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| Eastern Ontario trees bowed by the massive ice storm in 1998. |
In January 1998, a massive ice storm damaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest across northeastern North America, including eastern Ontario. What happened next was a remarkable chapter in the history of interdisciplinary, interagency cooperation.
For example, researchers and science specialists with MNR (including OFRI); the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs; the Canadian Forest Service; and universities came together quickly to plan and respond to this devastating event. Within days, they began mapping the damage, providing preliminary advice to woodlot and sugarbush managers, and planning studies to learn how best to deal with severe crown damage events, which could happen more often under climate change.
OFRI researchers co-led the Ontario science team, determining how various amounts of crown loss affected the biochemistry of maples in sugarbushes (root starch, sap production and sweetness) and strengthening the scientific foundation for guidelines for tapping damaged trees and for managing trees with crown damage. Researchers also found that trees can bounce back after a single major stress event such as a severe ice storm, but if a second such event happens soon after, decline is likely.
Want to know more?
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Insights (Vol. 8, No. 1, Page 18)
Insights (Vol. 6, No. 2, Page 1)
Insights (Vol. 4, No. 2, Page 4)
The Forestry Chronicle - special issues (each has many articles about ice damage): Aug 2001 | Jan/Feb 2003
