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Emulating natural disturbances: the role of silviculture in creating even-aged and complex structures in the black spruce boreal forest of eastern North America

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Journal of Forest Research

An Erratum: Mistake in publication to this article was published on 15 January 2010

Abstract

Ecosystem-based forest management is based on the principle of emulating regional natural disturbance regimes with forest management. An interesting area for a case study of the potential of ecosystem-based forest management is the boreal forest of north-western Québec and north-eastern Ontario, where the disturbance regime creates a mosaic of stands with both complex and simple structures. Old-growth stands of this region have multi-storied, open structures, thick soil organic layers, and are unproductive, while young post-fire stands established following severe fires that consumed most of the organic soil show dense and even-sized/aged structures and are more productive. Current forest management emulates the effects of low severity fires, which only partially consume the organic layers, and could lead to unproductive even-aged stands. The natural disturbance and forest management regimes differ in such a way that both young productive and old-growth forests could ultimately be under-represented on the landscape under a fully regulated forest management regime. Two major challenges for ecosystem-based forest management of this region are thus to: (1) maintain complex structures associated with old-growth forests, and (2) promote the establishment of productive post-harvest stands, while at the same time maintaining harvested volume. We discuss different silvicultural approaches that offer solutions to these challenges, namely the use of (1) partial harvesting to create or maintain complex structures typical of old-growth stands, and (2) site preparation techniques to emulate severe soil burns and create productive post-harvest stands. A similar approach could be applied to any region where the natural disturbance regime creates a landscape where both even-aged stands established after stand-replacing disturbances and irregular old-growth stands created by smaller scale disturbances are significant.

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Acknowledgments

This article rests upon the research of many individuals who have described the natural disturbance regime of the Clay Belt of Québec and Ontario. These are: Karen Harper, Nicolas Lecomte, Sonia Légaré, Martin Lavoie, Annie Belleau, Pierre Bernier, and David Paré. Several other individuals studied the impact of partial harvest on the forest ecosystem: Hervé Bescond, Catherine Boudreault, Marianne Cheveau, Mireille Poulin, Delphin Ruché, Louis Imbeau, and Pierre Drapeau. Finally, a number of individuals have been examining different harvest options to promote productivity on the landscape: Benoit Lafleur, Sébastien Renard, and Louis Dumas. The article was improved by the thoughtful comments of two anonymous reviewers. Funding for this article was provided by a post-doc fellowship from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the NSERC-UQAT-UQAM Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest Management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NSERC-UQAT-UQAM Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest Management, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 445 boul. de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, J9X 5E4, Canada

    Nicole J. Fenton, Martin Simard & Yves Bergeron

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Dr., Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Martin Simard

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  1. Nicole J. Fenton
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  2. Martin Simard
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  3. Yves Bergeron
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Correspondence to Nicole J. Fenton.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10310-009-0178-9

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Fenton, N.J., Simard, M. & Bergeron, Y. Emulating natural disturbances: the role of silviculture in creating even-aged and complex structures in the black spruce boreal forest of eastern North America. J For Res 14, 258–267 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-009-0134-8

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