The usual method for harvesting wood is to grow the tree to maturity and then chop it down. If the tree - in New Zealand typically pinus radiata - has been properly trimmed during its life it should yield a reasonable quantity of millable timber.
Once a woodlot is harvested heavy machinery moves into tidy things up, then the land is replanted with tiny seedlings. Each of these seedlings needs to take root and develop, then there's a 20-30 year wait until the trees are ready for harvest.
An interesting post on The Strategist reminds us that coppicing, where young limbs are harvested every three or four years, is an ancient practice that is being revived.
We do a little coppicing with wattle, elm and plum and it is a very painless way of growing trees for firewood. I know of at least two local rural properties where this is practiced on a large scale. Once the wood is burned we scatter some of the ash round the trees again.
I'm not that keen on pollarding - where the tree is allowed to grow to a reasonable height before young limbs are harvested. Although this produces more mature timber I've been put off by the ugly winter sight of rows of pollarded stumps in Masterton streets.
