Effect of thinning and grazing on tree development and the visual aspect of an oak forest on the Golan Heights

An attempt to create an open woodland was made in Israel by opening large tracks of maquis thickets by hand, cutting out lower shrubs, and thinning, coppicing, and pruning desirable trees. Three treatments were compared: moderate, heavy, and control with no thinning. The effects of the treatments on the visual transparency of the forest were measured by a transparency index defined as the maximum distance from which a vertical post 1.8 meters high could be fully observed. In general, thinning caused a 38.0% increase in the diameter of all the trunks over a seven-year period for heavy thinning, compared with 26.4% and 12.8% in the moderate and control treatments, respectively. The difference between heavy and moderate thinning was not always significant. A combination of thinning and grazing successfully created an open woodland, without additional input of resources. The ''transparency index'' used in this study can be used as a quantitative measurement index for accessibility and aesthetics.