11/10/2026
12,601 ...12,602 ... If you’re having trouble falling asleep and counting sheep isn’t cutting it, take a leaf from a forester’s book and count seedlings instead.
Using systematic plot sampling, foresters counted tree seedlings and other understory plants on a recent regeneration survey in General C.C. Andrews State Forest. In addition to the 12,650 naturally regenerating red pine seedlings they estimated from the survey plots, they found other species including paper birch, red oak and red maple, and lots of native groundcover plants such as lowbush blueberry - some with berries still on the bush!
Tools like survey plots and long-term case studies give forest managers data and real examples of how well different land management decisions worked to regrow the forest. It’s all part of the DNR’s work to make informed, science-based decisions to guide forests now and into the future.
