Extensions

These publications are from unique, historic or stand-alone research initiatives that fall outside the research topic areas otherwise listed.

Guidelines to Support Implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Order with Respect to Old Forest and Listed Plant Communities - LMH72

The Great Bear Rainforest Order (GBRO), established January 2016, presents legal objectives for the protection of Old Forests and Red- and Blue-Listed Plant Communities (Listed Communities) within the timber harvesting land base of the Great Bear Rainforest. Although the direction on management and conservation of both Old Forest and Listed Communities is conceptually straightforward, practical field implementation is challenging due to the lack of explicit field assessment criteria.

This guidance document provides an overview of key aspects of the GBRO with respect to Old Forest and Listed Communities, and interpretation of the text in the GBRO with reference to current ecological concepts. Additionally, the document discusses how the GBRO text relates to the B.C. Conservation Data Centre methods for assessing Red- and Blue-Listed Ecological Communities.

A set of field keys is provided to facilitate consistent application of ecological concepts to meet the intent of the GBRO objectives for Old Forest and Sufficiently Established Listed Communities. The keys incorporate initial minimum criteria for certain ecological features, and an index that integrates a suite of old forest attributes (the Forest Attribute Score) based on features that reflect the complexity of these older coastal, forested ecosystems. Both keys require the field practitioner to determine stand age and occurrence of a Veteran Overstory Tree layer. To evaluate the requirement for protection of Listed Communities, the level of understory development must also be evaluated. Calculation of a Forest Attribute Score requires the assessment of six stand attributes: density of Veteran Overstory Trees, density of large snags, vertical canopy differentiation, understory shrub and herb cover, amount of coarse woody debris, and stand disturbance history.

Natural Disturbance Bibliography for British Columbia - TR80

This bibliography consists of journal articles, reports, conference papers, and theses that address natural disturbance regimes in British Columbia. The emphasis is on wildfire, but wind, insects, and diseases are also included to some extent. Many entries describe general disturbance history, landscape characteristics, and/or vegetation succession. Others are more detailed and provide disturbance dates or frequencies—especially for wildfire. Paleoecological studies go back thousands of years, while dendrochronological studies go back hundreds of years.

The entries are organized by biogeoclimatic zone, and where more than one zone is addressed by an entry it is repeated for each zone. Where the author(s) provided an abstract, it is usually reproduced verbatim (in quotes). Otherwise, text extracts (in quotes) are given or the pertinent information is summarized (not in quotes). In cases of multiple entries, such summary content may vary for a specific work depending on the biogeoclimatic zone for which it is entered. Where old biogeoclimatic codes are given, the current equivalent codes follow in brackets. Tree species codes are also translated into common names.

A few documents were not seen, so only basic citations were available. Hyperlinks are included for online material. Some older publications not currently online are available in hardcopy from the J.T. Fyles Natural Resources Library in Victoria (www.env.gov.bc.ca/nrs_library/index.html). Other more recent documents should be obtainable as PDF files from the respective authors.

Land units and benchmarks for developing natural disturbance-based forest management guidance for northeastern British Columbia - TR59

There has been a steady increase in the use of knowledge of natural disturbance dynamics as a basis for forest management policy directed towards maintaining biological diversity. While the merits of this approach are currently being debated, especially in light of climate change, knowledge of natural disturbance patterns provides useful baseline information to assist with landscape level planning and stand level forest practices.

This document outlines an ecological land delineation process that focuses on differences in disturbance rate and pattern and successional dynamics for northeast British Columbia. It provides some general principles regarding natural disturbance-based management and, for each delineated unit, detailed information on location, climate, vegetation, natural disturbance dynamics, forest management effects on natural pattern, and recommended forest practices based on the natural disturbance-based management paradigm.

Revisiting a Forest Extension Strategy for British Columbia: A Survey of Natural Resource Practitioners and Information Providers - TR42

Rapid and significant changes in British Columbia are greatly affecting the province's forest sector and are leading to an increased demand for reliable, science-based information. To help guide forestry extension programming in the province over the next 5 years, FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership (FORREX) staff, in partnership with the Forest Investment Account - Forest Science Program, conducted a survey of clients, partners, and contacts. This web-based survey was designed to: (1) identify perceptions regarding the need for forestry extension in British Columbia; (2) characterize information gaps that exist within the forest sector; (3) identify barriers to the incorporation of new information; (4) evaluate information sources and forestry extension services; and (5) seek recommendations regarding the future of forestry extension.

In August 205, a 26-question survey was e-mailed to 1368 potential respondents who were selected from the forrex client database. Using a stratified random sampling method, respondents were chosen from nine groups (academia, consultants, federal government, provincial government, First Nations government, major licensees, municipal government, non-government organizations, and "other"). A response rate of 22% was achieved with this survey instrument; the calculated maximum error was 5.4% at a 95% confidence level.

An Early History of the Research Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range - TR36

The B.C. Forest Branch (now Service) was created in February 1912 but research activities didn't begin until 1921 when James (Alex) Alexander studied timber utilization, logging slash disposal, natural regeneration, tree growth and yield, and fire protection.

In 1923 Assistant Chief Forester Robert St. Clair recommended the establishment of forest experimental stations in the major forest types of the province, resulting in the Aleza Lake Experiment Station near Prince George (in 1924) and the Cowichan Lake Research Station on Vancouver Island (in 1929).

The Research Division was formally established in 1927 with a staff of seven and annual expenditures of $34 000. The director was Percy Barr. By 1930 the Research Division of the B.C. Forest Branch was the largest and most active forest research organization in Canada. In the ensuing decades the research program went through many changes and evolved into a province-wide multi-disciplinary organization.

Based on archival material and interviews with previous employees, this document traces the history of research within the B.C. Forest Service from 1912 to 1970.

Methods for Estimating Gamete Contributions to Orchard Seed Crops and Vegetative Lots in British Columbia - TR25

Methods are described for estimating male and female gamete contributions from parent trees to conifer orchard seedlots1 and to vegetative lots in British Columbia. Methods are also described for estimating male gamete contributions for species and locations where contamination from non-orchard pollen is considered significant, and for calculating seedlot statistics when combining separate seedlots. These methods support the Chief Forester Standards for Seed Use (the Standards), developed under the Forest and Range Practices Act of British Columbia. For orchard seedlots and for vegetative lots, estimates of effective population size and genetic worth must be determined in accordance with formulae provided in the Standards. These formulae require male and female gamete contributions to be estimated for each parent tree, and from nonorchard pollen. The Standards refer to “generally accepted scientific methodology” for the estimation of male and female gamete contributions to orchard seedlots. This paper defines generally accepted methods. A number of methods are described and formulae provided for estimating male and female gamete contributions to seed and vegetative lots. Methods vary by expected precision and by application cost. Seed orchard managers should choose the method that best meets their needs.

A Protocol for Assessing Thematic Map Accuracy Using Small-area Sampling - TR23

This paper presents a protocol for assessing the predictive accuracy of thematic maps. Although developed during the Cariboo Predictive Ecosystem Mapping (PEM) pilot, the Canim Lake PEM operational prototype, and the Quesnel PEM to test the accuracy of predictive ecosystem maps, this protocol is applicable to many thematic maps. The Protocol for Accuracy Assessment of Ecosystem Maps (Meidinger 2003) incorporates many of the concepts presented here, but recent work done on the Canim Lake and Quesnel PEMS suggests that a more detailed operational protocol is needed to ensure the integrity of the data collected. In addition to detailed instructions and specifications for data collection, this paper describes a staged sampling protocol designed to minimize the sampling cost required to attain a specified level of confidence in the assessed accuracy.

We recommend a sampling strategy that is independent of the final map polygons delineated. The sample entity-a closed, three-side traverse, 500 m on a side-estimates the ability of a map to predict the thematic (e.g., site series) composition of a small area. However, it does not estimate the accuracy of predicting the exact location of site series within the small area. A 60-m corridor centred on the traverse is about 9 ha and estimates the ability of the map to predict the proportions of thematic units (e.g., site series) within areas tens of hectares and larger. The accuracy of prediction for areas smaller than tens of hectares will be lower.

This paper describes the following procedures:
1. A rationale for a small-area sampling protocol versus polygon sampling.
2. Detailed field procedures for the collection of traverse data, which will be the basis for estimating the composition of the small area sampled.
3. Methods for estimating measurement error, which can be used to estimate the upper limit of accuracy possible.
4. Calculations of percentage overlap as a measure of map accuracy.
5. A staged sampling procedure to minimize the number of samples required to meet a specified confidence level.

Statistical Methods for Adaptive Management Studies - LMH42

Adaptive management is a systematic approach for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs. This handbook provides an overview of principles and methods for approaches to experimentation and data analysis for adaptive management studies. Topics include design of experiments, non-experimental studies, retrospective studies, measurement and estimates, errors of inference, Bayesian statistics, and decision analysis. The handbook is targeted at resource managers, researchers, and biometricians.

Field Studies of Seed Biology - LMH40

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.
(Willa Cather "O Pioneers!")

Except in limited areas where there is enough advance regeneration, establishment of forest cover on harvested lands continues to depend on seedling planting programs or on natural regeneration by seeds. Whereas successful plantation programs depend primarily on plant competition and site variables at the time of planting, successful natural regeneration depends not only on the availability of seeds, but on favourable environmental conditions throughout the processes of seed production, dispersal, germination, and seedling establishment.

Site preparation and other silvicultural treatments can improve the suitability of the seedbed and its micro-environment, but there is still much we do not understand about how various factors contribute to successful forest establishment. We have gained some insights, under controlled conditions, about the influence of major factors such as light and temperature, but we have limited experience with biological responses under actual conditions in the field.

A Guide to the Biology and Use of Forest Tree Seeds - LMH30

The reasons for an interest in forest tree seeds vary widely. Nursery workers, silviculturists, seed orchard managers, cone collectors, and seed dealers have a very practical need for knowledge. But many others have developed a general interest in seed biology because they want to achieve a better under-standing of the natural world around them. Seed maturation, dormancy, and germination are still not completely understood. It remains somewhat of a mystery how a seed can remain viable for many years in the forest duff, then, responding to some cue, break through its woody seed coat and establish itself as an independent seedling. However, we know some of the factors critical to those processes, and we know that the effects of these factors may vary, depending on the physiological state of the seed. At the moment of natural seedfall, the potential quality of seeds is as high as it will ever be. To maintain that quality and to produce the best seedlings for reforestation, knowledge of tree seed biology is essential. This handbook describes the basic principles that govern the biology of forest tree seeds and examines how these principles might apply to reforestation. Its intent is to give an overall picture of how and why seeds may germinate and to provide some understanding of a remarkable process.