What's New at OFRI

What's new at OFRI?

If you would like to get regular updates about OFRI research by e-mail, please send your name, job title, and organization name to information.ofri@ontario.ca.  

BFOLDS software package now available in public domain posted July 2008

OFRI welcomes new manager and hardwood researcher posted May 2008

Restoring butternut to southcentral Ontario posted April 2008

Does tree form depend on stand density?  posted April 2008

How do directions for emulating natural disturbance affect light levels and thus regeneration? posted April 2008

Forest shrub fights cancer - and may help Northern Ontario farmers posted April 2008

Harvesting forest biomass for energy use posted April 2008

How forest management can help slow climate change posted March 2008

New signs alert forest users to disease-resistant white pine posted December 2007

What we know - and don't know - about what fire leaves behind posted December 2007

Speakers at tree seed and climate change conference wow attendees posted December 2008 

International conference in the Sault a "model” success posted September 2007

New research results bust myth about effects of boreal silviculture on plant diversity posted August 2007

Carbon storage? Soil and water? Aerial/ground data agreement? Something for everyone in the latest round of OFRI publications posted July 2007

Improving understanding of fire regimes to support emulating natural disturbances posted April 2007

OFRI researchers produce book about transferring landscape ecology knowledge posted March 2007

What are the top priorities for improving Ontario's wood supply predictions? posted March 2007

Final study in Ontario's ice damage science program reveals longer-term effects posted December 2006

Sault Ste. Marie to host conference on modelling complex forest stands posted December 2006

Are you a stem profile model buff? posted December 2006

Fire size distribution review adds another piece to the emulating natural disturbance puzzle posted November 2006

OFRI's 2001-2005 annotated bibliography is hot off the press! posted October 2006

What is the potential of peat as a fuel source? posted October 2006

Researchers explore how management practices can sink more carbon into Ontario's forests posted May 2006

Tools can help to estimate decay in living trees posted March 2006

BFOLDS software package now available in public domain

OFRI researchers recently released the Boreal Forest Landscape Dynamics Simulator, commonly known as BFOLDS. This PC-based simulation model is designed to allow users to explore possible boreal forest fire regimes and forest succession patterns, as well as their interactions, over large areas (millions of hectares) and long time periods (centuries).

To simulate the probabilistic characteristics of long-term fire regime and forest cover changes, this model uses a combination of:

• Spatial information about forest landscape composition, fire weather, geo-climate, terrain, and soil
• Up to date scientific knowledge as well as expert knowledge of forest fire processes and forest succession

BFOLDS is designed as a research tool to explore what-if effects of assumptions about processes of fire and succession on simulated fire regime scenarios.  This understanding of how forest landscape dynamics vary over space and in time can be used to support forest policy development and strategic land use planning efforts.

BFOLDS is not meant to be used to produce deterministic information, such as a map of forest cover composition in a given year, or to investigate fine-scale processes, such as the behaviour of individual forest fire events or changes in the composition of a single forest stand.

To learn more about BFOLDS, contact information.ofri@ontario.ca and request BFOLDS 1.0: A Spatial Simulation Model for Exploring Large Scale Fire Regimes and Succession in Boreal Forest Landscapes (Forest Research Report 152). To access the software and documentation, visit www.fire-regime-model.com. If you intend to use BFOLDS or want to inquire about it, e-mail flep@ontario.ca.  

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OFRI welcomes a new manager and hardwood research scientist

 
OFRI's management team and staff are pleased to announce that two new staff have come aboard:
 

• Ed Cappelli is the new operations management leader, replacing the recently retired Connie Bouffard. Previously, Ed was a property manager with Ontario Realty Corporation, providing facilities management for special-purpose tenants such as the Ontario Provincial Police, two forensics labs, a public health lab, and OFRI. At OFRI, he will supervise building operations, administrative support, and technology transfer. You can reach Ed at (705)946-7403, ed.cappelli@ontario.ca.
   
• Trevor Jones is the new hardwood ecosystem research scientist, replacing Bill Cole, who is now an OFRI science coordinator. A 2006 graduate of the University of Toronto (UofT), Trevor is a field ecologist/ecophysiologist who is interested in forest disturbance dynamics. At UofT he studied the effects of selection management on the physiology and growth of tolerant hardwoods. He comes to OFRI from the University of British Columbia's Geography Department, where he was investigating the spatial and temporal dynamics of coarse wood in small streams. He received his master of science in biology from Acadia University, studying the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on the early growth of pine and spruce seedlings and has a bachelor of science from Laurentian University, where he specialized in forest and plant ecology. He says he is looking forward to meeting with clients and partners in the weeks ahead to assess hardwood research needs and priorities for Ontario. You can reach Trevor at (705)946-7487, trevor.jones2@ontario.ca. 
  

Does tree form depend on stand density?

Forest managers need to account for tree shapes when they estimate how much wood is in a forest stand and what products the trees can be used for. Two trees that have the same volume but have different shapes may produce two different sets of wood products and economic returns.

Taper equations are useful for estimating the diameter of a tree at any height, allowing a more precise estimate of volume. Existing taper equations were developed from data collected in natural forest stands and may not be accurate for plantation-grown trees, leading to inaccuracies when estimating wood supply.

OFRI research scientist Mahadev Sharma is working with the Canadian Forest Service-Great Lakes Forestry Centre, the Canadian Ecology Centre-Forestry Research Partnership, and Forintek Canada Corp. to improve estimates of black spruce and jack pine stem taper and associated volumes of trees grown using different management strategies, for example, different planting densities or thinning intensities.

As part of this work, researchers developed protocols for selecting sample trees and extracting tree discs (known as cookies) from cut trees. As well, they are documenting how sampling design (number of trees sampled in a stand and number of cookies collected from each tree) affects the accuracy of taper equations.

Results will be published later in 2008. For more information, contact Mahadev Sharma, (705)946-7407,
mahadev.sharma@ontario.ca.

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Restoring butternut to southcentral Ontario

In Ontario, butternut is an endangered species, and populations continue to fall to an invasive alien fungus that causes a fatal stem and branch disease. OFRI researchers Sylvia Greifenhagen and Glenna Halicki Hayden are working with Richard Wilson of MNR’s Forest Health and Silviculture Section, Purdue University researchers, the Forest Gene Conservation Association, and the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority to restore and maintain healthy butternut populations throughout this species’ range in Ontario.

The first step was to develop a DNA testing method (known as restriction fragment length polymorphism technique) to differentiate pure butternut from hybrids, which are common. Identifying butternut purity is crucial to studying disease resistance and determining trees to protect under the Endangered Species Act.

Their approach has produced excellent results and will be fine-tuned this year. DNA protocols such as those used to identify butternut species are becoming a valuable tool in OFRI’s pathology lab.

Researchers are also testing fungicide injections to keep high-value trees on the landscape while they locate, archive, and propagate disease-resistant butternut to ensure the species’ future. Six fungicides have been tested in vitro (Petri plate assays), and the three most promising ones will be tested in vivo (in plants) when enough
stock is available.

In 2007, researchers began greenhouse grafting of butternut and rooted cutting trials to support future archiving and
propagating of resistant butternut. They will continue to refine their methods in 2008. Researchers from across eastern Canada have formed a group to share information and coordinate restoration efforts.

For more information contact Sylvia Greifenhagen, (705)946-7411, sylvia.greifenhagen@ontario.ca, or Glenna Halicki Hayden, (705)946-7412, glenna.halickihayden@ontario.ca. 

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How do directions for emulating natural disturbance affect light levels and thus regeneration?

OFRI research scientist Bill Parker is investigating how directions for post-harvest residuals in MNR’s Forest Management Guide for Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation are affecting regeneration by changing light levels in the forest.

In 2007, he took hemispherical photographs at five points in each of 50 500-square-metre plots set up in northwestern Ontario forests that had burned. He and his colleagues are now analyzing these images to estimate understory light levels, which they will relate to data on post-fire stand structure collected in the same plots. He plans to develop predictive equations for estimating natural regeneration potential.

Parker plans to repeat the study in recently harvested areas to identify what residual densities will allow enough light to support regeneration of boreal conifer species. Results of this work will help refine directions for residual tree densities and increase the likelihood of successful regeneration after harvest.

For more information, contact Bill Parker, (705)946-7424, bill.parker@ontario.ca.

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Forest shrub fights cancer - and may help Northern Ontario farmers

Researchers with MNR and several other organizations are hopeful that ongoing studies on Canada yew, a common Northern Ontario forest shrub, will help provide a sustainable supply of paclitaxel, a chemical used to make one of the most valuable cancer drugs in the world.

These researchers include Tom Noland, a tree biochemistry scientist with OFRI. He says, “We also hope that Canada yew will become a commercial crop for some farmers in northern Ontario, an area that desperately needs new economic opportunities. It’s actually better ecologically to harvest paclitaxel from farm-grown yew than from the forest, as many wildlife species use this shrub for food and cover.”

He explains that paclitaxel is used to make Taxol®, one of the best-selling chemotherapy drugs in the world, with almost US $1 billion in annual sales. Taxol® is used to fight breast and ovarian cancer and certain types of lung cancer.

“However, it takes several tonnes of yew foliage to produce a small amount of paclitaxel,” Noland says. “Due to its complex chemical structure, paclitaxel is difficult and expensive to synthesize, so it is more economical to extract it from natural sources.”

Why Canada yew?

Paclitaxel was first discovered out west in Pacific yew, but to extract the chemical you had to destroy the tree. With Canada yew, you can extract the paclitaxel from the foliage through a light shearing every few years, which causes little harm to the plant.

Another advantage of Canada yew over its cousins is it produces relatively large amounts of paclitaxel and similar chemicals, known as taxanes, which could have other medicinal uses.

As part of the Canada yew research, Noland and his research team have been collecting Canada yew plants from around Ontario to find the genetic families with the highest amounts of paclitaxel, so they can produce many new paclitaxel-rich seedlings.

How is the Canada yew research going?

“This research is pretty much on track,” Noland says. “Most of the work will be finished within a year. It’s a slow process, though. It takes a year to propagate yew and two to four years to get enough stock to start plantations. Elite material, which is yew that grows quickly and has the highest paclitaxel concentrations, can take even longer to produce.

“In addition to seeking out and producing trees that produce high amounts of paclitaxel, we are investigating how best to harvest Canada yew foliage and what growing conditions are best, for example, what soil type do these shrubs prefer, and how close together should we plant them?”

To date, Noland has learned that yew plants that received compost, fertilizer, and compost plus mulch treatments grew significantly better than those in the unfertilized, unmulched control plot. Once he and his collaborators are done collecting and analyzing their data, Noland will be able to recommend which growing conditions result in the highest amounts of paclitaxel.

The project has been drawing much attention from pharmaceutical companies, particularly since worldwide demand for paclitaxel is expected to increase. Bioxel Pharma is a partner in the project, as are the Canadian Forest Service, Thessalon First Nation BioCentre, Whelan Resources, Forest and Land Control, and the Upper Lakes Environmental Research Network (ULERN). Bioxel retains rights to further develop the most promising yew families.

Some unexpected obstacles … with antlers and hooves!

Although the research is going well, Noland and his research team have had to overcome some obstacles. For example, deer browsing became a problem. “Our first area was planted by June 2004, and in spring 2005, deer had browsed just about every yew plant at the OFRI arboretum,” he says. “Both moose and deer seem to rely on yew in late fall and late winter.”

However, Noland and his collaborators came up with resourceful ways to deal with the problem. Using an electric fence, a lathe shade screen, and a dog, they were able to control the browsing at the OFRI arboretum, the Thessalon First Nation bio-centre, and the farm plantation, respectively.

“One thing we learned is that yew plants are resilient,” he says. “They bounced back well from the deer browsing, which is a valuable characteristic.”

What’s next?

This year’s work plan includes assessing individual yew plants in August, harvesting in September, and measuring the harvested plants in October and November. Look for Noland’s published results in early 2009.

For more information about Canada yew, contact Tom Noland, (705)946-7421, tom.noland@ontario.ca.

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Harvesting Forest Biomass for Energy Use 

On February 18-21, 2008, 140 people from Ontario to Nepal came together at the University of Toronto for a workshop entitled The Scientific Foundation for Sustainable Forest Biomass Harvesting Guidelines and Policies.

According to Dan Puddister, a science coordinator with MNR’s Ontario Forest Research Institute (OFRI) and an organizer of this event, the goal was to enable scientists, government regulators, industry, and non-government environmental organizations to share knowledge about the effects of removing biomass on forest ecosystems, to identify priorities for research needed to develop guidelines and policies, and to set up a national forest biomass network.

He notes, “Today, many people in Ontario and around the world are seeking alternatives to fossil fuels, the burning of which has caused significant changes in carbon dioxide levels since the industrial revolution began.  Forest biomass harvesting and management present a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel use and are considered to be carbon neutral.  Sustainable forest biomass harvesting fits within the goals protecting ecological integrity and biodiversity, which are key requirements of Ontario’s forest management planning system.”

OFRI research scientist Tom Noland also attended the workshop and reports: “Nearly all the workshop participants agreed that sustainable forest biomass harvesting has a place in Canada. If not done carefully, biomass harvesting has the potential to affect biodiversity and forest productivity, but the impacts can be mitigated and minimized through good forest management practices, effective monitoring and active adaptive management.”

Noland points out that forest biomass may be a source of valuable chemicals as well as energy, and these chemicals could provide significant economic development opportunities and replace some chemicals derived from petroleum.

Many organizations besides MNR were involved in this workshop; for a complete list, see the workshop announcement. Other MNR staff who contributed:

• Elaine Mallory, OFRI, compiled information on current unpublished knowledge and participated in a panel discussion at the workshop.
• Wayne Bell of OFRI, Dave Morris of MNR’s Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, and Dan Puddister were among the coauthors of a presentation entitled An Overview of Canadian Research on Biomass Removals and Biodiversity (Dave also sat on the workshop technical advisory committee).
• Bill Thornton and Larry Skinkle of MNR's Forests Division gave presentations at the workshop.

The Sustainable Forest Management Network plans to publish a workshop summary, which should be available later this year.  

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How forest management can help slow climate change

A group of researchers at MNR’s Ontario Forest Research Institute (OFRI) in Sault Ste. Marie has created a computer model that can simulate how much carbon Ontario’s managed forests are storing now - and will store over the next century, based on how forest management plans project future forest development, harvest, and disturbance (such as fire or harvest).

“We’ve learned that Ontario’s managed forests store a lot of carbon in various ‘pools,’ such as trees and soil,” reports Jiaxin Chen, an OFRI research scientist who helped developed the computer model, known as FORCARB-ON. ”What’s more, over the long term, sustainable forest management in Ontario will increase the combined carbon storage in forest and in wood products. This is very good news. The more carbon we can sequester here on Earth, the less that goes up into the atmosphere to contribute to the greenhouse effect and climate change.”

Wood products: locking up carbon beyond the life of the tree

As his colleague Steve Colombo, also an OFRI research scientist, points out, when trees are made into wood products, such as furniture or building trusses, they lock up that carbon for years, decades, or even more than a century. “If trees are not harvested, they will eventually begin to decay and die, or they may burn in a forest fire,” he explains. “Decaying and burning trees give off carbon dioxide, which then goes up into the atmosphere.

 “Some people think that harvesting trees contributes to climate change, but in a properly managed forest, where new trees are regenerated after harvest and looked after so they grow vigorously, this is not the case. Young trees are literally a growing carbon sink, and the amount of carbon they store increases as they add volume.”

Colombo notes that if people want to slow climate change, they should probably be using even more of some wood products, as they can take less energy to produce than materials such as concrete and steel. But even then, such products must come from sustainably managed forests.

 “People might also be surprised to learn that paper products can persist for a long time. They are often recycled or put in a landfill, where low oxygen levels slow decay. In some landfills, you can find newspapers from 50 years ago that are still readable. The bottom line is that carbon in most wood products moves very slowly through the carbon cycle.”

Another product from trees that can help reduce emissions is wood energy, for example, biofuel made from poor-quality wood left on site after harvest. A promising alternative to fossil fuels, wood energy is generally carbon neutral, meaning that that its production and use prevent at least as many emissions as they create.

What is the carbon cycle, and how have we changed it?

Research scientist Michael Ter-Mikaelian, the third member of the OFRI carbon modelling team, explains that the carbon cycle is the movement of carbon - the key building block for life - through land and water to the atmosphere and back again. Carbon has cycled continuously since the beginning of life on Earth.

All living things have carbon in them, as do many inanimate features, such as rocks. In the atmosphere, however, carbon is mainly in a gas called carbon dioxide.

As Ter-Mikaelian points out, before the mid-1800s, society was mostly rural, and people produced goods on farms and in small shops. “Today, however, our society is mostly urban, and we produce our goods in large factories that that use lots of fossil fuels.

“We also have millions of motor vehicles burning fossil fuels every day. The more fossil fuels people burn, the more carbon is released into the atmosphere. The more carbon in the atmosphere, the stronger the greenhouse effect, and the more our climate changes.”

While forests are an important carbon sink, Ter-Mikaelian notes that in many parts of the world, forests have been cut but not regenerated, reducing the Earth’s ability to store carbon.

“Researchers are working on many fronts to figure out how to ensure forests and forest products can store as much carbon as possible,” he says. “Our group is focusing on using computer models to determine how much carbon forests will store depending on how forests are managed and how we expect the climate to change. This information will help forest managers make wiser decisions about how to manage forests to store more carbon.”

Other researchers across Canada and the world are looking at how to convert barren land to forest (called aforestation); how to reduce or prevent fire, pest, and disease outbreaks, as burned or sick trees release carbon; how foresters can help trees grow faster so they can store more carbon; whether using wood to produce biofuel can reduce use of fossil fuels; and how wood can replace other more energy-intensive materials such as steel or concrete.  

For a list of scientific publications about OFRI’s carbon modelling research, e-mail OFRI.

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New signs alert forest users to disease-resistant white pine

Field tours, workshop presentations, seminars, technical reports, displays, web pages ... forest researchers at OFRI use a myriad of ways to connect with key audiences and transfer new knowledge to those who manage Ontario's forests.

OFRI's genetics researchers, led by research scientist Pengxin Lu and forester Darren Derbowka, have decided to use colourful bilingual signs at sites near Kemptville, Huntsville, and Midhurst to reach out to others who use the land on which they've outplanted white pine seedlings that show resistance to blister rust.

They hope to inform passers-by about developments in fighting this devastating invasive alien disease, which over the past century has contributed to a massive decline in white and related pines across North America. Because blister rust and white pine did not co-evolve, this disease causes high mortality, with close to 100 percent of affected trees dying in some young plantations.

"We have used traditional breeding techniques to produce trees that can resist blister rust," Lu explains. "We crossed eastern white pine with related five-needled pines from Europe and Asia, where the disease originated, and then backcrossed the resulting hybrids with eastern white pine to produce a new generation that genetically is more than 90 per cent eastern white pine but has traits for resistance to blister rust."

He continues, "We have conducted several years worth of successful greenhouse tests and are now field-testing resistant white pines at sites across this species' natural range in Ontario. We are optimistic that these trees will help us restore Ontario's provincial tree on sites where it used to grow but is disappearing due to blister rust."

For more information about the white pine blister rust resistance project, contact Pengxin Lu or Darren Derbowka.

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What we know - and don't know - about what fire leaves behind

Ontario's Forest Management Guide for Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation (NDPE guide) instructs forest managers on harvesting forests in a way that emulates natural fire patterns, as the Crown Forest Sustainability Act requires. One crucial aspect of emulating fire: leaving behind the right amounts and types of residual structure ? patches of forest, individual trees and snags, and downed wood.

But what do we know about natural patterns of post-fire structure? Does the direction in the NDPE guide reflect the best, most current knowledge?

To answer these questions, OFRI researchers conducted and published A Review of Published Knowledge on Post-Fire Residuals Relevant to Ontario's Policy Directions for Emulating Natural Disturbance (Forest Research Information Paper No. 168).

"Condition 39c of the declaration order* calls for MNR to assess the effectiveness of the NDPE guide directions," explains OFRI research scientist and project leader Ajith Perera. "Establishing the state of scientific knowledge about residuals in North American boreal forests was an important step, and our report describes the results of our literature review and knowledge synthesis."

Their findings? "While we found many studies on post-fire residuals, we learned that people think there's a lot more solid information out there than actually exists," reports Lisa Buse, OFRI technology transfer coordinator, who worked with Perera and former OFRI forester Rob Routledge on the review. "It was difficult to synthesize the current knowledge due to the inconsistent use of definitions, terminology, study methods, and metrics."

Perera adds, "Most studies have focused on the abundance of residuals, and we found that the directions given for residual abundance in the NDPE guide are well within the reports in literature. However, most studies did not address the range of variability in residuals or how they form, which is more important to develop policy direction."

To learn more, information.ofri@ontario.ca or call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271 and ask for FRIP No. 168. To download the report PDF, visit the Interim Publication List 2007 on OFRI's Intranet site.

This project is one in a series designed to address Condition 39C. For more about all studies underway, request Multiple-Scale Research Studies on Boreal Forest Fire Regimes to Inform Ontario's Policies for Emulating Natural Forest Disturbances: A Prospectus (FRIP No. 164).

* Declaration Order MNR-71 Regarding MNR's Class Environmental Assessment Approval for Forest Management on Crown Lands in Ontario 

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Speakers at tree seed and climate change conference wow attendees

On November 14-15, more than 70 people from government, the private sector, and academia gathered in Sault Ste. Marie for a conference on managing tree seed under an uncertain climate. Many participants left that conference with a better understanding of what the future for Ontario's forests looks like, reports Steve Colombo, a research scientist with OFRI and organizing committee member.

The topic was definitely timely – forestry professionals know that dramatic change is coming, and they face tough decisions about regenerating forests under much uncertainty. However, according to Barb Boysen, Forest Gene Conservation Association coordinator and organizing committee member, it was the calibre of the speakers – and their candid messages about uncertainty and complexity – that made this event shine.

The prevailing message, summarized by Al Foley, manager, Ontario Tree Seed Plant: We don't know exactly how the climate will change, so taking action is perilous. However, not acting is as perilous. Start small, make informed choices, and be sure to monitor.

As one speaker warned, "In science it's rare to have the opportunity to take action before the trainwreck. Let's take advantage of it.”

Other messages:

• Suitable habitat/climate for our tree species will change, but tree species may not follow at the same pace or at all.
• We need to open a dialogue about assisting tree species migration.
• Other possible strategies for managing seed under climate change: facilitating seedlot migration, increasing adaptive diversity, planting exotics, and having shorter rotations. All have pros and cons.
• We should work more closely with the Upper Great Lakes states – their species are headed our way.
• Today we have little policy for managing forests under climate change, but that will begin to change soon. Warning: Operational costs could soar.
• We must plan for change. Any plan will have errors, but having no plan will result in more errors.

Kathie Brosemer, coordinator of Forest Genetics Ontario (FGO) and a member of the organizing committee, reports that the excellent conference discussion sessions produced a wealth of useful ideas for those who must set policy for and manage Ontario's tree seed into an uncertain future.

The conference organizing committee also included OFRI's Abby Obenchain. Proceedings will be available by spring 2008.

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International conference in the Sault a "model” success

To address some of these challenges, about 100 forest scientists and researchers from as far as Australia and Europe were in Sault Ste. Marie from July 29 to August 2 for an International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) conference. Co-hosted by the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and MNR’s Ontario Forest Research Institute (OFRI), the conference was entitled Complex Stand Structures and Associated Dynamics: Measurement Indices and Modelling Approaches. CFS's Peter Newton was the main organizer of the conference, which allowed participants to assess the current state of knowledge, share successes, and compare various measurement and modelling approaches.

"It was a timely conference that allowed natural resource enthusiasts to come together and share their knowledge,” said Michael Ter-Mikaelian, OFRI research scientist and conference organizer. "Forests are always changing, and we need to be able to project these changes so we know the volume of wood a forest will produce. Developing models that can simulate dynamics of complex stand structures will better represent short- and long-term tree and stand development.”

"The conference went really well,” said Mahadev Sharma, also an OFRI research scientist and conference organizer. "It provided an opportunity for experts from around the world to present and discuss the current state of knowledge and to learn about forest management in Ontario.”

To get a copy of this report, call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca. Please specify electronic or paper.

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New research results bust myth about effects of boreal silviculture on plant diversity

A recent paper in the journal Biodiversity Conservation challenges the notion that boreal silviculture practices such as clearcutting, site preparation, planting species, and spraying herbicides lead to monocultures, reports OFRI's Wayne Bell.

Want to learn more? Call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext, 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca, and ask for Do Tree-Level Monocultures Develop Following Canadian Boreal Silviculture? Tree-Level Diversity Tested Using a New Method. Jason Dampier and Nancy Luckai of Lakehead University, Bill Towill of MNR's Northwest Science and Information, and Wayne collaborated on the study. All of the data used in the study came from projects initiated under MNR's Vegetation Management Alternatives Program.

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Carbon storage? Soil and water? Aerial/ground data agreement? Something for everyone in the latest round of OFRI publications

So many new research results and publications are popping out of OFRI that it's hard to keep track of them all. Below is information on three of them. The next issue of OFRI's Insights newsletter, which should be out by the end of the summer, will have more details. To order an OFRI publication, e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca, or call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271.

• Carbon Storage in Ontario's Forests, 2000-2100 (Climate Change Research Information Note No. 6) describes how OFRI's Michael Ter-Mikaelian, Steve Colombo, and Jiaxin Chen have modified the U.S. national forest carbon model, FORCARB2, to predict Ontario's forest carbon budgets using outputs from MNR's Strategic Forest Management Model (SFMM). "FORCARB-ON is designed to make forest carbon projections for Ontario congruent with forest management planning," Ter-Mikaelian explains. "It predicts carbon in live trees, understory vegetation, the forest floor, standing and downed wood, and soil. In addition, it has a module that simulates the effects of wildfire on forest carbon." Especially interesting is the projected future role of wood products in carbon storage in Ontario. Ter-Mikaelian says, "Contrary to what some people think, cutting trees does not mean the carbon in those trees is immediately released to the atmosphere. If you were to leave those cut trees to rot or burn, then, yes, they would begin to give off carbon immediately. But that's not the case with forest harvesting in Ontario. Our cut wood ends up stored for long periods of time in wood products."
• Changes in how water, carbon, and nutrients flow through northern Ontario's forested landscape can cause dramatic changes in forest and aquatic ecosystems. However, these hydrochemical linkages among different ecosystem components are poorly understood. Jim McLaughlin, leader of OFRI's Forest Soil and Water Research Program, has written a plan to improve this knowledge. Forest Soil and Water Research Program: Five-Year Research Strategy 2006-2011 (OFRI Forest Research Information Paper No. 166) outlines short, intermediate, and long-term goals for three major soil/water research areas: riparian zone management, silviculture and soils, and climate change. "This research addresses key MNR policies that have many uncertainties," McLaughlin says. "We hope to better understand how forests, wetlands, and aquatic ecosystems are hydrologically connected and how these connections contribute to carbon sequestration and water quality. This new information will help resource managers make better-informed management and policy decisions."
• A new Forestry Chronicle article profiles an assessment of the level of agreement between species composition data collected via aerial forest resources inventory photos and that collected on the ground for the Nipissing Forest near North Bay. Given the importance of this type of data to forest management planning, minimizing error is critical, maintain the four MNR staff involved in the study, Fred Pinto, Southern Science and Information Section-North Bay, Dan Rouillard, Forest Analysis and Modelling Unit-Sault Ste. Marie, OFRI's Michael Ter-Mikaelian, and former OFRI research intern Jean-Marie Sobze. They also point out that those participating in a recent ministry effort to determine how to improve wood supply estimates named improving forest inventory data as a key priority (see Wood Supply in Ontario: The Road to Better Prediction, OFRI Forest Research Information Paper No. 165). To find out how well data from the two sources agreed and what factors contributed to the results, see the Forestry Chronicle article entitled Validating Tree Species Composition in Forest Resource Inventory for Nipissing Forest, Ontario, Canada, reprints of which are available from OFRI.

   

   

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Improving understanding of fire regimes to support emulating natural disturbances

Would you like to know more about research to reduce scientific uncertainties in the directions in the Forest Management Guide for Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation (NDPE guide)? A new report by OFRI's Ajith Perera and Lisa Buse can help.

Forest Research Information Paper No. 164, entitled Multiple-Scale Research Studies on Boreal Forest Fire Regimes to Inform Ontario's Policies for Emulating Natural Forest Disturbances: A Prospectus, "presents the rationale and approaches for a series of scientific studies to reduce uncertainties in current knowledge of boreal fire regimes," explains Perera, lead scientist for the studies. "The results of these studies will improve resource managers' ability to emulate natural disturbance effectively."

According to Perera and Buse, all studies described in the report are underway; questions they are answering include:

• How do the distribution and frequencies of boreal forest fire sizes vary over space and time?
• Does the likelihood of fire disturbance patch size classes vary, and can variation be explained by differences in geography or climate?
• What is the extent of post-fire residual structure and its distribution? (Residual refers to stands/trees left standing after a fire.)
• How long does residual structure persist following fire?
• Is residual structure more likely to occur near or on certain site features, and how do pre-fire structure and composition affect residual structure?

Perera adds, "To answer these and related questions, we have been reviewing and synthesizing the published literature, using simulation modelling to determine the characteristics of the broad-scale fire regime in boreal Ontario, using mapping and monitoring to reveal the extent and spatial patterns of post-fire residuals, and transferring the results to resource managers as an ongoing component."

This work will support fulfilling Condition 39C of the Declaration Order Regarding MNR's Class Environmental Assessment Approval for Forest Management on Crown Lands in Ontario, which instructs MNR to evaluate whether the NDPE guide's directions for forest harvest represent natural fire regimes.

Two related reports are already available; they are:

• Forest Fire Size Distribution in North American Boreal Forests: A State of Knowledge (Forest Research Information Paper No. 163) by OFRI's Wenbin Cui and Ajith Perera. This report shows that current knowledge of fire size distributions (FSDs) has many gaps and that those attempting to use FSDs in research or in forest management policy development must understand their limitations. More research is needed to reduce knowledge gaps given the increasing interest in understanding and managing boreal fire regimes.
• Identifying Uncertainty in Practitioner Knowledge of Boreal Forest Succession in Ontario Through a Workshop Approach (Forest Research Report No. 165), by OFRI's Michael Drescher, Ajith Perera, and Lisa Buse as well as Kevin Ride, Northwest Regional Planning Unit, and Stan Vasiliauskas, Northeast Science and Information. This report reveals how researchers elicited expert knowledge of succession through two workshops in MNR's northwest and northeast regions. They found this method worked well: Results show that uncertainty of experts' knowledge was generally high but varied and was higher for more complex forest types and richer sites as well as for following less drastic disturbances. Researchers' next step will be to integrate expert knowledge of succession with that found in the scientific literature to develop and test research hypotheses.

These reports, as well as the study prospectus, are available by calling the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mailing information.ofri@ontario.ca.

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OFRI researchers produce book about transferring landscape ecology knowledge

Resource managers' interest in the scientific discipline of landscape ecology has been increasing, as their awareness of the importance of understanding ecological patterns and processes over large time and spatial scales has increased.

However, for a variety of reasons, such as the complexity and relative youthfulness of this discipline, applying landscape-scale knowledge can be challenging for resource professionals. To help ensure that advances in landscape ecology knowledge can be effectively applied in forest management policies, plans, and guides, OFRI's Ajith Perera and Lisa Buse, along with the U.S. Forest Service's Tom Crow, have published a book entitled Forest Landscape Ecology: Transferring Knowledge to Practice (2006, Springer).

According to Perera, "Our goal was to introduce the concept of knowledge transfer to landscape ecology researchers and to demonstrate how to transfer knowledge to users effectively.

"As we put this book together, we tapped into the knowledge and insights of a diverse group of professionals, including researchers and transfer and extension experts from many organizations. It provides not only a review of the basic principals of knowledge transfer but also focuses on the unique aspects of transferring landscape ecology knowledge. It also highlights several examples of successful transfer, so readers can learn from the successes of others."

This book is designed primarily for landscape ecology researchers or students but may also interest those involved in knowledge transfer in other disciplines, as well as policymakers and land managers interested in landscape-scale approaches. Perera and Buse are hopeful that through this book, as well as other advances such as improved computer technology, landscape ecology knowledge will become increasingly accessible to those who need it to improve forest management at multiple scales.

For more information about this book, contact Ajith Perera, or Lisa Buse. It is available for sale from the publisher or major booksellers. This book is Perera's third; the other two are:

• Emulating Natural Forest Landscape Disturbances: Concepts and Applications (2004, Columbia University Press); coeditors: OFRI's Lisa Buse and Michael Weber (former Canadian Forest Service [CFS] fire ecologist)
• Ecology of a Managed Terrestrial Landscape: Patterns and Processes of Forest Landscapes in Ontario (2001, UBC Press); coeditors: David Euler (former forestry dean at Lakehead University) and Ian Thompson (CFS research scientist)

These books are also available from the publisher or major booksellers.

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What are the top priorities for improving Ontario's wood supply predictions?

A new OFRI report summarizes priorities for improving estimates of wood supply based on the results of a 2005 survey of Ontario forestry professionals and a subsequent expert workshop.

OFRI research scientist Michael Ter-Mikaelian, coauthor of the report, explains: "This report highlights how other jurisdictions are addressing wood supply prediction issues, briefly summarizes Ontario's process for estimating wood supply, and outlines priorities for focusing efforts to improve wood supply predictions based on the survey and workshop results." What areas most need improvement? The top five priorities, according to report co-author Jean-Marie Sobze, who worked on this project as a forester intern: improving linkages between forest resources inventory and growth and yield data, acquiring more realistic information to predict and validate successional changes at various stages of stand development, developing new growth and yield curves for planted and naturally regenerated stands, updating the provincial forest resources inventory more often, and assembling better data on factors affecting site productivity to include in growth and yield models.

How best to proceed with these improvements? Report co-author and OFRI research scientist Steve Colombo emphasizes: "This report is just the beginning. We've identified the uncertainties in predicting wood supply in general. The next steps include clearly defining each of the needs, identifying ongoing and recent projects relevant to those needs, and setting priorities based on time and cost of addressing the need and importance of each to improving wood supply estimates."

To obtain a paper copy of this report, entitled Wood Supply in Ontario: The Road to Better Prediction (Forest Research Information Paper No. 165), call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271 or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.

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Final study in Ontario's ice damage science program reveals longer-term effects

Immediately following the ice storm that hit eastern Ontario and much of northeastern North America in 1998, several government agencies, including MNR, set up a series of studies that focused on the recovery of forests following such a dramatic and sweeping disturbance.

Results of the final study in that series are highlighted in a new OFRI Forest Research Note, which focused on "the longer-term effects of applying fertilizer in sugar maple stands that lost from 7 to 72 percent of their crowns due to up to 10 centimetres of ice deposits," explains OFRI biochemistry research scientist Tom Noland, who led the study. "We had data for the effects after three years but felt that it was important to get a longer-term view. Fortunately, we received funding from the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Program to do so."

Their final conclusions about the effects of ice damage in maple sugarbushes? "Moderate to severe crown damage can reduce syrup production 20 to 30 percent, and these effects can last up to six years or seven tapping seasons," Noland says. "This reduction will occur whether the crown damage is caused by an ice storm, a wind storm, or any crown damage event. Fertilization does not appear to have had a significant effect.

"Probably the most important message to take away from this research is that moderate to severe damage will affect some sugarbushes but not all and not every year. The effects depend on how old and in what condition the trees were in when the damage occurred, as well as whether they experience additional stress in the following years, such as drought, nutrient deficiency, or disease.

"In other words, trees are resilient. The younger and more adaptable trees tend to recover quicker and are less affected than older trees growing on similar sites."

To obtain a copy of Ice Storm and Fertilization Effects on Root Starch, Sap Productivity and Sweetness, Diameter Growth, and Tap Hole Closure in Sugar Maple Stands of Eastern Ontario (OFRI Forest Research Note No. 68), call (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.

For a previous and more extensive summary of research into the effects of ice damage due to the 1998 storm, see OFRI's Insights newsletter, Vol. 6, No. 2. In addition, OFRI's recent 2001-2005 bibliography lists many scientific articles about ice damage research, single copies of which are available from OFRI on request. The Journal of Forestry will publish a summary of ice damage research and science in Ontario early this winter.

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Sault Ste. Marie to host conference on modelling complex forest stands

Several natural resource organizations are working together to organize a conference on measuring and modelling complex stand structures and dynamics, which will run July 29-August 2, 2007, in Sault Ste. Marie, with Peter Newton of the Canadian Forest Service-Great Lakes Forestry Centre (CFS) and Valerie LeMay of the University of British Columbia (UBC) heading up the organizing committee.

According to Mahadev Sharma, a growth and yield modelling research scientist at OFRI and a member of the conference's scientific committee, this conference is very timely. "People and governments around the world are increasingly placing a high value on more complex, biologically diverse forests, and forest management has embraced the concept. However, while these forests provide a range of ecological, recreational, wildlife, and other values, the greater the diversity, the more challenging it is to measure, represent, and make predictions using computer models. This is the driver for this conference."

The conference will provide an opportunity for experts from around the world to present and discuss the current state of knowledge about modelling and measuring complex forests, explains OFRI modelling research scientist Michael Ter-Mikaelian, who also sits on the conference's scientific committee. "Many researchers have been working on improving our ability to represent a diversity of tree ages, species, and spatial patterns. This conference will allow participants to learn about the latest advances and to see how they may apply to management problems that they are addressing in their province or country."

The conference will also include a session on economic and operational issues related to managing complex stand structures, such as product value and quality.

Conference organizers recently put out a call for potential presenters to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations (submission deadline: January 15, 2007). For details about registering for the conference or submitting an abstract, visit http://www.iufrosault.org.

Sponsors of the conference include CFS, UBC, MNR, IUFRO (Internation Union of Forest Research Organizations), and the Canadian Ecology Centre-Forestry Research Partnership.

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Are you a stem profile model buff?

Then check out two new publications on stem profile work led by OFRI's Voyteck Zakrzewski.

The first publication is Regional Stem Profile Model for Cross-Border Comparisons of Harvested Red Pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) in Ontario and Michigan (published in the journal Forest Science). During the recent softwood lumber dispute, Canada and the United States were using different methods for calculating wood volume, which made it difficult to compare wood markets in the two countries. In this publication, Zakrzewski and his colleague at Michigan State University describe how they developed a stem profile model for red pine that is valid for both Ontario and Michigan, allowing cross-border comparisons of wood volume and thus timber prices. This model is just one of many that Zakrzewski is working on as part of his Great Lakes Stem Profile Modelling Project.

The second publication, entitled Stem Data Management System for the Great Lakes Stem Profile Modelling Project Version 2.0 (OFRI Forest Research Note No. 67), describes software that was developed to support this modelling project by allowing researchers to integrate stem profile-related data from a variety of sources and in various formats into a single, unified, user-friendly database. The system's components consist of a database and software modules for processing data and rely on SAS 9.1.

To obtain copies of these publications, call (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca. For a more detailed article about using stem profile models in cross-border comparisons of timber volume, see Insights Vol. 7, No. 2.

Note: A stem profile model is a mathematical representation of the shape of a given tree species' stem. It allows for precise calculation of timber volume and helps to ensure that mills will get the optimal mix of lumber products from that stem shape.

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Fire size distribution review adds another piece to the emulating natural disturbance puzzle

A new report published by OFRI provides a useful summary of the state of knowledge about forest fire size distribution (FSD) in North American boreal forests.

OFRI research scientist Ajith Perera, coauthor of the report, explains that FSD is an "abstraction of fire regimes" that captures the number, frequency, and spatial and temporal extents of fires in a given forest landscape.

"This concept has been used for many purposes in the past but has taken on particular importance in Ontario as we attempt to emulate natural forest disturbances," Perera says. "It provides valuable information about fire regimes that helps policymakers and planners design policies and management plan strategies."

In addition to summarizing the state of knowledge of FSD, including the variety of approaches used to mathematically understand probabilities of fire, the report looks at important terms used in FSD research, many of which have been defined inconsistently. For example, what is a natural forest fire? And what environmental and human factors decide the nature of FSDs?

The report also presents a critical review of past FSD studies' methods and approaches, as these can dramatically affect the certainty of results. For example, in the past, smaller fires were more difficult to detect and often left out of studies; thus, a recent surge in small fires reported may be due to researchers having access to better detection technology rather than an actual increase in these fires. Researchers have also used varying methods of delineating the size and shape of fires, adding to the uncertainty of past results.

Another section of the report highlights FSD knowledge gaps that researchers should address to ensure that Ontario's policies and planning for emulating natural disturbances are scientifically defensible. Perera says, "This information will help us set priorities for future studies and help us meet our objective of strengthening the scientific foundation for emulating natural disturbance in Ontario."

He adds that the work detailed in this report is part of a suite of studies designed to meet the terms of Condition 39C of the 2003 Environmental Assessment Declaration Order.

For more information about scientific studies related to Condition 39C, contact Ajith Perera, (705)946-7426, ajith.perera@ontario.ca, or Lisa Buse, (705)946-7405, lisa.buse@ontario.ca. To obtain a paper copy of this report, entitled Forest Fire Size Distribution in North American Boreal Forests: A State of Knowledge (Forest Research Information Paper No. 163), call the OFRI publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.

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OFRI's 2001-2005 annotated bibliography is hot off the press!

By Lori Rudzki, summer experience student, OFRI

Do you want a better understanding of the research that takes place at MNR's Ontario Forest Research Institute (OFRI)? Look no further than OFRI's new annotated bibliography, which lists all of the publications that have been written, co-authored, or commissioned by OFRI staff from 2001-2005.

Covering a variety of subjects, this bibliography will offer you insight into the progress and development of research OFRI staff have conducted, as well as how to obtain those publications that interest you.

Ontario Forest Research Institute Publications 2001-2005: An Annotated Bibliography provides author and subject indexes to make searching for a publication or topic quick and easy. With over 200 publications produced between 2001-2005, this bibliography covers a variety of topics, such as natural disturbance regimes and landscape dynamics, carbon budgets and effects of climate change on forests, the 1998 ice storm's effects on forests, site preparation and vegetation management, tree improvement, stock production, stand growth and yield, thinning, disease management, harvesting methods in conifer, mixedwood, and hardwood forests in the boreal and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence regions, and more.

OFRI's technology transfer coordinator Lisa Buse compiled this bibliography and believes it will be a useful tool for OFRI and other MNR staff as well as other resource professionals. She asserts, "This annotated bibliography not only allows staff and clients to see what OFRI has accomplished in the last five years, it also acts as a reference point for future research and provides clients with an organized list of publications that they may request in the future."

To obtain a copy of Ontario Forest Research Institute Publications 2001-2005: An Annotated Bibliography (Forest Research Information Paper No. 162), e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca, or call the publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271.

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What is the potential of peat as a fuel source?

By Lori Rudzki, summer experience student, OFRI

Is there any other fuel source that is more efficient than what is now being used? According to a recent literature review published by OFRI, numerous research scientists have been working to answer that question by studying the rewards and drawbacks of peat as a fuel source.

Peat as a Fuel Source in Ontario: A Preliminary Literature Review provides insight into the peat initiative and an analysis of the potential for using peat as an alternate fuel source. According to OFRI research scientist Jim McLaughlin, who participated in the review, "This review not only discusses the advantages and disadvantages of peat as a fuel source, it also discusses the critical knowledge gaps that remain with regards to peat extraction."

Lead author Jenny Gleeson, from MNR's Renewable Energy Section, explains that "the review is feeding into the development of a peat extraction policy framework and may help to inform future MNR policy decisions."

The review, compiled by Gleeson and McLaughlin with Alex Zeller at the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, focuses on peat as an energy source in terms of its functions, peat types, the economic values of peat, as well as resource extraction and harvesting methods. It also addresses the cumulative impacts of fuel peat mining, with emphasis not only on the socio-economic opportunities, but also the environmental impacts of peat harvesting as well as other challenges of using peat for energy. In addition, the review considers peatland restoration and mitigation techniques.

"This review provides a basis for future discussions about the extraction and allocation of peat as a resource, associated land use policy, implications to climate change, ecological impacts to wetlands, and potential alternatives," McLaughlin asserts.

Want a copy of the document? E-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca or call the publication request line at (705)946-2981, ext. 271.

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Researchers explore how management practices can sink more carbon into Ontario's forests

Winters are getting milder, summers hotter; glaciers are melting, and extreme weather events are on the rise. These may be the early warning signs that climate change is starting to affect many aspects of the natural world around us. But what can we do about it?

It may appear that climate change is too big for us to tackle, but in truth, as resource professionals, we can play a role in mitigating climate change.

So assert Steve Colombo and Bill Parker, OFRI research scientists who recently produced a report entitled The Effects of Forest Management on Carbon Storage in Ontario's Forests, published by MNR's Applied Research and Development Branch. The report was coauthored with Nancy Luckai, Qinglai Dang, and Tiebo Cai of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON.

"When most people look at a forest, they see trees. When I look at a forest, I see lots of carbon," Colombo says. "Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases have increased since the country agreed to reduce them to help mitigate climate change. So it's going to be harder to meet the targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol."

He continues, "To reduce greenhouses gases such as carbon dioxide, emissions from fossil fuels will have to be controlled. However, the work presented in our report indicates that most forest management activities we could do to increase the supply of wood also help offset emissions from human sources by sequestering or storing more carbon."

The report also states that the Kyoto Protocol allows the Canadian government to decide whether to use forest management to help meet its commitments to the Kyoto Protocol. Colombo says, "This issue has been receiving input from provincial agencies, including our ministry."

For their study, Colombo and Parker examined 10 important forest management activities: planting/seeding, site preparation, vegetation management, thinning, fertilization, genetic improvement, forest fire management, insect and disease management, road and landing management, and forest harvest. Estimates of forest carbon were based on the growth of Site Class 2 black spruce in Ontario, modelled using the CBM-CFS2 [Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector] model. Stand carbon values used in some of their predictions (which include soil, forest floor, and tree biomass carbon) were generously provided by Werner Kurz, Canadian Forest Service-Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, BC.

"For thinning, forest fire management, and insect and disease management, we used information from the scientific literature to make judgments about how they affect forest carbon storage," Parker explains. "For other practices, we were able to use stand yield data and CBM-CFS in combination with silvicultural practices information to simulate the effects of these activities on forest carbon storage. We scaled the effect of forest management practices on stand-level carbon up to the provincial level using the amount of area treated with each practice since 1990.

"All of the activities we examined except one could be used to increase forest carbon storage during a rotation, either by increasing the rate of carbon sequestration or by protecting or retaining existing stored carbon. Planting, suppressing fire, and managing insects and disease are all examples of forest management activities that have significant potential to increase carbon storage. For instance, in the short term, such as between 2008 and 2012, the first Kyoto accounting period, forest fire suppression could help avoid large releases of greenhouse gases that occur when a forest burns.

"Thinning was the exception. It may increase yields over a rotation but does not appear to increase total biomass production or carbon sequestration. However, by reducing sawlog rotation and increasing sawlog quality, even thinning could slightly increase carbon storage if the wood is used for more durable wood products. Wood products that last longer, store carbon longer. What's more, larger sawlogs could be used more to replace materials that result in high amounts of emissions during the manufacturing process, such as steel, aluminum, and concrete."

Parker points out that even paper, which the public might view as being quick to decay, is almost always either recycled or placed in a landfill. "Most of the paper that enters a landfill today will still be there a century from now. It takes a long time for decomposition to happen in a landfill because conditions are mostly anaerobic [lacking oxygen].

"Over the long term, forest management activities can increase both carbon storage and wood supply," he concludes. "Using them appropriately will not only help with climate change but also increase the potential for Ontario's forests to support economically, biologically, and socially important activities."

This report should be of interest to those who are wrestling with policy development related to climate change, Kyoto, or future alternative approaches to mitigate climate change, the two scientists maintain. Parker adds, "It should also prove useful to people interested in the gains in forest growth or wood production that can be obtained from more intensive forest management."

Both researchers say that more work needs to be done on improving our understanding of how carbon cycles through forests and how human activities affect forest carbon storage and release. "Our work is a significant step forward for Ontario's climate change effort, but our estimates are fairly coarse and were based on simplified assumptions about forest productivity," Colombo says.

He is currently working with two other OFRI researchers, Jiaxin Chen and Michael Ter-Mikaelian, to predict how forest carbon may change based on the province's forest management planning process.

For more information about this work, contact Steve Colombo, (807)343-4020, steve.colombo@ontario.ca or Bill Parker, (705)946-7424, bill.parker@ontario.ca. To obtain a copy of The Effects of Forest Management on Carbon Storage in Ontario's Forests (Climate Change Research Report No. CCRR-03), phone (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.

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Tools can help to estimate decay in living trees

Knowing the amount of wood decay, commonly referred to as cull, in trees is important for estimating current and future wood supply. Ontario's cull tables were developed prior to the 1960s and have information gaps, particularly for plantations, overmature stands, and mixedwoods. So when MNR's Forest Growth and Yield Program was searching for an effective, economical way to fill these gaps, Sylvia Greifenhagen, OFRI pathology research forester, stepped in.

"Wood decay is caused by fungi that degrade and metabolize cell walls, thereby reducing the structural strength of the wood," Greifenhagen says. "Because decay occurs inside the tree, often only affecting the heartwood, it can be impossible to tell if or how much of a tree is decayed by looking at the outside. This study was an opportunity to develop estimates of internal decay using new electronic power tools. With financial support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and cooperation from St. Marys Paper and Domtar, we tested two different decay-detecting devices on sugar maple and aspen."

And how well did the tools work? "One device was faster, but the other worked better for hardwoods, so it's best to know the intended use before choosing among the available devices," Greifenhagen emphasizes. "Both were reasonably accurate, compared with measuring decay visually at the ends of cut logs. Their major advantage is that they can be used on live trees, rather than cutting and sectioning trees to measure decay. These tools are often used by urban foresters to identify hazard trees.

"Like other technologies, decay-detecting tools are advancing rapidly, and better ones than those we tested are already available. Using these new decay-detecting devices will move us one step closer to improved decay estimates for the different kinds of forests and forest stands we have in Ontario."

For more information about the decay detection device comparison project, contact Sylvia Greifenhagen at (705)946-7411. To obtain a copy of Estimating Decay in Living Trees: An Assessment of Two Decay Detection Instruments (Forest Research Information Paper No. 153), phone (705)946-2981, ext. 271, or e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.

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