Mountain Pine Beetle And Salvage Harvesting Influence On Small Stream Riparian Zones

This paper reports on the investigation of the influence of the mountain pine beetle infestation and salvage harvesting on small stream and riparian zone ecological function, shade, and temperature. Small streams (less than a 2 m bankfull width) were selected because they are the most prominent stream type within a watershed and they determine many ecological characteristics of larger downstream channels.--Document.

This document provides a synthesis of recently completed studies to assess the ecological consequences of forest management after attack by mountain pine beetle or other large-scale disturbances. Studies are assessed for their contributions to gaps in knowledge previously identified in the Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative Working Paper "Evaluating effects of large scale salvage logging for mountain pine beetle on terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates," which was published in 2004. This report focuses on studies developed through the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative, the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program, and the complementary BC Forest Science Program. Relevant information from other jurisdictions is sometimes included to augment those studies. Topics examined are: the impacts of beetle kill and salvage operations on habitat attributes; the impacts of beetle kill and salvage operations on attendant processes, such as snag fall rates, light interception, and snow accumulation; and the wildlife response to large-scale beetle outbreaks and management strategies. For each of these three topics, we provide a summary of: research to date; pertinent findings to date; and gaps in research.

"This study examines the impact of mountain pine beetle infestation on forest canopy structure on the Nechako Plateau, and the resulting impacts on snow accumulation and ablation under varied climatic conditions. Stand-scale results were used to drive a physically-based, distributed hydrological model of the Van Tine Creek watershed and assess watershed-scale hydrologic response to four harvesting/infestation scenarios."--Document.

This study is part of a series of research papers that explore the biological, social, and economic aspects of British Columbia's mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic. The objective of this report was to determine watershed-scale impacts of mountain pine beetles by comparing channel conditions and the woody debris budget in watersheds infested by the MPB with those from similar old-growth forests with pre-infestation channel and riparian data. The use of a woody debris budget directly links large-scale lodgepole pine mortality to stream challen and piparian processes and conditions at the landscape level. Eighteen watersheds in the Sub-Boreal Spruce and Sub-Boreal--Pine Spruce biogeoclimatic zones were considered. The results are used to generate regionally and locally relevant best management practices that will guide operational planning in landscapes impacted by the MPB.--Includes text from Government of Canada publications site and from document.