there is now a renewed emphasis on alternative practices to clear cutting and plantation management.
Silviculture is the tool to meet the forest management objectives of landowners and society (Helms, 1998). The objectives promoting transformation of even-aged plantations to alternative structures are related to the aesthetics of these structures and perceptions that they are unnatural. The process through which an even-aged stand is renewed is particularly
(Franklin, 1989) ``close-to-nature forestry'' (Mlinsek, Ï disliked by the public that views clear cutting as an
1996), ``near-natural forestry'' (Benecke, 1996), nature unethical and environmental disaster (Benson et al., oriented therefore important to note that these demands for
transformation of even-aged forests to alternative structures have become the result of social/political factors in addition to ecological. Solutions to this political challenge should therefore respond to these political pressures and should not be ecological reactions.