Impact of an Extreme Climatic Event on Productivity and Growth in Sugar Maple

In early January 1998, a severe ice storm with high winds damaged forests across a broad swath of eastern North America, including eastern Ontario, western Quebec, northern New York, and parts of New England. After the storm, the federal and Ontario governments worked closely with those who manage the affected forests, including sugarbush operators, to develop a comprehensive program to assess the impacts of the storm and efforts to mitigate the damage.

Five years later, researchers know a lot about the short-term (3-year) effects of such a massive ice storm on hardwood forests (for details, see the 2 special ice storm issues of The Forestry Chronicle [Vol. 77, No. 4 and Vol. 79, No. 1]; articles with OFRI authors are listed on the OFRI Publications (recent) page). For example, researchers found that ice-damaged sugar maple trees fertilized with potassium and phosphorous experienced increased growth and that syrup production was not reduced significantly in trees with less than 50% crown loss. But what are the longer-term effects of ice damage on sugar maple? To answer this question, researchers initiated a second phase of their sugar maple research in 2003. As with the first phase, it is being conducted in private sugarbushes in eastern Ontario.

The objectives of this project are to:

• Determine the longer-term effects of the ice damage on the growth rate, sap production ability, sap sweetness, and wound healing rate of sugar maple
• Assess the ability of lime and phosphorus and potassium treatments applied to the sugar bushes in 1999 to alleviate the effects of the damage on growth and sap productivity
• Examine what influence, if any, ice damage has on the temperature extremes found in sugar bushes during the sap run (temperature swings above and below freezing are the primary driver for sap production)

Results of this research will help resource managers to:

• Refine guidelines for tapping sugar maple trees that have experienced varying degrees of ice damage
• Produce guidelines for appropriate use of fertilizer treatments to mitigate the effects of ice damage

Research collaborators/partners:

Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association
Eastern Ontario Model Forest
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food

For more information, contact:

Tom Noland, OFRI, (705)946-7421, tom.noland@ontario.ca