Canada’s National Research Forests – Implications of Long-Term Ecological Research on Management and Policy Decisions
Event Website
http://www.nafew2009.org/
Start Date
6-25-2009 9:40 AM
End Date
6-25-2009 10:00 AM
Description
The Canadian Forest Service manages two National Research Forests, the Acadia Research Forest (20 km east of Fredricton, New Brunswick) and the Petawawa Research Forest (200 km northwest of Ottawa, Ontario). Both contain a legacy of field research in both natural and plantation forests involving a range of tree species and research which varies in focus from ecosystem processes to forest-level interactions. Results from these studies contribute to forest management and policy decisions by challenging our understanding of forest attributes and dynamics, and their responses to treatment. After a dramatic decline in white and red pine in Canada by the early 1900s, interest in pine management led to the establishment of the first permanent sample plots at Petawawa in 1918. These plots, which considered the effects of thinning pine on future wood volume and pine regeneration, continue to provide invaluable knowledge of the effects of silvicultural treatments on stand dynamics and yields. In addition, they are now being examined in the context of carbon accounting and climate change. Similarly, a study set up in the 1970s to assess understorey white pine release, contributes to present day discussions on forest productivity and sustainability including the effects of biomass removal. Another more recent study evaluating various silvicultural practices on pine growth response, regeneration development and biodiversity contributes to forest policy and silvicultural guidelines for pine management. An examination of ninety years of field research at Petawawa demonstrates the value of long-term research both in addressing present-day concerns as well as issues not contemplated at the time of study establishment, and providing longer-term response data. Many of these studies today are in stands only at mid-rotation age. The Petawawa Research Forest has recently become part of the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, shifting emphasis to forest productivity, wood quality and fibre attribute research.
Canada’s National Research Forests – Implications of Long-Term Ecological Research on Management and Policy Decisions
The Canadian Forest Service manages two National Research Forests, the Acadia Research Forest (20 km east of Fredricton, New Brunswick) and the Petawawa Research Forest (200 km northwest of Ottawa, Ontario). Both contain a legacy of field research in both natural and plantation forests involving a range of tree species and research which varies in focus from ecosystem processes to forest-level interactions. Results from these studies contribute to forest management and policy decisions by challenging our understanding of forest attributes and dynamics, and their responses to treatment. After a dramatic decline in white and red pine in Canada by the early 1900s, interest in pine management led to the establishment of the first permanent sample plots at Petawawa in 1918. These plots, which considered the effects of thinning pine on future wood volume and pine regeneration, continue to provide invaluable knowledge of the effects of silvicultural treatments on stand dynamics and yields. In addition, they are now being examined in the context of carbon accounting and climate change. Similarly, a study set up in the 1970s to assess understorey white pine release, contributes to present day discussions on forest productivity and sustainability including the effects of biomass removal. Another more recent study evaluating various silvicultural practices on pine growth response, regeneration development and biodiversity contributes to forest policy and silvicultural guidelines for pine management. An examination of ninety years of field research at Petawawa demonstrates the value of long-term research both in addressing present-day concerns as well as issues not contemplated at the time of study establishment, and providing longer-term response data. Many of these studies today are in stands only at mid-rotation age. The Petawawa Research Forest has recently become part of the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, shifting emphasis to forest productivity, wood quality and fibre attribute research.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/nafecology/sessions/longterm/4