Southern Interior Forest Region Forest Health Stand Establishment Decision Aids

Abstract

Since 1998, the Early Stand Dynamics program of FORREX–Forest Research Extension Partnership, in collaboration with its volunteers and partners, has assessed the information needs of the operational silvicultural community. This process identified a number of issues relating to management of competing vegetation, forest health, silvicultural systems, and best practices. Besides information needs, members of the silvicultural community also expressed concern about the loss of their experiential knowledge. These operational concerns prompted the initiation of an extension project to fill in identified information gaps and document local knowledge. Competing vegetation and forest health were selected as the first subject areas on which to focus effort. Information relating to these two subject areas was collected, synthesized, and presented in an easy-to-use format. The resulting product was then presented to both the operational and scientific communities for review and input. The extension product generated by this process was called a “Stand Establishment Decision Aid” (SEDA). SEDAs are designed to provide information on the biological features that new and inexperienced practitioners need to consider when making silvicultural decisions about site limiting factors such as competing vegetation or forest health. These decision aids are not intended to make the decisions for practitioners.

The first forest health SEDAs published in the BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management were developed for the former Cariboo Forest Region before it, and the Nelson and Kamloops forest regions, amalgamated into the Southern Interior Forest Region. Readers interested in this previously published information can obtain parts 1 and 2 at: www.forrex.org/publications/jem/ISS2/vol2_no1_art1.pdf and www.forrex.org/publications/jem/ISS13/vol2_no2_art4.pdf.

The nine SEDAs presented in the current article focus on forest health concerns found within the Southern Interior Forest Region as a whole. Some of these SEDAs discuss insects or pathogens that were already addressed in parts 1 and 2 for the Cariboo Forest Region. Consequently, these particular SEDAs only provide information for the former Kamloops and Nelson forest regions. Each SEDA provides a hazard rating system that identifies the specific biogeoclimatic zone and subzone where the forest health problem potentially occurs, a detailed description of the characteristics of susceptible stands, and some general information on the insect's or pathogen's biology. In addition, harvest and silviculture strategies to consider when managing susceptible stands are presented, as well as the potential productivity implications of infestations. Each SEDA concludes with a resource section outlining where more information can be located.