The theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, and growth of stands of trees for any of the goods (including timber, pulp, energy, fruits, and fodder) and benefits (water, wildlife habitat, microclimate amelioration, and carbon sequestration) that they may be called upon to produce. In practicing silviculture, the forester draws upon knowledge of all natural factors that affect trees growing upon a particular site, and guides the development of the vegetation, which is either essentially natural or only slightly domesticated, to best meet the demands of society in general and ownership in particular. Based on the principles of forest ecology and ecosystem management, silviculture is more the imitation of natural processes of forest growth and development than a substitution for them.