Sustainable forest management: Learning
from fire regimes
Quebec's forest regions are subjected to various
fire regimes as a result of factors such as the climate, topography
and vegetation that characterize these regions. Researchers at the
Laurentian Forestry Centre of the Canadian Forest Service believe
that a better knowledge of the regional fire regime is useful in
selecting appropriate forest management strategies.
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Young even-aged black spruce stand. The limit
of the prescribed fire is visible on the right (uneven-aged,
overmature spruce stand sector).
Photo: Guy Simard |
Fires in the natural environment occur irregularly
from year to year and vary greatly in size and severity. Together
these characteristics constitute a disturbance regime specific to
each forest region. By analogy, the interval between successive
cuttings, the cutting area and the harvesting method form a disturbance
regime that varies less than the natural disturbance regime.
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Uneven-aged, overmature black spruce stand (Chibougamau
region) .
Photo: Guy Simard |
Understanding natural forest dynamics allows us to
plan the use of silvicultural practices that can maintain or promote
the rapid regeneration of the structural and compositional characteristics
of the major stand development phases (cohorts).
For instance, in black spruce forests, the even-aged
(regular) stand of the first cohort (typically of fire origin) could
be generated by clear cutting, followed by natural or artificial
regeneration. The irregular structure of the second cohort could
be maintained or stimulated by partial cutting. The multi-aged stand
structure of the third cohort could be maintained by selective cutting,
thus simulating the characteristic gaps of old-growth spruce stands.
Understanding the natural fire cycle and the maximum
removal age will therefore allow us to find out the relative areas
that need to be maintained for each cohort in the forest landscape.
Striking a balance between intensive forest management and management
practices modelled on natural processes is probably the most promising
avenue for ensuring a wood supply for processing plants while maintaining
the integrity of regional forest ecosystems at a level comparable
to that of natural systems.
Research on forest fires at the Laurentian Forestry Centre
www.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/CFL-LFC/nos_realisations/recherche/rechfeux_e.html
Other Canadian Forest Service research on forest fires
www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/cfs-scf/science/resrch/forestfire_e.html
Société de protection des forêts contre
le feu (SOPFEU)
www.sopfeu.qc.ca
For further information,
please contact:
Sylvie Gauthier
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service
Laurentian Forestry Centre
1055 du P.E.P.S., P.O. Box 3800, Sainte-Foy, Quebec G1V 4C7
Phone: (418) 648-5829• Fax: (418) 648-5849
E-mail:
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© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2004
Catalogue Number Fo29-54/10-2004E
ISBN 0-662-36632-8
ISSN 1705-5784
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