Microclimate Studies In Mountain Pine Beetle Damaged Silvicultural Systems On The Chilcotin Plateau

The objectives of this study were to: 1. compare the key environmental variables between blocks (elevational effect) and treatments (clearcut and irregular group shelterwood with whole-tree harvesting partial cut), and between microsites within partial cut openings (north and south edges and centre); and 2. examine temporal changes occurring to environmental variables in the context of the changing biological environment. This document includes an introduction, methods, results and discussion, and a summary.--Includes text from document.

The Itcha-Ilgachuz Research Project was initiated in the west Chilcotin region of central British Columbia to test variants of group selection and irregular group shelterwood silvicultural systems for managing lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forests for timber and northern caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou Gmelin, northern ecotype) winter habitat. The results presented in this report are from three assessments that have been completed since the start of the mountain pine beetle outbreak, and are provided in context with the results from the earlier natural regeneration study. The results provide insight into how successfully the study sites and surrounding forests, which have sustained variable levels of mortality, regenerate naturally.--Includes text from document.

Over the past 15 years, selective cutting prescriptions have been applied by forest operations in southeastern British Columbia as part of a strategy to reduce landscape-level susceptibility to damage from mountain pine beetle outbreaks. The prescriptions have been applied in stands where maintenance of some mature forest cover is needed to meet management objectives for viewscapes, recreation and habitat or to hold some pine volume during periods of rising beetle activity until it is required or available for harvest. In this study, we examined 10 of these sites 5 to 14 years after harvest, and determined current stand composition and structure from direct sampling and pre- and post-treatment stand characteristics from stand reconstruction. We then related these characteristics to original treatment specifications; the volume removed during harvest and remaining on site after treatment; subsequent losses to wind, snow or bark beetle damage; current stocking status; radial growth rates of residual overstorey trees; and the nature of fuel complexes created and effects of treatment on potential fire behaviour.

The S2Mountain Pine Beetle Symposium: Challenges and SolutionsS3 was held in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada on October 30-31, 2003. This meeting was organized by Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre and funded through the Government of Canada Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative. Approximately 250 people representing the forest industry, consultants, universities, provincial and federal government agencies, First Nations, and the general public, from both Canada and the United States attended the meeting. Thirty presentations were given describing the current mountain pine beetle situation (in British Columbia, Alberta and the western United States) and its management and economic implications. Researchers presented the latest information on remote sensing, decision support systems, impacts on stand dynamics and wildlife, phytosanitary risks, climate change effects and preventive management as they relate to mountain pine beetle.