the close proximity to the coast and it's winds, an abundance of thin, moist soils and a dominant tree cover of shallow rooted species such as spruce and fir, create favourable conditions for blowdown in many of our forests.

Why then do we want to partially harvest some of our forest stands? In order to provide conditions for natural regeneration, wildlife habitat, aesthetic values and ecological structure it is often preferred to leave part of the stand intact. Future harvests can be scheduled to remove some of these trees or some can be allowed to rot and recycle into the ecosystem.

Several research projects have been started recently to address the issue of reducing blowdown losses when doing a partial harvest. There is a need to determine which trees are stable and likely to withstand the strong winter winds once some of their neighbours are harvested.

Two research trials started in 1996 examined the use of partial harvesting as a means to encourage natural regeneration to spruce and to reduce the competitiveness of vegetation on the new tree seedlings. One such trial was a strip cut designed to examine among other things the impact of leave strip orientation, e.g. north-south strips versus east-west, and strip width on regeneration and vegetation regrowth (Calgar Road, Guysborough County). Another site near Keppoch, Antigonish County, was also strip harvested but included two other partial harvesting techniques, contour cutting (strips cut following the shape of the stand) and a modified shelterwood. In both of these trials data is being collected to determine which trees are more windfirm and capable of maintaining a partial cover until such time that they can be harvested and replaced with the new forest stand.

More recent research is focussing on determining tree stability attributes for trees left in selection harvested streamside management zones adjacent to clearcuts. Another project is using global positioning technology to determine the impact of topography on blowdown in a forest stand that was commercially thinned (Moose River, Pictou County).