Silviculture Treatments for Ecosystem Management in the Sayward (STEMS) is a cooperative, large-scale, multi-disciplinary experiment that compares forest productivity, economics, and public perception of seven silvicultural systems or extended rotation treatments, replicated at three sites in the Sayward Forest on Vancouver Island.

The overall goals of the STEMS experiment are, within mature second-growth Douglas-fir stands:

1. To create replicated examples of alternative harvest practices and silvicultural regimes that can be used as a demonstration area by foresters and planners in ecosystem management;
2. To provide quantitative information for evaluation of feasibility and costs of alternative regimes and of their long-term effects on production of timber volumes and values and other non-timber values; and
3. To evaluate the effectiveness of contrasting silvicultural systems in reducing environmental and visual impacts of forestry operations, while supplying high timber outputs over time.

• B.C. Ministry of Forests
• B.C. Timber Sales
• Forest Engineering and Research Institute of Canada (FERIC)
• International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor)
• University of British Columbia, Forest Sciences Department
• Forest Research Extension Partnership (FORREX)
• Forest Investment Account Forest Science Program
• United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station