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Pothole Creek Demonstration Area

Pothole Creek
Study Area

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Stand Modelling
Demonstration Area

• IDF Timber Supply
• Area Land Base
• Development of Area
• Growth and Yield Studies
• Silviculture Trials

The Pothole Creek Demonstration Area Land Base5

The forest types in the Demonstration Area are dominated by interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca), with mixtures of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. contorta), spruce (Picea engelmannii), aspen (Populus tremuloides), and a small amount of Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Ninety-eight percent of the area is classified as the Thompson Dry Cool Interior Douglas-fir Variant (IDFdk1) , with higher elevation portions in the Very Dry Cool Montane Spruce Subzone (MSxk)6. Elevation ranges from 1200 to 1400 m. Age classes vary widely within and among stands, including large veteran Douglas-fir up to about 350 years old. The area is patchy, as a result of one or more partial cuts, with old skid trails throughout. Most logging activity occurred around 1966, with track skidding and a minimum harvest tree size of 37.5 cm (15 inches) at stump height. Silviculture treatments have been applied in some areas, including a sanitation spacing in 1996 within a small stand in the north-west.

Fig. 2: Forests of the Pothole Creek Demonstration Area
 
Current conditions in the Demonstration Area reflect forest management policy and activities of the past 50 years or so, e.g,, fire suppression and diameter-limit harvesting of the largest and best quality trees. We speculate that there are more small trees and fewer large trees in the stands than would have been without these influences.
5Most of the information in these web pages has been summarized from "JS Thrower and Associates Ltd., 1997. Management and Silviculture Opportunities for Interior Douglas-fir Stands in the Pothole Creek Demonstration Area. Prepared for Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd. and the Ministry of Forests Merritt Forest District, 75 pp.
6Lloyd, D., Angrove, K., Hope, G., and Thompson, C. 1990. A guide to site identification and interpretation for the Kamloops Forest Region. BC Ministry of Forests Research Branch, 192 pp
Last Modified: 2002 OCT19. Ministry contact: Catherine Bealle Statland
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