A retained shelterwood (överhållen skärm) is a regeneration method where the stand is thinned, and the remaining trees form an overstory “screen” of large trees. New trees establish beneath the shelter, and as they grow, the overstory is gradually removed. With retained shelterwood, the site stays more continuously forested than in, for example, a seed-tree system, and the retained trees are kept for much longer than in traditional shelterwood forestry.
Retained shelterwood can be used in single-layered stands. For it to count as a continuous cover method, at least 25 large trees per hectare must be retained, and the overstory must not be harvested before the younger trees have become established.