Soil Conservation Research

Overview
 Focus Areas
        Long-term soil productivity
        Monitoring the effects of forest practices on soils
        Soil rehabilitation
        Soil biology and biodiversity
        Soil physical properties
        Harvesting (timber, biomass, mushroom) and soils
 Research Highlights
Consultations and Presentations
Recent Publications
Soils Publications
Contacts

Overview

Productive soils, along with clean water and air, are the foundation of forest and range ecosystems. Forest and range management practices have the potential to degrade soil productivity. They can leave soils compacted, resulting in poor aeration and increased soil strength that prevents root growth. Such practices can also cause loss of nutrient-rich surface soils, forcing plant roots to grow in inappropriate rooting media. By removing living trees and changing the future supply of dead wood, timber harvesting alters the biodiversity of a site and the productivity of species such as pine mushrooms and chanterelles, which are important non-timber forest products.

Soil conservation activities maintain productive forest and range soil conditions and also protect water. British Columbia’s forest and range soil conservation strategy provides a framework for identifying soil-degrading disturbances, and establishes maximum allowable levels of soil disturbance on harvested forest land. Soil rehabilitation programs aim to restore productivity to degraded soils, either as part of ongoing field operations, or after identifying high-priority sites that were degraded in the past. 

Soil conservation research provides new information on soil characteristics, processes, and management for the diversity of ecosystems in British Columbia. The information is being used to evaluate and improve existing soil conservation strategies and techniques, and to identify new approaches to protect our province’s forest and range soils and mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

Soil conservation research has provided the technical background for the soils value in the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) and Forest Resource Evaluation Program (FREP) and the relationship between soil productivity and climate change for the Future Forest Ecosystems Initiative (FFEI). It also supports current forest management issues such as Ecosystem-Based Management on the coast, mountain pine beetle, and bioenergy from the forest. Top

Focus Areas

  • Long-term soil productivity: The Long Term Soil Productivity study investigates the impacts of soil compaction and organic matter loss on soil characteristics and forest productivity at 14 installations in the interior forests of British Columbia.
  • Monitoring the effects of forest practices on soils: Soils research is a key component of government’s commitment that forest management practices in BC will conserve soil productivity and hydrologic function.
  • Soil rehabilitation: The long-term effects of forest soil rehabilitation techniques are being studied on a variety of forest ecosystems through field experiments and retrospective studies.
  • Soil biology and biodiversity: Soil biology and biodiversity research is a key component of sustainable forest management.
  • Soil physical properties: The response of forest soil physical properties to forest management activities and their role in maintaining sustainable and productive ecosystems are being studied through field and laboratory research.

  • Harvesting (timber, biomass, mushroom) and soils: Forest biomass harvesting has the potential to remove large amounts of organic matter and nutrients from forest ecosystems. We are evaluating current management strategies to ensure that biomass harvesting is consistent with sutainable forest management.Top

Research Highlights

  • The Long Term Soil Productivity study continues to provide invaluable information to refine forest practices and regulations as well as increase our ability to address the impacts of climate change. more
  • The first year of implementation of the cutblock-level soils value indicators and monitoring protocol for FRPA/FREP occurred in 2007. Analysis of the first dataset will be completed shortly. more
  • Soil rehabilitation research has shown that efforts to restore productivity to forest soils are often successful on mesic sites in a wide range of ecosystems. more
  • Soil biological properties form a key component of monitoring efforts to evaluate sustainability of forest practices in British Columbia. more
  • Properties such as soil strength and porosity may form the basis of cost-effective indicators for monitoring physical conditions and associated tree growth in disturbed soils. more
  • Research on the ecology and productivity of commercial macrofungi such as chanterelle mushrooms is an important aspect of developing commercial opportunities for non-timber forest products. moreTop

Consultations and Presentations

  • Soil scientists with the Research Branch and forest regions have been fundamental in developing and testing reliable, science-based indicators and protocols for the FRPA soils value.

  • Technical Advisory Committee, Workshop “The Scientific Foundation for Sustainable Forest Biomass Harvesting Guidelines and Policy.” In partnership with Natural Resources Canada, University of Toronto, and Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario. Feb. 18-21, 2008.

  • Forest Practices Board, Technical Advisor - Providing advice to Forest Practices Board auditors on applying soil conservation knowledge toward improving policy and management.

  • Future Forest Ecosystems Initiative, Technical role – Providing information on the relationship between climate change and soils.

  • Provincial Interagency Non-Timber Forest Resources Committee – Ensures co-ordination of research, extension, and advocacy activities for the sector in British Columbia.Top

Recent Publications (link to all Soils Publications)

Wright, S.H., S.M. Berch, and M.L. Berbee. 2009. The effect of fertilization on the below-ground diversity and community composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). Mycorrhiza 19(4):267-276. [Link]

Berch, S.M., R.P. Brockley, J.P. Battigelli, and S. Hagerman. 2009. Impacts of repeated fertilization on fine roots, mycorrhizas, mesofauna, and soil chemistry under young interior spruce in central British Columbia. Can. J. For. Research. 39(5):889-896. [Link]

Bulmer, C.E., S.M. Berch, M.P. Curran, W.K. Chapman, J.M. Kranabetter, S. Dube, G.D. Hope, P.J. Courtin, and R.D. Kabzems. 2008. Monitoring the effects of forest practices on soil productivity and hydrologic function. BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management 9(2):48-59. www.forrex.org/publications/jem/ISS48/vol9_no2_art6.pdf (accessed October 10/2008). [PDF 192KB]

Jones, M.D., B.D. Twieg, D.M. Durall, and S.M. Berch. 2008. Location relative to a retention patch affects the ECM fungal community more than patch size in the first season after timber harvesting on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. For. Ecol. Manage. 255(3/4):1342-1352. [Link]

Curran, M.P., C.E. Bulmer, S.M. Berch, S. Dube, B.K. Chapman, G.D. Hope, S. Currie, P.J. Courtin, and J.M. Kranabetter (Compilers). 2008. Protocol for soil resource stewardship monitoring: cutblock level. Version 4.0. Forest and Range Evaluation Program, B.C. Min. For. Range, and B.C. Min. Env., Victoria BC. [PDF 1686KB]

Zhao, Y.S., M. Krzic, C. Bulmer, M. Schmidt 2008. Maximum bulk density of British Columbia forest soils from the Proctor test: relationships with selected physical and chemical properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 72:442-452.

Bulmer, C., K. Venner, and C. Prescott. 2007. Forest soil rehabilitation with tillage and wood waste enhances seedling establishment but not height after eight years. Can. J. For. Res. 37:1894-1906.

Contacts

Shannon Berch, Forest Soils Ecologist
 Chuck Bulmer, Soil Scientist (Kalamalka)
 

Ministry contact: Evelyn Hamilton.
Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated July 2009