Review And Synthesis Of Regeneration Methods In Beetle Killed Stands Following Mountain Pine Beetle Dendroctonus Ponderosae Attack

Under the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program, research is being implemented to study the economic and ecological characteristics of mountain pine beetle-damaged stands in British Columbia and Alberta. Stand development projections following mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) (MPB) attack will depend upon the ability to accurately project natural regeneration following attack. In this study, stand structure measured on affected stands shortly after attack was used to estimate the abundance and composition of natural regeneration a number of years following attack. Specific objectives were: to assess natural regeneration development in stands that have sustained mortality during current and/or previous MPB outbreaks; to develop a natural regeneration database for use in connection with the PrognosisBC growth and yield simulator; to use imputation techniques to extend the existing natural regeneration model to MPB-affected stands in the southern and central interior of the province; and to develop and enhance the software necessary to allow reasonable projections of MPB-affected stands.--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 epidemic. The purpose of this report is to examine document changes in stand characteristics of pine dominated stands following mountain pine beetle (MPB) attack and to assess the potential of stand development after MPB attack without management intervention.--Includes text from Government of Canada publications site and from 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.

The current synthesis is a review of research examining the effects of large-scale mountain pine beetle (MPB)-related disturbance conducted predominantly over the past five years. The emphasis is on research that explicitly examines the impact of beetle kill (or biotic disturbance in general) and the cumulative effects of large scale salvage harvesting operations in response to beetle kill. In general, forest disturbance has been found to increase snow accumulation and melt, reduce interception loss and evaporation, and increase runoff and stream flow.--Document.

Two empirical methods for rating susceptibility of mountain pine beetle attack in ponderosa pine were evaluated. The methods were compared to stand data modeled to objectively rate each sampled stand for susceptibly to bark-beetle attack. Data on bark-beetle attacks, from a survey of 45 sites throughout the Colorado Plateau, were modeled using logistic regression to estimate the probability of attack on individual trees from tree and stand variables. The logistic model allowed flexibility to easily scale results up to a stand level for comparison to the empirical methods. The empirical method, developed by Munson and Anhold, most closely correlated to the logistic regression results. However, the Munson/Anhold method rated all 45 study sites as either moderately or highly susceptible to bark-beetle attack, which raises concern about its lack of sensitivity. Future work on evaluating risk of bark-beetle impact should consider more than stand characteristics.

"British Columbia is amid the largest recorded mountain pine beetle outbreak in North American history. To minimize timber losses, large-scale salvage operations are underway to utilize the merchantable pine. However, large-scale salvage operations can have negative impacts on a variety of forest values, including the potential to diminish mid-term timber supply opportunities. One option is to reserve stands with adequate advance regeneration for the mid-term timber supply. Another option is to salvage harvest dead trees in a way that protects the advanced regeneration. However, the health, vigour, form, and mortality rate of advance regeneration, through time, has not been well studied. To incorporate these stands into timber supply analyses and subsequent management decisions regarding reservation, mortality and forest health factors must be evaluated. We assessed the forest health of 90 residual stands over a range of stand types with varying lengths of time since attack by mountain pine beetle (MPB). Analysis of the forest health survey data showed that current damage from forest health agents was relatively low. Physical damage was the most common issue, but even in that case, the incidence ranged from

We developed a decision-support framework that integrates scenario analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis and used it to analyze forest renewal in the study area of the Quesnel Timber Supply Area. Two consensus-based scenarios were constructed to represent the target future conditions: strong forest sector and forest resilience/economic diversification. Renewal strategies were constructed using multi-criteria decision analysis and sets of criteria specific to each scenario. Impacts of the renewal strategies are measured in terms of several timber and non-timber indicators. The key economic and timber-related impacts are linked to merchantable volume. Ecological impacts are assessed by analyzing wildlife communities associated with the broad habitat categories. None of the strategies generated for the scenarios was acceptable in terms of all criteria and outcomes. Further revisions of the scenarios and criteria, with the involvement of local stakeholders, is therefore recommended for decision-making. The integrated framework developed for this study is general and allows for other community and forest management concerns to be incorporated. The framework demonstrates how the stakeholders' goals regarding their community's future are formulated and how the conflicts between multiple criteria may be addressed. Impacts of the renewal strategies are measured in terms of several timber and non-timber indicators. The key economic and timber-related impacts are linked to merchantable volume. Ecological impacts are assessed by analyzing wildlife communities associated with the broad habitat categories. None of the strategies generated for the scenarios was acceptable in terms of all criteria and outcomes. Further revisions of the scenarios and criteria, with the involvement of local stakeholders, is therefore recommended for decision-making. The integrated framework developed for this study is general and allows for other community and forest management concerns to be incorporated. The framework demonstrates how the stakeholders' goals regarding their community's future are formulated and how the conflicts between multiple criteria may be addressed.