123 resources found

This FRDA Report #094 investigates how manipulating stand density and applying fertilization affected the long-term development of immature Coastal Douglas-fir stands in British Columbia. Researchers monitored test plots over a decade, examining how various spacing regimes influenced tree metrics. The findings indicated that the combined treatments significantly improved stand volume growth, with fertilization providing a strong, immediate response that waned over time. The reduced density plots demonstrated the most pronounced and sustained positive results throughout the ten years after treatment.

This FRDA Report #066 is an extensive information review regarding the complexities of managing hardwood timber resources, specifically aspen and poplar species, in northeastern British Columbia. The document organizes these challenges into 12 priority areas, highlighting the need for addressing outdated inventory and resolving land use conflict as the most urgent concerns. The review systematically synthesizes existing literature on topics ranging from stocking standards and growth projections to regeneration, soil erosion, and gene conservation. This document is intended to guide forestry practices toward the more effective utilization and management of the boreal hardwood ecosystem in the region.

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 Report #097 investigates the net basal area response of Douglas-fir trees to nitrogen fertilization in stands that have been thinned and unthinned. The research, based on a 9-year study in British Columbia, developed equations to predict how fertilization affects tree growth and focused on how thinning influences the effectiveness and longevity of fertilizer application. Key findings indicate that thinned stands show a greater and more persistent response to nitrogen fertilization compared to unthinned stands where the effect tends to dissipate more quickly. The study provides valuable insights for forest managers on optimizing silvicultural practices by combining thinning and fertilization to enhance Douglas-fir productivity.

This FRDA Report #137 investigates the basal area response of immature coastal western hemlock stands to fertilizing and thinning treatments on northern Vancouver Island, nine years after application. The purpose is to understand how these silvicultural practices affect tree and stand growth, particularly focusing on net basal area response, which is a measure of the cross-sectional area of tree trunks. The study found that while thinning alone significantly improved growth, the best results were achieved by combining fertilization with thinning, as this concentrated the additional growth onto fewer, more valuable stems, even though the total basal area removed by thinning was not fully recovered within the nine-year period. The research also provides equations for estimating net basal area response, offering practical tools for forest managers considering these interventions.

This FRDA Report #021 details a 35-year study on the effects of commercial thinning on 50-year-old Douglas-fir stands on Vancouver Island. The study compared thinned and unthinned plots to analyze growth and yield metrics such as total volume, diameter, and mortality. While thinning led to a 12% increase in potentially usable total volume yield over the study period and produced larger diameter trees overall, it also resulted in an 18% reduction in total volume at final harvest compared to unthinned stands. The study suggests that commercial thinning provides earlier wood availability and larger trees, but does not significantly alter total gross annual growth or crop-tree size, offering valuable data for forest management models and strategies.

This LMH Document 60 outlines a management strategy for mule deer winter ranges in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of British Columbia, specifically focusing on transition and deep snowpack zones. Developed through years of research and aligned with existing land use plans, the document provides management objectives and strategies for forest harvesting to maintain and restore suitable habitat. Key areas addressed include access planning, stand age structure, tree species composition, opening sizes for harvests, and the spatial layout of openings. It also includes appendices detailing snowpack zones, biodiversity considerations, forest health management, and a history of related research and planning efforts, aiming to guide forest managers and monitor habitat preservation.

This LMH Document #59 outlines a management strategy for mule deer winter ranges specifically within the transition and deep snowpack zones of the Cariboo-Chilcotin region. It's structured in two main parts: the first details winter range management objectives, including long-term spatial goals, access considerations, and stand-level targets for forest structure and species composition, largely employing a group selection silviculture system. The second part provides guidance on planning forest harvests to align with these objectives, offering practical steps and a checklist for implementation, aiming to integrate timber harvesting with the maintenance and restoration of suitable mule deer habitat.

This FRDA Research Memo #210 details a study on the natural regeneration of Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir following clearcutting in southern British Columbia at high elevations. The study analyzed two years of data across multiple clearcut sites, investigating how factors like moisture regime, treatment type, and slope aspect affected the resulting stocking and growth of the seedlings. Key findings included that regeneration was generally successful, though sites with higher moisture and those facing south had better stocking, and that treatments that promoted mineral soil exposure significantly increased seedling density and growth for both species. The document offers management implications, suggesting that reliance solely on natural regeneration at high elevations may require reassessing expected timelines for regrowth.

This FRDA Research Memo #224 outlines the crucial criteria for selecting sites and stands when fertilizing coastal Douglas-fir forests, emphasizing both the biological and economic rationale behind such silviculture. The authors confirm that nitrogen is the major limiting nutrient for immature Douglas-fir stands in coastal British Columbia, making fertilization a viable option for increasing timber supply. For maximum financial returns, fertilization should target medium- to high-quality sites that lack water deficits and possess low nitrogen concentrations, while ensuring that crop trees have adequate space for crown expansion to fully capitalize on the treatment. This document seeks to provide a framework for developing sound fertilizer prescriptions that maximize the economic benefit, particularly when coordinated with other forest management activities like commercial thinning.

This FREP Report #9 provides a detailed assessment of the reforestation strategies used in the Fort St. John Pilot Project in British Columbia. The core purpose of the evaluation was to determine if the alternative, landscape-level reforestation approaches employed by the FSJPP, which deviate from traditional block-by-block requirements, are successfully meeting the objectives of the Forest and Range Practices Act for sustainable use of resources. The review focused on three key indicators: diversity and pattern of communities and ecosystems, landscape-level reforestation, and establishment delay. This document offers specific recommendations for altering future Sustainable Forest Management Plans to improve data transparency and ensure that the new landscape-level approach fully accounts for species composition and accurately tracks the time required for successful regeneration.

This paper investigates the patterns of post-fire vegetation regeneration in two climatically distinct sites in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada, following a severe montane fire and subsequent abnormally dry conditions. The study aimed to quantify the recovery trajectories of herbaceous understory and conifer seedlings over five years, revealing that site environmental conditions were more influential than inter-annual drought in determining recovery. Notably, the moist site exhibited greater herbaceous biomass accumulation while the drier site demonstrated significantly higher lodgepole pine seedling recruitment, indicating a complex ecological resilience to drought in fire-prone montane ecosystems. This paper affirmed the utility of remotely piloted aircraft systems for spatially monitoring changes in vegetation height, cover, and biomass after a disturbance.

This document synthesizes existing knowledge on reintroducing fire into long-unburned, fire-dependent forests of the United States, specifically focusing on how to minimize mortality of large, old trees. Historically, these ecosystems experienced frequent, low-intensity fires, which kept fuel loads low and fostered fire-tolerant species. However, over a century of fire suppression has led to unprecedented accumulations of deep duff and increased tree densities, making reintroducing fire a complex challenge that can paradoxically harm the very old trees practitioners aim to protect. The document delves into causes of tree injury and mortality from fire, such as basal cambium damage from smoldering duff and subsequent bark beetle attacks, and explores various management options including prescribed burning with the aim of restoring historical forest conditions and preserving venerable trees.

This technical report explores the viability of commercial thinning as a forest management strategy within the Arrow and Cranbrook Timber Supply Areas of British Columbia. The primary goal was to investigate if commercial thinning could help offset projected wood supply reductions resulting from new forest policies and land-use plans. The study involved a multi-stage methodology: identifying potential forest stands using Geographic Information Systems theming, conducting field inventories and reconnaissance surveys to assess suitability, and modeling the impact of thinning on wood flow. While the project successfully identified potential thinning volumes, it also highlighted significant challenges such as limited road access, unsuitable stand structures, and the need to balance timber extraction with other resource management objectives.

This document presents a methodology for refining silviculture guidelines in British Columbia's Prince George region to enhance habitat for grizzly bears. The analysis highlights key ecological differences, noting that mountain bears flourish in open, naturally gappy environments, while plateau bears struggle in dense stands that lack forage opportunities. To address this, the authors recommend using partial cutting systems and reduced tree density to create and maintain canopy gaps that maximize light penetration, stimulating the growth of critical shrubs, roots, and berries, and also suggests protecting features like high stumps and coarse woody debris. Furthermore, this document stresses the importance of minimizing human interaction by deactivating roads and retaining vegetation for security cover, especially near high-value riparian areas. This document provides an adaptive management framework to integrate wildlife needs directly into sustainable forest planning.

This research documents a six-year monitoring study at the Montane Alternative Silvicultural Systems site, examining how different harvesting methods influence the likelihood of windthrow damage in coastal montane forests. The study quantified stem loss across four treatments, including clearcut, shelterwood, green tree retention, and patch cut, finding that windthrow losses were substantial across the site, which was not initially considered high risk. Although low-density green tree retention experienced the highest proportion of damaged trees, the overall greatest number of wind-damaged stems occurred in the shelterwood treatment. The data indicates that small, concentrated patch cuts resulted in the lowest amount of windthrow, suggesting that grouped retention is a more effective strategy than dispersed retention for minimizing wind damage. The authors conclude that adopting group retention strategies can better conserve structural forest elements while addressing challenges related to windthrow risk.

This study aimed to identify viable silvicultural alternatives to conventional clearcutting for promoting successful forest renewal in black spruce stands across the eastern Canadian boreal zone. Researchers evaluated whether partial harvesting techniques, specifically variations of shelterwood and seed-tree cutting, could achieve adequate conifer density over a ten-year period. The results confirmed that these partial harvest methods, when implemented alongside mechanical site preparation such as spot scarification, successfully facilitated sufficient density of black spruce regeneration. The research supports the use of shelterwood and seed-tree systems combined with soil disturbance as effective management strategies for meeting sustainable forest productivity objectives.

This document introduces specialized Stand Density Management Diagrams to assist forest managers in British Columbia with planning the optimal growth and yield of even-aged stands of lodgepole pine, white spruce, and interior Douglas-fir. These graphical tools function by depicting the temporal relationships among forest metrics, including stand density, top height, and mean tree volume, derived from the TASS growth simulation model. Silviculturists can use the SDMDs to visualize various growth paths, determine the optimal timing and intensity of thinnings, and make preliminary yield estimations for different management objectives. The diagrams map out the Zone of Imminent Competition Mortality and the density range for maximizing Current Annual Increment, providing essential information for maximizing timber production while minimizing losses.

This paper investigates how the post-fire regeneration of trembling aspen is affected by the unique conditions of a high-severity boreal wildfire, specifically the Chuckegg Creek Fire in Alberta, Canada. The study's primary finding is that the success of aspen recruitment, either through vegetative suckering or seedlings, is strongly determined by surface fire severity and the timing of the burn relative to spring green-up. High surface fire severity, especially after green-up, decreased suckering by damaging root systems but simultaneously promoted the establishment of seedlings, effectively filling the regeneration gap and highlighting an alternative path for the foresta?Ts ecological resilience against intense disturbances. The paper concludes that a landscape mosaic of fire severities is crucial for maintaining both the long-lived clonal persistence and the necessary genetic diversity provided by sexual reproduction.

This document outlines best management practices developed by the Chief Forester to reduce the harmful effects of slash pile burning in British Columbia forest management. The core purpose is to minimize waste, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and maximize fibre utilization through integrated planning, silviculture, and harvesting techniques. Rather than offering prescriptive solutions, the document presents a range of options, such as promoting partial cutting and scattering woody debris, which must be evaluated based on site-specific factors like fire risk, biodiversity, and economics. This document seeks to treat forest management as a versatile tool to achieve diverse environmental and resource values.