The impacts of selective and clear cutting on miombo woodland regeneration and indeed in many extensively managed types of woodland depends on the characteristics of the trees. Most inventories in miombo woodland have tended to exclude plants in the pre-sapling phase which probably form the largest reservoir for the future tree crop. Chidumayo et al. (1996) reported that about 95 % of the plants at the sites they sampled were suppressed saplings of which canopy species constituted 44 and 84 % of total species and plants, respectively. Shoot growth among suppressed miombo saplings is slow; but the plants tend to accumulate a relatively large belowground biomass which constitutes the perennating organ that regenerates new shoots following repeated shoot die-back during the dry season (Chidumayo 1993). It has therefore been suggested that shading by canopy trees contributes to slow shoot growth of suppressed saplings in miombo woodland (Lees 1962; Werren et al. 1995); although competition for nutrients and water stress during the long dry season, fires and herbivory probably also contribute to this retardation. Notwithstanding, removal of canopy trees accelerates the rate of recruitment from suppressed saplings to sapling and tree phases (Chidumayo 1993; Werren et al. 1995; Chidumayo et al. 1996). While there may be additional tree recruitment from suppressed saplings after tree cutting, resulting in tree density in young regrowth being usually very high, this is a temporary phenomenon because density eventually returns to the pre-felling level at maturity (Chidumayo et al. 1996). Studies (Trapnell 1959; Chidumayo 1997) carried out at different ages of the regrowth stands demonstrated that recruitment is a temporal phenomenon in the Miombo woodland. Chidumayo (1997) demonstrated that although high tree densities in the early stages of woodland recovery like the ones observed by Trapnell (1959) in 11 year-old regrowth may be observed, the density tend to reduce drastically up to 95 % as the regrowth stand attains maturity. Thinning of stems in regrowth woodland is therefore a desirable silvicultural practice that replaces the slow natural thinning process during woodland maturation from regrowth.