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Herbicide technology has evolved with forest management in North America over the past 60 years and has become an integral part of modern forestry practice. Forest managers have prescribed herbicides to increase reforestation success and long‐term timber yields. Wildlife managers and others interested in conserving biodiversity, however, have often viewed herbicide use as conflicting with their objectives. Do herbicides increase forest productivity, and are they compatible with the objectives of wildlife management and biodiversity conservation? Results from the longest‐term studies (10–30 years) in North America suggest that the range of wood volume yield gains from effectively managing forest vegetation (primarily using herbicides) is 30–450% in Pacific Northwest forests, 10–150% in the southeastern forests, and 50–450% in northern forests. Most of the 23 studies examined indicated 30–300 …