Abstract
Canopy height data collected with an airborne laser scanner (ALS) flown across unmanaged parts of Canada’s boreal forest in the summer of 2010 were used—as stand-alone data—to derive a least-squares polynomial (LSPOL) between presumed post-fire recovered canopy heights and duration (in years) since fire (YSF). Flight lines of the > 25,000-km ALS survey intersected 163 historic fires with a known day of detection and fire perimeter. A sequential statistical testing procedure was developed to separate post-fire recovered canopy heights from pre-fire canopy heights. Of the 153 fires with > 5 YSF, 121 cases (89%) could be resolved to a complete or partial post-fire canopy replacement. The estimated LSPOL can be used to estimate post-fire aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration in areas where alternative information is dated or absent. These LIDAR derived findings are especially useful as existing growth information is largely developed for higher productivity ecosystems and not applicable to these ecosystems subject to large wildfires.
Highlights
Forested areas in Canada’s northern regions are largely unmanaged and are not subject to resource surveys with the same level of detail or regularity as those in regions to the south [1,2,3]
We focus on years since fire rather than stand age, as there is a variable period of time during which regeneration initiates and local competition will regulate the return of trees to a given site [16,17]
Post-fire tree canopy height distributions in boreal forests are typically composed of post-fire regeneration and pre-fire canopy elements
Summary
Forested areas in Canada’s northern regions are largely unmanaged and are not subject to resource surveys with the same level of detail or regularity as those in regions to the south [1,2,3]. 2012, 4 survey activities are typically linked to strategic planning over managed forest areas where forest harvesting is practiced. Canada’s northern forested areas are generally low-productivity environments that are distant from populations and markets. In the absence of harvesting, wildfire is the key agent of disturbance, and fire suppression is commonly not pursued. In an effort to augment monitoring and inventory activities in Canada’s northern forested regions, we carried out an airborne laser scanner (ALS) campaign during the summer of 2010. The objective was to obtain representative information about forest canopy height, model-based estimates of stem-volume, and biomass [4,5,6]
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