Commercial Thinning (CT) is much the same as pre-commercial thinning:

• Stands are aged 35-45 years
• Dense stands of natural regeneration are thinned to between 2000 and 2500 tree per hectare
• Primary objective is to stimulate growth of crop trees
• Any merchantable timber cut is salvaged and sold as pulpwood, fuel wood, or sawlogs
• Extraction trails are required to remove salvaged timber to roadside
• Chainsaw is the tool of choice because of larger sized trees
• Less than 2500 hectares treated in this fashion to date, but treatment has great potential
• Industry wishes to acquire more wood from CT and other forms of selective harvesting as an alternative to clear-cutting only