Grant: Alliance Grants

Fire is the main natural disturbance in Canada's boreal forests, but climate change is modifying fire regimes, shortening return rates to levels that could exceed the resilience of boreal ecosystems. Forest management also strongly modifies forest characteristics, whether in terms of stand and fuel attributes (structure, composition, and biomass) or spatial arrangements. However, little is known about how forestry practices in boreal forests modify fire hazard, in terms of likelihood and magnitude, compared to unmanaged forests. As changes in forest structure and composition are slow, identifying the silvicultural actions that limit or on the contrary increase fire hazard is urgent. The main objective of this project is to determine the short- and long-term management strategies that can decrease wildfire hazard and their impacts in the boreal forests of Eastern Canada. Its novelty lies in the combination of different areas of expertise, to understand the interaction between both anthropogenic and natural modifications in fuel structure and spatial arrangement that influence fire hazard and forest resilience, and to develop applicable tools to limit their impact. It is developed in collaboration with the Ministère des Ressources Naturelles et des Forêts du Québec and the forestry company Chantiers Chibougamau Ltée. A total of 8 HQP (2 MSc, 1 PhD, 1 postdoctoral researcher and 4 undergraduate students on internships) will participate in 4 main themes: (i) impact of forest management history on fire risk and severity, (ii) carbon balance of forest management in boreal forests under fire risk, (iii) understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of fire risk, and (iv) establishing a multi-criterion, spatially explicit fire risk assessment tool. By strengthening the resilience and resistance of forests to fire, this project will support Canadian society and its forests in facing the climate change crisis.