Excluding deer browse increases stump sprouting success and height growth following regeneration harvests

Slash walls are a novel strategy that could help maintain species on sites where ungulate browse limits tree regeneration. We established five slash walls in southern New England, USA to examine the influence of pre-harvest tree metrics and deer exclusion on stump sprout height and survival at 160 sample points ( n = 1509 trees). For all species groups, dominant sprouts were taller inside the walls at the end of the first and second growing seasons. After 2 years, mean sprout heights were ∼2.5 times higher for Quercus rubra (1.8 vs. 0.7 m) and >6 times higher for Acer saccharum (2.0 vs. 0.3 m) inside the walls. For some species, the proportion of stumps with a live sprout after 1 year was higher inside the slash walls (56% vs. 28% for Q. rubra and 77% vs. 55% for Carya ovata). By contrast, sprouting success was uniformly high for Acer rubrum (78%) and Liriodendron tulipifera (87%). Differences in sprout survival inside versus outside the walls increased during the second year for Q. rubra, C. ovata, and A. saccharum. Where maintaining Q. rubra is a management objective, excluding deer will increase both the growth of stump sprouts and the proportion of stumps with a live sprout.