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The Effects of Overstory Mortality on Snow Accumulation and Ablation
Project Leader
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Funding Agency
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Pat Teti, P.Geo.,
B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range
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Natural Resources Canada,
Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative
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Lodgepole pine forests make up much of the forest land in the B.C. Interior
and are being killed by Mountain Pine Beetles (MPB) at an unprecedented rate
with serious implications for forest management.
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| Location Map: Study areas are the yellow dots
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Affected pine trees stop transpiring water as soon as
the needles die but physical stand deterioration takes a number of
years.
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Widespread mortality of pine stands is expected to have hydrologic
effects such as increased snow accumulation, increased soil moisture,
and increased streamflow.
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This
1.7 MB pdf file describes the hydrological effects of MPB.
This Web page
describes a closely-related current research project.
This stand was killed by beetles 20 years ago and is recovering thanks to pine and spruce that established both before and after the attack
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Resource managers are concerned about increases in peak streamflows due to
beetle-related stand deterioration, as well as accellerated timber harvesting
for the purpose of utilizing the affected timber before it deteriorates.
This
Web page discusses the implications of the beetle epidemic on forest
management from the point of view of hydrology and other resources.
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A major technical question is how to predict the effects of stand
deterioration and large-scale salvaging on peak flows in streams draining large,
ungauged watersheds. In principle, this problem can be addressed using watershed
runoff models but we first need to know the effects of MPB-related changes to
stand structure on snow accumulation and melt.
This project is addressing this by measuring snow ablation rates and stand
characteristics at plots in different types of pine stands in the B.C. Interior.
Stands include recent clearcuts, partially-recovered clearcuts, recently
attacked pine stands, and pine stands attacked 20 years ago. Differences in snow
accumulation and ablation will be correlated with stand descriptors derived from
different types of surveys.
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Fisheye canopy photography and stand descriptions are
being done in summer, 2006.
Contact:
Pat Teti
Research Hydrologist
Southern Interior Region
Williams Lake Service Centre
Phone: 250 398-4752, eMail:
pat.teti@gov.bc.ca
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