Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

EMEND (Ecosystem-based Management Emulating Natural Disturbance) is a large-scale and long-term experiment about boreal forest dynamics located in NW Alberta. The project has imposed four innovative harvest treatments, standard Canadian clear-cuts and two prescribed fire treatments on operational-sized blocks in four cover-types representing the successional sequence of the boreal mixedwood. Post-disturbance recovery has been followed since 1999. We aim to compare system recovery after variable retention harvest with that observed after both clear-cutting and natural disturbance, in relation to baseline conditions established by monitoring never-cut forest. EMEND results improve i) understanding of biodiversity in the western boreal forest (we believe it is the most complete single site inventory in Canada), ii) how these species interact with each other, and iii) the ecological system dynamics that result from these connections and from linkage to the abiotic environment. We apply this knowledge to help our partners manage crown forest lands more sustainably and efficiently. This proposal couples work about how plant, microbial, invertebrate, and vertebrate biodiversity responds to both natural and anthropogenic disturbance and how these effects, in turn, are linked to natural processes like wildfire, nutrient cycling, carbon storage and forest productivity. The subprojects proposed here are all focused on one or more of the six criteria for sustainable forest management in Canada, as laid out by the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. The work will help our partners develop and implement forest management plans that satisfy these criteria. The subprojects provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to be educated while generating useful research in a multidisciplinary environment characterized by extensive interaction among research providers and users from several agencies. Results will contribute to partner efforts to ensure public acceptance of their operations, and to win and maintain market share for sustainably produced wood products. Hence the research contributes to maintaining forest values and ecosystem services prized by Canadians, and helps a flagship Canadian industry remain globally competitive.