Ministry of Forests and Range
 
Table of Contents
 

Adaptive Management Projects

Project Summary: West Arm Demonstration Forest Experiments

Contacts:
John Pollack (Forest Sciences Officer at Nelson Forest Region)

Background:
The West Arm Demonstration Forest (WADF) was created in response to local public concern with current forest management practices. The Demonstration Forest is a 145 km2 area (approximately 13,500ha) that provides excellent opportunities for studying a broad range of forest values. It also allows a variety of new and innovative forest management approaches and techniques to be tested at an operational level.

Objective:
The results and findings of these activities will enable forest managers to better accommodate ecological and social values, while allowing for resource extraction.

AM Objective to incorporate into the program:

To develop a mechanism by which to utilize the knowledge gained on a continual basis.

Experimental Design:
The design of this study (WADF) takes place at two levels 1) Landscape level projects and 2) Stand level projects.

Landscape Level Projects currently include:

  • Public Survey - Baseline Survey of Community Values
  • Timber Supply - Implications of Alternative Silvicultural Strategies on Timber Supply in the West Arm Demonstration Forest
  • Total Resource Design (TRD) - Total Resource Design in the WADF
  • Ecosystem Sustainability - Analysis and Calculation for Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management
  • Climatic Installations - West Arm Demonstration Forest Climate and Snow Monitoring
  • Forest Development Plans
  • Extension Project

Stand Level Projects currently include:

  • Wildlife Diversity - Monitoring changes in wildlife diversity during silvicultural systems trials - group selection in the WADF
  • Furbearer Habitat Use - Impacts of partial cutting silvicultural systems on furbearer distribution and habitat use in the WADF
  • Beetles - Carabid Biodiversity Study
  • Bats - Impacts of Forest Harvesting on the Distribution, Abundance, and Foraging and Roosting Behaviour of Bats in the WADF near Nelson, B.C.
  • Wildlife Trees - Wildlife Tree Research in the WADF
  • Stream Sedimentation - Sediment Budget of Watersheds in the WADF

Monitoring:
When developed as an AM program, monitoring will take place on a yearly basis (annual research review). A review of all the current data from the independent research projects within the WADFE and from broad surveys will be analyzed to determine what is/appears to be working. Questions will be investigated such as: Where is it leading? What has been found? What does this indicate? What changes if any should be made?

Time Frame:
Research is scheduled to take place over the next decade (beginning in 1992 for some of the projects, others began in 1994 and 1995).

Current Status:
Mr. Pollack expresses extreme interest in the AM design and would like to incorporate it into the already existing WADFE program. He would like to develop higher intensity monitoring to determine better ways of doing things. He invisions AM as a efficient process by which better ways of doing things will be developed.

He could use any information/help on the mechanism by which to design more surveys and incorporate AM into the current research. The Steering Committee for WADF meets periodically to discuss 1) independent research and 2) Using research to improve methods - Adaptive Management (Develop mechanisms by which to use the knowledge gained). The focal points, what they will be looking for, for this meeting will be: DATA, EVALUATION and CHANGE. AM concepts will be presented at this meeting to the steering committee.

Other:
He also foresees an AM project in the Invermere Forest District in the near future. This study would research the various difficulties of logging sensitive soil sites. There are some Code problems involved with the study. In addition, the proposed study area suffers from Armalaria management concerns. Operational staff are all ears/open armed to the idea of a AM approach to these difficulties.

References:

WADF. 1995. The West Arm Demonstration Forest - Research Update. Forest Sciences Nelson Forest Region. Mar. 1995, RS-018, 3pp.

Julie Duff. 1994. Total Resource Design: Application to the West Arm Demonstration Forest. Workshop: Nelson, January 1994. Report for MoF, Nelson F.R. 58pp.