• To examine historical patterns of soil and vegetation succession relating to the fire ecology of the McGregor Model Forest;
• To characterize soil nitrogen dynamics associated with those processes.

DESCRIPTION:

Maintaining long-term productivity—a fundamental objective of sustainable forest management—requires an understanding of the relationships between organic and inorganic soil constituents and how they are processed by soil biota.  These relationships are typically quite stable within the range of variation encompassed within natural disturbance regimes.  Increasingly, however, there is concern that the disturbance of coniferous forest ecosystems beyond this range can result in the collapse of mutual biotic interactions, and subsequent degradation of ecosystem function and diversity.

The investigators characterized soils, stand structure, floristics, and coarse woody debris in stands that differed with respect to time since disturbance.  Samples of partially decayed coarse woody debris were analyzed for presence of agents important in the breakdown and release of nutrients. These agents included plant roots, ectomycorrhizae, and ericoid mycorrhizae.  An analysis of coarse woody debris, forest floor, and mineral soil was done to measure two elements at different times since disturbance:  (a) total carbon; and  (b) available and mineralizable nitrogen.
 

REPORTS AND PRODUCTS:

• GIS Database and 14-page manuscript: Soils of the McGregor Model Forest: ARC/INFO database of soil associations within Tree Farm Licence #30, by Kevin Driscoll
• Paper: Forest fire patterns and post-nutrient cycling in British Columbia’s central interior: a literature review, by Kevin Driscoll
• Website: Soils of the McGregor Model Forest, by Lito Arocena
• MSc Thesis, University of Northern British Columbia: Soil Nitrogen contents and classification of selected post-fire sites in the Sub-Boreal Spruce Zone of central British Columbia, by Kevin Driscoll
• Report: Changes in ecological characteristics during succession after forest fires in the wet montane forests of the McGregor Model Forest area, by S.C. DeLong, H.B. Massicote and Lito Arocena

CONTACTS:

Hugues Massicotte, Lito Arocena, Kevin Driscoll, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC

Craig DeLong, BC Ministry of Forests, Prince George, BC
 

PARTNERS:

Canadian Forest Servic, University of Northern British Columbia, British Columbia Ministry of Forests