To copy the URL of a document, Right Click on the document title, select "Copy Shortcut/Copy Link", then paste as needed. Only documents available to the public have this feature enabled.
This handbook brings together information about issues that foresters involved with aspen management in British Columbia are likely to face. This handbook assumes that biodiversity, forest health, and integrated resource management are important objectives for an aspen manager. Aspen has a role in ecosystem functions, even in places where it does not now commercially "serve the needs of the people." The handbook is intended not only for managers interested in harvesting aspen biomass, but also for persons interested in matters such as forest health and biodiversity.
Peterson, E.B., Peterson, N.M.. 1995. Aspen Managers' Handbook for British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. FRDA Research Report. FRR230
A brushing treatment was completed on 13.3 hectares of stratum 1B. A treatment of girdling was implemented on the first pass and a manual brushing treatment using power saws was implemented on the second pass.
This research addresses a key knowledge gap ? investigating how different forest management strategies might perform under the expected impacts of climate change. Existing management policies are based on establishing and maintaining a fixed forest structure (reserving habitat in certain areas while creating even-aged forest elsewhere). Climate change introduces not only the increased risk of disturbances associated with infestations such as MPB and fire but also changing climatic conditions that can affect the distribution of forest species across the landscape. Both changes affect the ability of forest managers to not only maintain timber supply but also to achieve their environmental objectives over the long term. By using state of the art climate change projections and sophisticated modeling techniques we can examine expected changes in forest conditions (forest cover, type, age structure and fire regime) and outputs (timber harvests, wildlife habitat) under alternative forest management strategies.
This research will offer new insight into two key aspects of adapting to climate change. First, the model permits the use of spatially explicit constraints and incorporates spatial attributes into its decision-making criteria. This then allows us to investigate to what extent the translation of objectives into on-the ground forest management practices may have an impact on expected outcomes (e.g. spatial constraints may prove to be more stringent if they are trying to maintain fixed stand structures under the changing climactic conditions). Second, the proposed research allows us to a) assess how well adapted our current policies are to climate change by integrating different management strategies into the modeling and b) identify whether new policies might be required. The model also permits us to take into account the economics of different forest management strategies (one output of the model will be net economic margins associated with harvesting activity) as well as the economic profile of the timber that will be available under different management approaches.
Gaining an understanding of forest ecosystems? vulnerability is a first step if we are to determine where and what adaptation strategies are to be incorporated into long-term forest planning and to providing guidance on how to manage for the risks associated with climatic change. The ability to maintain a sustainable forest industry will rely on our understanding of ecosystem vulnerability to climate change. In order to ground the research in reality, this research will focus on a case study: TFL 48 in Northeastern BC. We will focus on two aspects of climate change: the modification of stand dynamics of forest ecosystems in the study area (growth and yield, disturbance regimes including increased risk of fire and other events) and the modification of tree species regeneration potential. Building directly from existing research and climate modeling tools (Hamman and Wang 2006), this study will add the projections of the future regeneration potentials of the dominant tree species to the existing projection of new geographic positions of biogeoclimatic zones (Nitschke and Innes 2007). Such a complete and spatially explicit assessment of potential climate change impacts has not been conducted before for BC?s forests. These projections will be used as inputs to a management decision model, guiding the choice of regeneration species and the alteration of growth and yield curves in forest management. We will then use a forest-planning model to analyze the outcomes of different forest management strategies given climate change considerations (Mathey et al., 2007). These outcomes can be expressed in terms of changes in forest conditions (forest cover, forest type, and age class structure) and outputs (timber harvests, wildlife habitat).
The management scenarios will be a combination of both the objectives (e.g. trying to maintain a stable flow of timber) along wit
This report presents a problem analysis of the major cold hardiness tests, methods of evaluating cold injury, and means of expressing cold injury to serve as a logical adjunct to visual damage assessments.
Keates, S.E.. 1990. Assessing Cold Hardiness in Conifers: A Problem Analysis and Discussion Paper. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. FRDA Research Report. FRR106
One of the key biodiversity goals and responsibilities of the province of B.C., private landowners, and the forest industry is to ensure the persistence of globally endangered species on the forested landbase. B.C. is legally committed to recovery planning for endangered species under the Species At Risk Act, which requires identifying critical habitat for species at risk, as well as non-habitat related threats to species persistence and how to manage them. Recovery planning is a critical step in resource planning if B.C. is to fulfill its commitment to maintain endangered species on the forested land base. Stickleback species pairs are nationally and globally red listed and contribute uniquely to provincial and global biodiversity. In addition to their intrinsic biodiversity value they have supported some of the most advanced research in evolution and genetics since Darwins' finches (e.g. Rundle et al. 2000; Peichel et al. 2001; Colosimo et al. 2005; Keneddy 2005).
Stickleback species pairs are globally unique in that a benthic and limnetic species have recently evolved and differentiated in the same lakes, with the benthic species feeding on benthos in the littoral zone and the limnetic feeding on zooplankton in the pelagic zone. Current status of stickleback species pairs in B.C. is not encouraging (Foster 2003; Wood 2003). Four pairs have been identified in six different lakes (Foster et al. 2003). One of the pairs (Hadley Lake) has been extirpated due to introduction of alien fish (Ictalurus catfish; Hatfield 2001), and another species pair (Enos Lake) has collapsed into a hybrid swarm for unknown reasons (circumstantial evidence implicates habitat change associated with watershed development or crayfish introduction; Boughman 2001; Gow et al. 2006; Taylor et al. 2006). Only two of four original species pairs are extant in the four remaining lakes on Texada Island, three of which are on public or private forested land subject to industrial logging. The importance of proper habitat and watershed management in these forested watersheds is heightened because they represent 75% of the remaining global distribution of extant species pairs. Given that half of the original species pairs have become extinct over a relatively short period, the remaining species are likely to suffer the same fate unless threats to their persistence are properly identified and managed. Establishing critical habitat and identifying and minimizing threats to species persistence is a priority commitment for provincial agencies responsible for management of endangered species and their habitats on provincial forested lands (i.e. Ministries of Environment and Forests).
Although stickleback species pairs have been subject to enormous research focused on their evolutionary ecology and genetics, little is known about their ecological requirements or habitat associations. We propose targeted research to identify both critical habitat (Rosenfeld and Hatfield 2006) and the priority habitat and non-habitat related threats to species persistence (e.g. forestry impacts, exotic species) on the forested land base, in support of prioritizing management actions to minimize these threats. Specifically, we will work towards identifying critical habitat through a combination of 1) habitat identification and mapping in species pairs lakes, 2) assessment of the habitat attributes that are necessary for species persistence based on the distribution and productivity of habitats in species pairs lakes relative to single-species stickleback lakes, 3) assessment of seasonal fluctuations in habitat availability associated with natural and human-modified changes in water levels that affect habitat availability (e.g. littoral macrophyte beds vs. pelagic habitat), and 4) habitat-explicit Population Viability Analysis (PVA). We will also determine key demographic parameters for sticklebacks in species pair lakes on the forested land base, such as better estimates of benthic and
Ormond, Chad I., Rosenfeld, Jordan S.; Campbell, Kate; Leung, Elaine; Bernhardt, Johanna; Velema, G.J.. 2009. Assessing critical habitat and threats to endangered Stickleback Species pairs on the forested land base. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Series: Forest Investment Account Report
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), British, Columbia
One of the key biodiversity goals and responsibilities of the province of B.C., private landowners, and the forest industry is to ensure the persistence of globally endangered species on the forested landbase. B.C. is legally committed to recovery planning for endangered species under the Species At Risk Act, which requires identifying critical habitat for species at risk, as well as non-habitat related threats to species persistence and how to manage them. Recovery planning is a critical step in resource planning if B.C. is to fulfill its commitment to maintain endangered species on the forested land base. Stickleback species pairs are nationally and globally red listed and contribute uniquely to provincial and global biodiversity. In addition to their intrinsic biodiversity value they have supported some of the most advanced research in evolution and genetics since Darwins' finches (e.g. Rundle et al. 2000; Peichel et al. 2001; Colosimo et al. 2005; Keneddy 2005). Stickleback species pairs are globally unique in that a benthic and limnetic species have recently evolved and differentiated in the same lakes, with the benthic species feeding on benthos in the littoral zone and the limnetic feeding on zooplankton in the pelagic zone.
Current status of stickleback species pairs in B.C. is not encouraging (Foster 2003; Wood 2003). Four pairs have been identified in six different lakes (Foster et al. 2003). One of the pairs (Hadley Lake) has been extirpated due to introduction of alien fish (Ictalurus catfish; Hatfield 2001), and another species pair (Enos Lake) has collapsed into a hybrid swarm for unknown reasons (circumstantial evidence implicates habitat change associated with watershed development or crayfish introduction; Boughman 2001; Gow et al. 2006; Taylor et al. 2006). Only two of four original species pairs are extant in the four remaining lakes on Texada Island, three of which are on public or private forested land subject to industrial logging. The importance of proper habitat and watershed management in these forested watersheds is heightened because they represent 75% of the remaining global distribution of extant species pairs. Given that half of the original species pairs have become extinct over a relatively short period, the remaining species are likely to suffer the same fate unless threats to their persistence are properly identified and managed. Establishing critical habitat and identifying and minimizing threats to species persistence is a priority commitment for provincial agencies responsible for management of endangered species and their habitats on provincial forested lands (i.e. Ministries of Environment and Forests).
Although stickleback species pairs have been subject to enormous research focused on their evolutionary ecology and genetics, little is known about their ecological requirements or habitat associations. We propose targeted research to identify both critical habitat (Rosenfeld and Hatfield 2006) and the priority habitat and non-habitat related threats to species persistence (e.g. forestry impacts, exotic species) on the forested land base, in support of prioritizing management actions to minimize these threats. Specifically, we will work towards identifying critical habitat through a combination of 1) habitat identification and mapping in species pairs lakes, 2) assessment of the habitat attributes that are necessary for species persistence based on the distribution and productivity of habitats in species pairs lakes relative to single-species stickleback lakes, 3) assessment of seasonal fluctuations in habitat availability associated with natural and human-modified changes in water levels that affect habitat availability (e.g. littoral macrophyte beds vs. pelagic habitat), and 4) habitat-explicit Population Viability Analysis (PVA). We will also determine key demographic parameters for sticklebacks in species pair lakes on the forested land base, such as better estimates of benthic ...
Rosenfeld, Jordan S., Campbell, Kate; Leung, Elaine; Bernhardt, Johanna. 2008. Assessing critical habitat and threats to endangered Stickleback Species pairs on the forested land base. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report. FIA2008MR082
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Series: Forest Investment Account Report
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), British, Columbia
This three-year project will look at the effects of mountain pine beetle on selected understory plant and fungal species which are of high cultural importance and priority to the T'exelc and Xats?ull First Nations. Aboriginal Peoples continue to rely on traditionally used forest botanical species for cultural, recreational, subsistence and economic activities. Over the past several decades, the commercial use and awareness of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have risen dramatically due to various reasons such as increased global market demand, rural communities requiring alternatives for economic diversification, increased awareness of health and nutraceutical benefits, and a growing interest in cultural revitalisation. The expansion of the sector has been beneficial for many individuals and communities, but has also raised a number of concerns around resource and access rights, over-harvesting, and stewardship of the species and their ecosystems. There is currently no methodology developed for incorporating non-timber forest products into conventional vegetation inventories, and therefore it is difficult, if not impossible, to ensure sustainability of this sector. Overlaying this scenario is an increase of disturbance within areas traditionally harvested, including logging, fires and, recently, severe mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks. The mountain pine beetle, by effectively killing large portions of the pine forests, is inevitably affecting the distribution, abundance and quality of the understory. This in turn affects community access to and ability to use these species. Understanding which species are important to the local Aboriginal communities and how to assess and incorporate the species quality (i.e. whether it is sufficient for traditional/NTFP use) within vegetation inventories is the first step necessary to ensure appropriate methods of study, as currently there are no adequate methods available to incorporate NTFP information within vegetation inventories. With these tools, it will then be possible to look at the distribution, abundance and quality of the species within MPB affected areas, compare with non-affected areas or historical data in order to understand the effect of the MPB on the understory and therefore help to address remediation of effects and possibly guide restoration efforts. To address these concerns, it is important to establish partnerships based on the diverse perspectives, knowledge, and experience that characterize this sector. The Aboriginal perspective and knowledge is crucial to the stewardship of the NTFP sector. It is further important to develop relationships which will protect Aboriginal culture, history and use while ensuring that knowledge important to the sector and the ecosystems is shared and developed for the benefit of all those who depend upon these resources. The project will establish protocols and formal agreements for the sharing of information between the Aboriginal bands, Tolko Industries, and Royal Roads University. Every stage of this project will strive to combine traditional knowledge with western knowledge, as well as two-way transfer of knowledge between the two. Year one provides a background exploration of the non-timber forest species of interest to the T'exelc and Xats?ull communities through previously completed traditional use studies, literature reviews and one workshop within each of the partner bands. A maximum of 20 species will be selected at the workshops for focus for the field studies. Geographic areas of focus will also be identified through the collaboration and input by all of the partners. These areas will be within the territory as defined by the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, focusing on the Northern areas of the territory (above William?s Lake), and within areas of Tolko operation in the William?s Lake Timber Supply Area. Only MPB affected areas will be selected, and data will be compared with previously collected data from ...
Cocksedge, Wendy. 2007. Assessing cultural use species in mountain pine beetle affected areas. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Series: Forest Investment Account Report
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), Non-timber, forest, products, British, Columbia
Increasing recognition of the importance of understanding, assessing, and mitigating cumulative effects has led national park managers to seek methods that can assist in land use decision-making and the environmental assessment process. The objective of this research is to develop a geographic information system (GIS)-based model to investigate the cumulative impacts of alternative land use scenarios on 2 ecological indicators. The model incorporates ecological data and habitat models for a suite of ecological indicators and human use data managed by ARC/INFO software. A grizzly bear cumulative effects model has been developed for Jasper National Park to assess the effects of human activities on grizzly bears and their habitat. This model is useful in exploring the implications of land uses at the landscape scale, but has limited ability to assess alternative development scenarios at fine scales...
Dobson, Brenda. 1999. Assessing Cumulative Impacts of Alternative Land Use Scenarios On Breeding Bird Habitat (in Proc. Conference Biology & Management of Species and Habitats at Risk). Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. Conference Biology & ManagementProceedings. Vol. 1
Achieving sustainable forest management (SFM) has many requirements, which differ from region to region, however one common aspect is the assumption of environmental stasis. This is an illogical assumption since changes in the environment have always occurred and will continue to do so in the future. Currently, projected changes in climate include increasing temperatures, changes in precipitation, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. These changes will influence ecosystems directly and indirectly via changes in the frequency and intensity of fires, pests and diseases [1]. Ambiguity in predicted changes along with the conventional management philosophy has created a situation where resource managers often simply ignore climate change. However, the recent linking of the mountain pine beetle epidemic and the dothistroma outbreak in northwest BC to climate change [2, 3] and the predicted increases in fire season length and severity [4] has made climate change an increasingly salient issue with forest managers. Climate change is a stressor that will directly or indirectly influence the processes that impact ecosystems. Ecosystems are the basic units of nature on earth and are created from the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of its environment [5]. Changes in any biophysical component can alter the stable dynamic equilibrium that exists between biotic and abiotic components leading to creation of new ecosystems [5]. Ecosystems provide the foundations for SFM, any process that results in a restructuring of controlling variables and processes will destroy or weaken the foundation from which current ecological services are provided. A restructuring of controlling variables and processes can shift an ecosystem to a new stable state [6]. The ability of an ecosystem to recover from disturbances and persist under changes in climate is referred to as ecological resilience [7]. Management actions that maintain or expand the resilience of an ecosystem to shifts in climate are required if ecosystem functionality is to be sustained. To determine how to maintain ecosystem resilience an understanding of ecosystem vulnerabilities is required. Gaining this understanding is an important step if we are to determine where and what adaptation strategies are to be incorporated into long-term forest planning and to providing guidance on how to manage for the risks associated with climatic change. The ability to achieve a sustainable forest industry will rely on our understanding of ecosystem vulnerability to climate change. Gaining an understanding of how climate change may influence ecosystem resilience is also an essential foundation for determining how climate change will influence forest health and condition and growth and yield from the stand to the landscape-level.
We propose to address this important principle by: (1) applying a tree and climate assessment model, TACA [8], to assess species and ecosystem resilience to climate change in the Sub Boreal Spruce zone near Smithers, BC; (2) apply TACA to assess how climate change will impact a site?s moisture regime (site type); (3) link the results of TACA to a stand-level forest dynamics model, SORTIE-ND, to predict how changes in site type and species resilience will affect stand-level competition, development and growth and yield under climate change; and, (4) use the results from TACA and SORTIE-ND to investigate the impact of climate change and disturbances (e.g. mountain pine beetle, dothistroma fungus, root rot fungus and fire) at the landscape-level.
References: [1]: Gitay, H., et al. 2002. Climate Change and Biodiversity. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Technical Paper V. [2]: Carroll, A.L., et al. 2004. Effects of climate change on range expansion by the mountain pine beetle in British Columbia. Pp 223-232, In: T.L. Shore, et al. (Eds.); Mountain Pine Beetle Symposium: Challenges and Solutions. Natural Resources Canada Infor ...
Nitschke, Craig R.. 2008. Assessing ecosystem vulnerability to climate change from the tree- to stand- to landscape-level. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report. FIA2008MR079
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Series: Forest Investment Account Report
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), British, Columbia
Achieving sustainable forest management (SFM) has many requirements, which differ from region to region, however one common aspect is the assumption of environmental stasis. This is an illogical assumption since changes in the environment have always occurred and will continue to do so in the future. Currently, projected changes in climate include increasing temperatures, changes in precipitation, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. These changes will influence ecosystems directly and indirectly via changes in the frequency and intensity of fires, pests and diseases [1]. Ambiguity in predicted changes along with the conventional management philosophy has created a situation where resource managers often simply ignore climate change. However, the recent linking of the mountain pine beetle epidemic and the dothistroma outbreak in northwest BC to climate change [2, 3] and the predicted increases in fire season length and severity [4] has made climate change an increasingly salient issue with forest managers.
Climate change is a stressor that will directly or indirectly influence the processes that impact ecosystems. Ecosystems are the basic units of nature on earth and are created from the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of its environment [5]. Changes in any biophysical component can alter the stable dynamic equilibrium that exists between biotic and abiotic components leading to creation of new ecosystems [5]. Ecosystems provide the foundations for SFM, any process that results in a restructuring of controlling variables and processes will destroy or weaken the foundation from which current ecological services are provided. A restructuring of controlling variables and processes can shift an ecosystem to a new stable state [6]. The ability of an ecosystem to recover from disturbances and persist under changes in climate is referred to as ecological resilience [7]. Management actions that maintain or expand the resilience of an ecosystem to shifts in climate are required if ecosystem functionality is to be sustained. To determine how to maintain ecosystem resilience an understanding of ecosystem vulnerabilities is required. Gaining this understanding is an important step if we are to determine where and what adaptation strategies are to be incorporated into long-term forest planning and to providing guidance on how to manage for the risks associated with climatic change. The ability to achieve a sustainable forest industry will rely on our understanding of ecosystem vulnerability to climate change.
Gaining an understanding of how climate change may influence ecosystem resilience is also an essential foundation for determining how climate change will influence forest health and condition and growth and yield from the stand to the landscape-level. We propose to address this important principle by: (1) applying a tree and climate assessment model, TACA [8], to assess species and ecosystem resilience to climate change in the Sub Boreal Spruce zone near Smithers, BC; (2) apply TACA to assess how climate change will impact a site?s moisture regime (site type); (3) link the results of TACA to a stand-level forest dynamics model, SORTIE-ND, to predict how changes in site type and species resilience will affect stand-level competition, development and growth and yield under climate change; and, (4) use the results from TACA and SORTIE-ND to investigate the impact of climate change and disturbances (e.g. mountain pine beetle, dothistroma fungus,and fire) at the landscape-level. To model landscape-level interactions between stand-level dynamics and disturbance a decentralized forest planning and landscape simulation model [9] will be used to create an understanding of future landscape structure to determine landscape-level vulnerability of the SBS ecosystem and to provide an evaluation of alternative management actions that can provide guidance to managers on adaptation policies ...
Nitschke, Craig R., Mathey, Anne-Helene; Amoroso, Mariano. 2010. Assessing ecosystem vulnerability to climate change from the tree- to stand- to landscape-level. Forest Investment Account (FIA) - Forest Science Program. Forest Investment Account Report. FIA2010MR341
Topic: FLNRORD Research Program
Series: Forest Investment Account Report
Keywords: Forest, Investment, Account, (FIA), British, Columbia
ISSN:
Scientific Name:
ISBN:
English Name:
Other Identifier:
To copy the URL of a document, Right Click on the document title, select "Copy Shortcut/Copy Link", then paste as needed. Only documents available to the public have this feature enabled.
