68 resources found

This paper examines how community forests in British Columbia, Canada, are transforming wildfire governance by shifting away from traditional, centralized, and reactive approaches toward proactive, locally-driven management. The authors highlight that CFs, which are long-term forest tenures managed by Indigenous and/or local communities, act as local leaders in mitigating wildfire risk. Their success hinges on crucial factors such as financial and social capacity, particularly the ability to build trust and strong relationships with both community members and government agencies. Despite persistent challenges, the study concludes that CFs are a critical form of local wildfire governance, effectively implementing diverse strategies and fostering a fire lens in forest management to enhance wildfire resilience across various scales.

This paper addresses the critical need for improved understanding of the long-term effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments in dry, fire-prone forests of western North America. The authors highlight that current knowledge limitations lead to inefficient maintenance and inaccurate wildfire forecasting. They propose six key research opportunities designed to refine our grasp of how long treatments remain effective. These opportunities include evaluating longevity within specific management goals, referencing desired ecological conditions, accounting for natural forest variability, exploring internal treatment factors, increasing post-treatment sampling frequency, and incorporating spatial heterogeneity into analyses. The paper aims to foster climate-adaptive management that enhances dry forest resilience to wildfire through more efficient and informed treatment strategies.

This paper investigates the effectiveness of various fire management treatments on western U. S. coniferous forests, which have become more susceptible to severe wildfires due to a century of fire exclusion and altered land use. Researchers analyzed the impacts of mechanical thinning, prescribed burning, and a combination of both across six diverse sites. The study found that mechanical thinning combined with prescribed fire was the most effective strategy for significantly reducing surface fuel loads, decreasing the likelihood of severe crown fires, and lowering predicted tree mortality. While mechanical-only treatments were less consistent, they were effective when whole-tree harvesting systems were used, minimizing residual surface fuels.

This document explores the critical and expanded role of First Nations Guardians in Canada's wildfire response and management efforts. The document argues that Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship, particularly through the growing Guardians movement, offers a powerful model for addressing both environmental challenges and reconciliation. The strategy addresses systemic challenges like climate change, the disproportionate impact of fires on Indigenous communities, and current barriers to First Nations participation in fire management, emphasizing the need to integrate Indigenous knowledge and science with Western practices. The doucment outlines a three-pronged approach for Guardians to contribute to emergency response, fire and forest management, and knowledge and science, emphasizing the need for sustained funding, training, and meaningful partnerships with Crown agencies to realize this vision.

This document focuses on fire risk reduction in the Coastal Douglas Fir biogeoclimatic zone and synthesizes expertise from a collaborative community to address the escalating threat of wildfires. It highlights the unique challenges within the CDF, particularly the high concentration of human settlements integrated with forests and the prevalence of degraded, homogenous forest stands resulting from historical logging and fire suppression. The document emphasizes the critical need for ecologically-informed active forest management to restore biodiversity and enhance climate resilience, moving away from a zero-fire model. It explores current initiatives, identifies significant inter-jurisdictional complexities and funding gaps, especially concerning privately held lands, and advocates for multi-scale collaboration and the reintroduction of Indigenous land management practices to achieve long-term wildfire mitigation and ecological integrity.

This extension note investigates the effects of different site preparation methods on a high-elevation wet, cold forest in British Columbia. The study examines the initial responses of planted and natural tree regeneration, soil properties, vegetation, and biodiversity to these treatments within various harvesting systems. The report aims to provide guidance for operational decisions regarding site preparation in these challenging environments, considering both silvicultural success and broader ecological impacts.

This document synthesizes existing research on forest fuel treatments and their effectiveness in modifying wildfire behavior. Recognizing that the local, currently wetter forests are projected to become similar to drier, fire-prone forests of the Western US due to climate change, the report explores how fuel treatments can reduce wildfire intensity and spread. It defines fuel treatments and outlines their objectives, such as ecosystem restoration and protecting communities, emphasizing that these actions aim to change fire behavior, not prevent fire ignition. Furthermore, the report delves into empirical evidence from past wildfires encountering treated areas, highlighting key principles for effective treatments in mature stands, including surface fuel reduction, increasing height to live crown, decreasing crown density, and retaining large fire-resistant trees. The ultimate purpose is to provide guidance for implementing appropriate and effective fuel management strategies in the Southern West Kootenays.

This document serves as a foundational guide for adapting forest management practices in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia in the face of climate change. Recognizing the confirmed reality of climate change and its projected impacts on the region, the report outlines a starting point for forest practitioners to consider and implement adaptation strategies. It structures these strategies across different scales - landscape, ecosystemstand, and operational - offering specific actions relevant to the unique vulnerabilities identified in the northern, mid, and southern subregions of the West Kootenays. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the need for a deliberate and informed decision-making process to select and implement effective adaptation measures, advocating for ongoing monitoring and collaboration among stakeholders.

This document serves as a comprehensive guide for land managers considering mastication as a vegetation management tool. It synthesizes current scientific knowledge, detailing the characteristics and costs of various mastication equipment, including carrier machines and cutting heads. The report also summarizes the ecological effects of mastication on vegetation, soils, and wildlife habitat, noting the variability of these impacts across different ecosystems. It provides decision trees and implementation criteria to aid managers in selecting the most appropriate treatment methods and mastication configurations based on their specific site conditions and management objectives.

This paper analyzes the record-breaking 2023 wildfires in British Columbia, detailing their significant ecological and social impacts, which are seen as the result of a century of altered relationships with fire intensified by climate change. The authors argue for an urgent transformative shift towards coexisting with wildfire, moving beyond suppression to embrace its ecological role and Indigenous stewardship practices. The paper proposes six interrelated strategies to achieve this coexistence: diversifying wildfire response, increasing suppression capacity, mitigating community risk, implementing landscape fire management, transforming wildfire governance, and strengthening expertise. This paper emphasizes the need for a holistic, all-of-society approach involving policy changes, sustained funding, and collaboration to build resilience against future extreme wildfires.

This report addresses the critical issue of maintaining large, old trees in United States forests that historically experienced frequent fires but have been subjected to long periods of fire suppression. The document synthesizes existing research to understand how reintroducing fire through prescribed burning impacts these venerable trees, particularly concerning injury and mortality. It delves into the causes of tree death from fire, including heat damage to crowns, cambium, and roots, with a specific focus on the role of accumulated duff and subsequent bark beetle attacks. Furthermore, the report examines management options and treatment effects aimed at enhancing old tree resilience during prescribed burns, offering practical guidance on techniques like duff raking and burning under specific conditions, ultimately striving to balance ecological restoration with the conservation of these keystone forest components.

This document delves into the critical aspects of aspen silviculture, addressing the increasing complexity of managing aspen forests due to greater utilization and evolving approaches to mixedwood management. The authors review the mechanisms of aspen regeneration, both through root suckering and seeds, and offer preliminary guidelines for managing the density of aspen stands in their early development. The paper aims to synthesize existing knowledge and identify knowledge gaps to better inform management decisions aimed at achieving various forest composition objectives.

This extension note outlines the successional pathways of various forest ecosystems in British Columbia and how these natural trajectories are influenced by natural disturbances, forest management practices, and projected climate change. The document describes typical post-disturbance development, the impacts of human interventions like harvesting, and potential future shifts due to altered temperature and precipitation regimes. The primary aim is to provide natural resource managers with a concise overview to inform strategies for building resistant and resilient forests in the face of ongoing environmental change.

This extension note outlines long-term research at the Opax Mountain and Isobel sites in British Columbia, focusing on sustainable management for Interior Douglas-fir ecosystems. By evaluating various harvesting intensities and patterns, researchers are investigating how different silvicultural methods impact timber yields, biodiversity, and forage productivity. The studies emphasize that a diverse mosaic of treatments is necessary to satisfy competing ecological and social values, as uniform practices fail to support all forest functions. This document provides forest managers with technical guidance and modeling tools to maintain healthy, open-canopy forests while balancing the needs of the timber industry and the environment.

This document evaluates the long-term effectiveness of various silviculture practices and forest management techniques across the Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir zones of British Columbia. By assessing historical research trials and logged areas in the southern interior, the document details why certain methods lead to regeneration success or failure, specifically noting the challenges of competing vegetation and harsh environmental conditions. The document is structured to provide a comprehensive analysis of site preparation methods, planting outcomes, and the quality of remaining trees, ultimately revealing that initial spruce growth is often slow and survival rates are frequently unsatisfactory. This document concludes with strategic recommendations for future study to better understand how elevation and plant competition influence the sustainable recovery of these high-altitude ecosystems.

This report presents models to predict the likelihood of Douglas-fir mortality and bark beetle infestation following wildfires. The authors developed these tools using data from past fires in Montana and Wyoming, aiming to improve both pre-fire planning and post-fire management decisions. The report details the significant variables influencing tree survival and beetle attacks, such as crown scorch and cambium damage, and includes a supplementary field guide with visual aids and methods for field data collection, providing a practical resource for forest managers.

This document serves as a first approximation of guidelines for managing forests in British Columbia. Recognizing the historical influence of First Nations' cultural burning and the current challenges of overstocked stands and wildfire risk, it outlines a strategic shift in silvicultural practices. The report details Best Management Practices (BMPs), structured around key aspects like appropriate silvicultural systems, restoration thinning, regeneration, and resilience to disturbances like fire and pests. The document aims to guide practitioners and inform policy, moving towards healthier, more resilient Douglas-fir ecosystems that balance ecological values, community safety, and sustainable resource use.

This FRDA Report #018 investigates how plant communities recover in the Sub-Boreal Spruce Zone following clearcutting and various types of site preparation, specifically comparing mechanical methods and prescribed burning. The central goal was to determine the precise rate of revegetation development and track the resulting shifts in floristic composition and structure across four key ecosystems within the region. By examining how different herb and shrub species survive and recolonize disturbed sites, the findings generate crucial data that informs the creation of predictive models and guides forest managers in planning effective silvicultural prescriptions and wildlife habitat objectives. This study provides a foundation for understanding the long-term ecological consequences of intensive forest management practices in British Columbia.

This LMH Document #79 outlines the principles and best practices for silvicultural systems in British Columbia, emphasizing a shift toward complex, multi-value forest management in the 21st century. Its primary purpose is to serve as a central reference and conceptual framework for forest professionals to design and implement silvicultural plans that move a stand from its current state to a desired future condition through planned interventions, known as stand development pathways. A crucial and recurring theme is the growing role of First Nations, including their traditional knowledge, values, and stewardship goals, which are integrated alongside ecological, social, and economic objectives. The document provides detailed guidance on technical aspects, such as managing for biodiversity, mitigating risks like windthrow and pests, and utilizing adaptive management for continuous improvement in forestry practices.

This FRDA Research Memo #241 details a study in the North-Central Interior of British Columbia comparing the effects of different site preparation treatments on the growth of lodgepole pine and hybrid white spruce seedlings. The research specifically investigated broadcast burning, disc trenching, pile-and-burn, and no treatment, analyzing their impact on soil conditions and seedling performance, including height and root growth after multiple growing seasons. Key findings indicated that disc-trenching and broadcast burning were the most effective methods for improving growth by enhancing soil properties, whereas the pile-and-burn treatment sometimes led to detrimental soil compaction due to excavator tracks, which hindered root development. Although site preparation was not necessary for high seedling survival on this particular wet, cool site, certain treatments were clearly beneficial for maximizing growth.