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Coarse Woody Debris in the East Kootenays: Understanding Sources and Dynamics to Guide Targets for Sustainable Forest Management Cochrane, Jared D. (Jed)
2008
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Abstract: Rationale, Purpose and Research Questions Ecosystem management aims to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem function while sustaining renewable resources. To achieve these goals, patterns of variation resulting from natural disturbances can be used to guide management. The premise of this approach is that management that maintains historic forest structures and functions will maintain the habitat suitable for the biota adapted to the ecosystem. Based on literature reviews, field research, and modeling, Tembec and Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) have been developing criteria and indicators for sustaining biodiversity of the managed forests of the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. Specific indicators include important habitat elements, such as snags, logs, large live trees, and stand structure classes. Preliminary targets for these indicators provide recommendations such as snag densities and volumes of logs to be maintained in managed stands. However, current targets may not represent the historical range of variation for these attributes. Many of the dry forests on southern British Columbia have been subject to substantive human impacts during the past century, including widespread fires associated with mining and logging at the end of the 19th century followed by fire exclusion, indirectly due to land use that has altered forest fuels and directly due to active fire suppression. The resulting contemporary forests may lie outside the range of historic variation and targets based on current composition and structures may not be appropriate or achievable over the long term. To be sustainable and achievable on the ground, targets for indicators of biodiversity must include a measure of the historic range of variability and measures of departure from this range. Knowledge of the processes that historically generated CWD and the age, decay rates, and residence time of snags and logs of different species is critical to ensure that appropriate quantities of CWD suitable for wildlife use are maintained in managed stands over the short and long terms. This proposal requests funds to support an ongoing investigation of coarse woody debris dynamics in the context of fire regime changes in the mountain forests of southeastern British Columbia. We address the following four questions about coarse woody debris (CWD) in the dry forests of southeastern British Columbia: ? How much CWD is present in old, mixed-conifer forests in absence of human disturbances such as 19th century fires associated with mining and industrial logging? ? How old are the snags and logs in these forests? Did this CWD originate as a result of historic fires or did it originate during the fire-exclusion era? ? How will the quantity and quality of CWD in these stands change through time? ? How does improved understanding of CWD dynamics and fire regimes influence existing tools for wildlife habitat modeling? Research Progress There are four parts to this research. Parts 1 and 2 provide the spatial and temporal framework for our analysis of CWD dynamics. In 2006-7, we completed (1) landscape-level GIS analysis, (2) fire history reconstructions at >30 sites in the Southern Rocky Mountain Trench (20 of which will be included in Cochrane?s MSc thesis) and (3) a pilot study of stand structure and CWD dynamics at 10 sites. Summaries for work completed for parts 1 and 2 follow; part 3 is described in the 'Experimental Design and Methods' section of this proposal since that work is ongoing and is the major focus of our 2007-8 workplan. Part 4 of the project is a modeling exercise that will be completed in 2008-9, once all field and lab analyses have been accomplished. Part 1. Identification of structurally complex stands (Cochrane, MSc) This research was conducted for the montane forests in the Interior Cedar Hemlock and Montane Spruce zones of the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia in the Invermere and Cranbrook TSAs and TFL14 ...
 
Cochrane, Jared D. (Jed), Daniels, Lori D.; Gray, Robert W.. 2008. Coarse Woody Debris in the East Kootenays: Understanding Sources and Dynamics to Guide Targets for Sustainable Forest Management. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report. FIA2008MR141
 
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), British, Columbia
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