213 resources found

This FRDA Report #247 details a study comparing different methods of harvesting trees in a coastal montane forest in British Columbia. Prompted by concerns about regeneration success at higher elevations and public desire for alternatives to clearcutting, the Montane Alternative Silvicultural Systems project investigated the productivity and costs associated with uniform shelterwood, green tree retention, and patch cutting compared to traditional clearcutting. The study tracked the efficiency and expense of falling and forwarding operations, alongside measuring the impact on soil disturbance and the amount of remaining woody debris. Ultimately, the research aimed to provide insights into the economic and operational feasibility of alternative silvicultural systems in this challenging environment, while also considering their long-term ecological effects.

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 #218 investigates the effectiveness of various mechanical site preparation methods, specifically disc trenching, patch scarification, and ripping, on the establishment of conifer seedlings across three different biogeoclimatic subzones in British Columbia's interior. The study sought to determine the optimal mechanical treatment and the most favorable microsite planting positions for seedling survival and growth, particularly focusing on mitigating frost damage. After five years, results consistently showed that disc trenching and ripperdrag treatments offered the best outcomes across the subzones, with the specific microsite preference varying based on site moisture and elevation to best protect against environmental stressors like frost and drowning.

This FRDA Research Memo #219 provides preliminary guidelines for conducting modified commercial thinning operations in coastal British Columbia forest stands grappling with laminated root rot, a pervasive disease caused by the native fungus Phellinus weirii. The disease reduces forest productivity by causing mortality, slowing growth, and predisposing trees to windthrow, and traditional thinning practices have intensified its spread. The modified commercial thinning operations involve first identifying and mapping LRR infection centers, then harvesting all susceptible trees within a specific disease buffer zone surrounding these centers, which are known as bridge trees, to isolate the infection and contain its spread. This research aims to validate predictive forest models and refine management strategies for balancing commercial logging viability with disease mitigation in afflicted areas.

This FREP Extension Note #44 focuses on best management practices for riparian areas following salvage logging after wildfires, aiming to minimize negative impacts on aquatic habitats. It acknowledges that while current regulations permit harvesting fire-damaged timber in riparian zones, this can harm both water and land ecosystems by increasing erosion and reducing crucial large woody debris. The document proposes specific guidelines for managing these sensitive areas based on factors like burn severity and the connection of slopes to streams, striving to balance timber recovery with the protection of vital ecological functions and downstream resources.

This document investigates the effectiveness of various thinning, pruning, and residue fuel management strategies designed to mitigate extreme wildfire hazards in the fire-prone forests of interior British Columbia. Using both simulated scenarios and analyses of actual operational treatments, the research modeled impacts on passive and active crown fire potential, as well as tree mortality. A key finding is that while removing small trees reduces the risk of passive crown fire, the concurrent removal of some larger trees is necessary to substantially reduce the threat of active crown fire. The study also confirmed that effective management of residue fuels is critical for treatment success, while pruning was found to have minimal impact on crown fire mitigation. This work provides valuable, region-specific data to help forest managers make informed wildfire management decisions regarding necessary treatment intensity.

This document explores the increasingly severe wildland fire situation in B. C. , driven by climate change and accumulated forest fuels, with an emphasis on the urgent need for a whole-of-government provincial landscape resilience strategy. It is structured to detail the current wildfire context, analyze the significant social and ecological impacts of catastrophic wildfire, and examine the current governmental and non-governmental responses to wildfire governance in the province, including the critical role of First Nations and local governments. Ultimately, the primer The document calls for a fundamental shift toward proactive prevention and mitigation measures, highlighting the need to vastly expand fuel management efforts and adopt a comprehensive, collaborative approach to build lasting social-ecological resilience across B. C.

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 outlines the critical need to braid Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to create climate-adapted forests in the United States. A primary theme is the historical impact of Euro-American colonization, fire exclusion, and settler colonialism on North American forest ecosystems, leading to the loss of Indigenous stewardship and creating dense, fire-maladapted landscapes highly vulnerable to severe wildfires and climate change stressors. The text defines IK as an invaluable, multi-generational body of systemic knowledge and cultural practices emphasizing kinship with nature and reciprocity, contrasting it with the empirical and objective approach of WS.

This paper examines the complex relationship between forest health and climate change from a British Columbia perspective, building on the impact of past events like the mountain pine beetle and Dothistroma needle blight epidemics. The authors present estimations of how various forest pests are expected to behave as climate continues to change, emphasizing that rapid environmental shifts are favoring fast-reproducing pests over long-lived trees. The research offers management recommendations aimed at increasing forest resilience, such as implementing assisted migration and genetic diversity, while stressing that the future of forest management requires flexibility and adaptation in the face of unprecedented uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to equip managers with projections for the near future and emphasize the urgency of integrating proactive forest health measures into all aspects of land-use planning.

This document introduces the concept of fire-smart forest management as a pragmatic approach to achieving sustainable forest management in Canada's fire-dominated ecosystems. The core challenge addressed is how to simultaneously minimize the socioeconomic impacts of fire while maximizing its ecological benefits, objectives that have historically been seen as contradictory. Fire-smart forest management integrates both forest and fire management activities, from stand to landscape levels, through proactive planning, such as altering forest fuels to reduce the potential for undesirable wildfires and lessen the risks associated with prescribed burning. This new paradigm is necessary because traditional aggressive fire suppression is reaching its maximum effectiveness, necessitating a shift in attitude to embrace fire's essential ecological role and mitigate its negative effects through integrated management strategies.

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 document synthesizes findings from over 25 Canadian research watersheds to examine the highly variable impacts of forest management on water resources. It emphasizes that factors like topography, subsurface geology, climate, and forest type significantly influence these effects, making direct knowledge transfer between regions challenging. The document highlights the importance of conservation measures like riparian buffers, which, while generally effective, require tailoring to local conditions. It emphasizes the need for future research to identify critical processes that mediate forestry's effects on water, integrating both large-scale watershed-level studies and detailed stand-level investigations to improve the transferability of findings for sustainable forestry practices.

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 technical report investigates the potential of variable retention silvicultural systems to manage forests in British Columbia's Nelson Forest Region, aiming to mitigate anticipated reductions in wood supply due to new environmental regulations. The study specifically evaluates how different variable retention methods impact stand productivity and overall wood flow despite the widespread presence of Armillaria root disease. Using the PROGNOSIS growth model, the authors identify low-risk timber types and develop management guidelines to balance timber harvesting with objectives like biodiversity and visual quality and reccomend a more balanced mixture of clearcutting and variable retention approaches to ensure sustainable forest management.

This webinar discusses operationalizing adaptive silviculture for climate change through a multi-site research network. The core purpose of the project is to provide forest managers with real-world, operational examples of integrating climate change adaptation principles into practice, specifically by fostering ecosystem resilience to uncertain futures. The research employs a consistent framework across various forest types, testing three primary adaptation strategies including resistance, resilience, and transition. The webinar details the work at the Minnesota pine site, highlighting local climate vulnerability to drought and the application of these three treatments: simple thinning for resistance, mixed-species restoration for resilience, and aggressive transition management using both native and novel, future-adapted species like Ponderosa pine.

This webinar focused on adapting timber management practices to environmental shifts. The webinar establishes the urgent need for adaptation by detailing regional climate projections, including rising temperatures and increased summer drought frequency, which pose significant threats to traditionally managed commercial species like Red Pine. The framework consisting of Resistance, Resilience, and Transition strategies is introduced, demonstrating how varying levels of silvicultural intervention, from thinning to mitigate drought to planting novel species via assisted migration, can reduce climate vulnerability. The central purpose of the discussion is to convince land managers that they can implement these science-backed silvicultural actions to sustain forest productivity and commercial value despite increasing ecological risks.

This webinar argues that managing the escalating crisis of high-severity Canadian wildfires requires a move beyond traditional fire suppression toward proactive fuel management. The key is to apply a strategic risk framework that prioritizes efforts based on both fire probability and the immense consequence to critical values at risk, such as vital infrastructure, vulnerable communities, and watersheds. Effective mitigation must combine mandated land-use regulations, such as strict FireSmart building standards, with a significant increase in landscape-level fuel treatments, including prescribed burning. The webinar discusses that achieving long-term success necessitates a fundamental reworking of the existing forest management framework in British Columbia to adequately integrate fire resilience and prevention.

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 document on the 26-year assessment of the Montane Alternative Silvicultural Systems study focuses on natural regeneration and understory species within various managed forest environments. The MASS study is highly structured, comparing distinct silvicultural systems such as clearcut, shelterwood, and old growth by utilizing three separate replicates for each treatment type. Data collection relies on establishing Permanent Vegetation Plots, which incorporate smaller, precisely defined nested sub-plots to monitor detailed plant life, including herbs, bryophytes, and tagged conifer species like Amabilis fir and Western Hemlock. These images function as a structured index, associating specific plot and photo numbers with each experimental manipulation across the research site.