GREATER FUNDY ECOSYSTEM RESEARCH PROJECT

UNB Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management


Forest Management Guidelines to Protect
Native Biodiversity in the Fundy Model Forest

Issues of Scientific Accuracy


Pileated Woodpecker research in the Greater
Fundy Ecosystem (Photo: Parks Canada) 		The Greater Fundy Ecosystem Group is a coalition of more than 30 researchers and resource managers that have been drawn together to do collaborative research and management on a landscape basis. The group includes researchers from several universities, mainly the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie University. There are also researchers and resource managers from a range of government agencies, including the federal government (Parks Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Environment Canada), and the provincial government (New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy). There is also representation from industry, notably J.D. Irving Woodlands. Collectively, this group has hundreds of years of experience in research and resource management.

Despite this wealth of experience and training, however, is it a difficult exercise for scientists to prescribe detailed sets of forest management guidelines. There are several reasons for this difficulty and it is important to discuss them prior to setting out a series of guidelines.

First and foremost, ecosystems are far more complex than any other system that humans have tried to understand or manage. Ecosystem science has many informing concepts that are useful in a general sense but fail to qualify as analytical concepts. Ecosystem science is especially limited by the simple fact that studies have traditionally taken place on short temporal and small spatial scales. Brown and Roughgarden (1990) noted that 60% of all ecological studies had been conducted on a spatial scale less than one square meter and 70% on a time scale less than one year. Thus, it is not surprising that ecosystem scientists understand a lot about individuals, less about populations, and little about communities and ecosystems. The problem is that there are few long-term, large-scale studies that are directly relevant to forest level management.

Because ecosystems are so complex, scientists and resource managers are forced to measure only parts of the system. A common method is to use the notion of indicator species in making generalisations about the larger systems. For example, the Province of New Brunswick is using American Marten as an indicator species for mature-overmature conifer forest. This approach has limitations but is necessary because not all species can be monitored and studied. In our research in the Greater Fundy area, we have focused on species that are likely to be vulnerable to the predicted forest changes that are a consequence of the forest management path we are on. These indicator species include Pileated Woodpeckers, Flying Squirrels, and Black Bears. However, we have also taken a broader approach which expands the focus away from just indicator species. For example, we have looked at guilds of cavity-nesting birds, groups of moths, birds, and vascular plants. In other studies we have measured a range of ecosystem parameters such as water quality and quantity, temperature, genetic diversity of selected species, and amounts of coarse woody debris.

Ecosystems are far more complex than financial systems, yet society spends billions monitoring, assessing and tracking financial systems, often with poor results in terms of predicting future changes. It is not surprising then that there is extreme difficulty in trying to predict responses to forest management activities within highly variable and complex ecosystems. Scientists are trained always to be aware of levels of accuracy and precision. Thus scientists are often reluctant to specify exact prescriptions when uncertainty exists. What is presented in the present guidelines is based on the best available science and represents the professional judgement of the scientists and resource managers in the Greater Fundy Ecosystem Research Group.

For the reasons discussed above, predicting the behaviour of an ecosystem almost always involves some level of uncertainty. Conversely, a forest harvesting system operates to minimise uncertainly and maximise predictability of the resource. There is almost always a gap in the precision between the two approaches. A forest manager can easily predict the impacts of a 75 m versus 100 m stream-side buffer on the allowable cut. However, researchers cannot easily predict the varying effects on biodiversity, wildlife movement, or water quality between the same two buffers. Research can say with some certainly that buffers are important but has a more difficult time specifying the influence of 30 or 60 m widths. This "precision gap" is often a source of misunderstanding between researchers, and managers of resources. The only solution to the precision gap, short of more research, is to rely on best professional judgement and the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle simply implies that in an absence of sound information, it is the best policy to err on the side of caution and conservation.



Back to Table of Contents


The UNB Forestry Home Page

 

Information provided by:
Dr. Graham Forbes
Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at UNB