Abstract
There is a concern that the accelerated timber harvest in the mountain pine beetle epidemic area of British Columbia (BC) could compromise long-term forest productivity if soils are unduly disturbed. Consequently, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations (MFLNRO) developed a protocol using ground- and image-based methods to assess the status of the forest soil resource in part of the BC Forest and Range Evaluation Program (FREP). Although this protocol uses high-resolution aerial imagery, the MFLNRO is also collecting beetle imagery at a smaller scale for detecting and monitoring. For this evaluation, we use a combination of ground- and imagery-based assessments as developed for FREP within the BC Interior Plateau. We determined that low-resolution data are useful and are sufficient for detecting and measuring the extent of roads and landings. Areas occupied by landslides, erosion, drainage diversion, inordinate disturbance, or roadside work areas can be captured on remote-sensed images with spatial resolution greater than 2.5 m. However, based on this review and previous work, aerial photographs in 10-cm pixel size are best suited to reveal less evident harvesting-related soil disturbance.
Highlights
The cumulative area of British Columbia (BC) that was affected to some degree by the mountain pine beetle (MPB) is estimated at 18.1 millions ha, and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations (MFLNRO) predicts that 57% of the provincial lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) inventory could be killed by 2021—these trees make-up over half the BC Interior’s annual harvest.[1]
To lessen the impacts of the forest health crisis, the BC MPB Action Plan included a provision to recover the greatest value from dead timber before it burns or decays, while conserving the long-term forest values identified in land-use plans.[2]
Within the context of the information needed, the immediate goal of the current project was to investigate whether there are sources of data other than highly pixelated aerial photography (e.g.,
Summary
The cumulative area of British Columbia (BC) that was affected to some degree by the mountain pine beetle (MPB) is estimated at 18.1 millions ha, and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations (MFLNRO) predicts that 57% of the provincial lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) inventory could be killed by 2021—these trees make-up over half the BC Interior’s annual harvest.[1]. The resulting accelerated timber harvest in the MPB epidemic area could compromise long-term forest productivity as wet soil conditions have expanded.[3] With less interception and evapotranspiration, dead and dying lodgepole pine stands experience changes in water balance resulting in more soil moisture, a quicker hydrological response to precipitation events, and a greater frequency of increased water.[4] Where soils “water up,” there is a higher risk of compaction and rutting during salvage operations.[5]. To evaluate if current forest practices conserve and protect soils in BC at the local scale, a monitoring process was put in place that measures soil-based indicators developed to assess the effectiveness of forest and range legislation in achieving stewardship objectives.[6,7] Indicators provide a protocol to assess changes in soil conditions in line with international standards and criteria for sustainable forest management set out by the Montreal Process.[8,9,10,11] Indicators
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