Applying research for enhanced productivity on the Canadian Ecology Centre – Forestry Research Partnership forests

Abstract

The application of enhanced forest productivity (EFP) through intensive silviculture on designated forest areas is arguably one means to maintain or increase fibre supply and global market competitiveness. The Canadian Ecology Centre – Forestry Research Partnership’s (CEC-FRP) 10/10 objective (to increase sustainable fibre production by 10% in 10 years) has focused many years of forest research largely on the practical application of EFP. Large-scale implementation of this research, through a process of adaptive management, is incumbent on first identifying forests that are available and potentially suitable to implement EFP with more intensive silviculture on portions of the landbase. This paper describes forests in northeastern Ontario that were evaluated for EFP potential, and provides some of the rationale for their selection or rejection for this purpose. To date, the Gordon Cosens, Romeo Malette, Martel, and Nipissing forests are identified as potential CEC-FRP core forests in which research can be directed towards sustainable increases in forest production. These 4 forests are located in Ontario’s boreal and Great Lakes–St. Lawrence regions and have the necessary tenure, potential productivity, protection from fire, insect and disease, and are managed under a suitably enabling planning and legislative environment. In addition, forest management planning teams for these forests are closely integrated with the CECFRP through core teams that are critical to identifying science priorities based on local operational issues, and moving subsequent research into practice. As such, it seems timely to move forward with EFP implementation through a process of adaptive management on these forests. Key words: enhanced forest productivity (EFP), intensive forest management (IFM), intensive silviculture, forest management planning (FMP), adaptive management