intensive forest management can only be justified if it increases wood quality or yield sufficiently to compensate for the additional investment. treatments such as thinning and/or pruning are typically only applied to high quality sites like those characteristically found at plantations. in ontario there is an abundance of red pine plantations across the province especially in southern regions. these plantations are the result of reforestation and afforestation efforts put into place to reduce soil erosion and to repurpose abandoned farm land. this study concentrates of the effect of an intensive pruning regime over a single growing season.