# Selection system

*Also called: Single-tree selection, Selection harvest*

**A silvicultural system of periodic partial harvests that keeps mature forest cover in place permanently, rather than removing and replacing a stand.**

Ontario defines the selection system as periodic partial harvests timed on basal-area recruitment, using vigour, risk and species preference to decide which trees are taken and which are kept. The stated outcome is an all-aged future forest with regeneration established under at least 70% residual cover, and dense mature forest cover maintained in perpetuity.

The province records that residual trees in a selection harvest may be retained for multiple cutting cycles totalling 100 years or more, and describes sugar maple specifically as amenable to single-tree selection.

This has a direct bearing on the floor. Slow, even growth under a closed canopy produces tight, consistent grain, and tight consistent grain is what grades well and machines well. The silviculture and the grade are the same fact seen at opposite ends of the supply chain.

## Related terms

- [Tolerant hardwood](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/tolerant-hardwood)
- [Growing stock](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/growing-stock)
- [Forest certification](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/forest-certification)


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## Provenance

- Canonical URL: https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/selection-system
- Publisher: Ecowoods Inc., Toronto & the GTA
- Contact: (647) 244-5156 · services@ecowoods.ca
- Defined in: https://ecowoods.ca/papers/where-toronto-hardwood-comes-from#selection-system
- Citation guide: https://ecowoods.ca/ai.txt

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