GREATER FUNDY ECOSYSTEM RESEARCH PROJECT

UNB Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management

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

Landscape Level Considerations

Protected Areas

A system of protected areas in managed landscapes offers safeguards against the known and unknown impacts of various extractive resource uses. They can also act, to varying degrees, as benchmarks for comparative research (Agee and Johnson, 1988). The GFE and FMF contain an assortment of protected areas, ranging from a national park (207sq.km.) to several conservation areas (1,259 ha.). The amount of lands currently designated as park, ecological reserve or conservation areas equals 5.2 % of the Fundy Model Forest area. However, a number of habitats and special features are not protected within the boundaries of the protected areas.

Fundy National Park (207 sq. km) can act as an eco-bank within the larger landscape. (Photo: G.Forbes)

A primary role of protected areas within the FMF is to provide a source or bank of ecological material in case of local failure of the sustainable management plan for the forest as a whole. To fulfil this role it is necessary to recognise that the total area of most protected sites is inadequate to maintain viable populations of most 'visible' wildlife species. Protected areas can only be viewed as the core of the eco-bank of the FMF. To maintain these cores as viable, we need to provide maximum sensitivity to harvesting operations immediately adjacent to any area deemed significant enough to protect.

The lands adjacent to a protected area and the watersheds flowing immediately into it must be considered for individual management plans. These sub-plans should provide sensitive harvest techniques, maintenance of connectivity with the larger landscape, and regular ecological monitoring to ensure the protected area is fulfilling its role in the overall management plan. The sub-plans should encompass the watershed(s) containing the protected area. The concept of a protected area surrounded by buffers of variable size with differing management actions has been used in many sustainable land management programs world-wide. These objectives follow those of the Man And Biosphere (MAB) program that has been promoted world wide by UNESCO.

Work is underway to identify potential protected sites at two scales. One project is province-wide and focuses on maintaining large-scale processes and representative landscape features. The other project, focusing at a finer scale of analysis, is identifying features of ecological significance within the Fundy Model Forest. We presently have not attempted to overlap the two scales of these exercises. Both exercises are iterative and need to be integrated at a later date.

Representative Areas Exercise - The Department of Natural Resources and Energy has undertaken a pilot project to assess the contribution of parks and ecological reserves (IUCN Classes I-II) toward representation of the natural regions of New Brunswick. This research was intended to provide an ecological foundation for the establishment of a viable network of protected areas to ensure the in-situ conservation of biological diversity and the maintenance of ecological processes in a dynamic and evolutionary state. These wildlands would conserve our natural heritage, while creating development opportunities for environmental education, eco-tourism, outdoor recreation and integrated landscape management. They would also serve as benchmarks for long-term environmental monitoring and provide a scientific basis for adjusting land-use planning and adaptive management strategies to better reflect the natural patterns and processes that support the diversity of species, ecosystems and landscapes found in New Brunswick.

The concept of representation interprets bio-physical factors associated with the enduring features of the landscape, which affect the geographic distribution of plants and animals, as a surrogate measure for biological diversity at the genetic, species and community level. According to this ecosystem perspective, species have evolved over geological and historical time by adapting to environmental conditions which can be classified into series of relatively uniform categories and mapped as discrete ecological units. An ecological classification system, such as the framework currently being developed for New Brunswick, has been used to stratify the landscape into hierarchical units based on climate, geomorphology, soils and vegetation. A representative area is then delineated to encompass the environmental variability in each unit, such as the surficial, topographic and vegetation classes within a climate zone.

To recognize the more subtle ecological processes influencing the maintenance of species and ecosystems, another set of criteria based on ecological integrity has been adopted to determine the minimum size, configuration and management regime for sites within the proposed conservation network.

The technical procedures for identifying representative areas were relatively straightforward: an iterative mapping exercise was initiated, using 1:500,000 and 1:250,000 scale mylar overlays of the ecoregions, ecodistricts and ecosections on maps of topography, geomorphology and soil lithology. This was supplemented by personal knowledge and land-use information available in the NBGIC Provincial Map Book. Recognising that landscape features do not converge in one location, it was necessary to choose sites that offered the greatest opportunity for capturing the widest range of topographic and geological diversity within a limited geographic area.

Although there were few opportunities to select a "pristine" natural area, it was preferable that a substantial proportion the site was relatively undisturbed by roads, settlements or other types of development, so that it would remain in a semi-natural condition or naturalise over time, particularly for core areas that were intended to serve as ecological benchmarks. A GIS-based analysis is now underway to assess the contribution of these proposed study areas toward the representation goals and identify elements that are missing from the system.

Ecological integrity criteria are being used to delineate core areas and refine the boundaries to accommodate natural disturbances, the home range requirements of area-sensitive species and secondary considerations related to critical habitats, biological hotspots and special features of cultural or scientific value.

It has been difficult to find sites meeting the selection criteria for ecoregion level representation and ecological integrity within the more developed regions of the Saint John River Valley, the Northumberland Coast and Southern New Brunswick. Only three study areas have been identified within the geographic boundaries of the Fundy Model Forest: the Glades (5,400 hectares), a site extending from Fundy Park along the Fundy Coast (13,600 hectares) and a more disturbed site around Goshen (3,800 hectares).

Gap Analysis Exercise - The goal of a Gap Analysis is to identify the deficiencies or gaps in the existing framework to protect ecological variability across a region. The first step in the Fundy Model Forest Gap Analysis was to identify elements of ecological variability through classification and delineation of biophysical units.

For large and relatively homogeneous features, classification is fairly straight-forward using a variety of remote sensing techniques and coarse-scale maps of topographic and geologic variation. However, for ecological units occurring at lower levels of resolution, for example, areas less than 100 ha., alternate procedures are required. The FMF Gap Analysis project used a combination of anecdotal and occurrence record-based information with a habitat-based approach to identify features of ecological significance at fine geographic scales.

The criteria for ecologically significant areas are:

1. Presence of uncommon or rare species.
   
2. Presence of "rare - spatially restricted" assemblage of species.
   
3. Little-disturbed remnants of once-more-common community types.
   
4. Representative examples of community or ecological assemblages.
   

It was assumed that most of the species likely to occur in the FMF could be identified using herbaria and museum records, distribution maps from taxonomic keys and field guides, and by consultation with local experts. A list of species believed to occur in the FMF was compiled. By order of the quantity of available information, the groups put on this list were: plants, birds, mammals, fish, and freshwater aquatic bivalves. The only officially recognised endangered species in the FMF is a Freshwater Wedge-mussel.

Species occurrence records provided some information on their location but often the records represent a non-random, incomplete subset of present-day distribution. A systematic, habitat-based assessment of fine-scale ecological variation in the FMF was used to identify additional potential sites for target species. First, habitat requirements were identified for each species known to be associated with habitats of small size or restricted distribution. These habitats include:

- coastal headlands
- dry exposed ledges and crevices
- rich tolerant hardwood forest
- sphagnum bogs and margins
- high energy shorelines
- inland salt springs
- moist rock crevices
- wet calcareous ledges
- wet Cedar forest
- freshwater marshes
- salt marshes
- shallow aquatic ponds & pond margins
- hemlock slope forest

After compiling a list of fine-scale habitat types, the next step was to locate them within the FMF. It was assumed that the habitats could be characterised by one or a combination of abiotic features, often influenced by "structural species" which create environmental conditions upon which other species are dependent. Canopy-forming tree species are examples of structural species. For each identified habitat type, a profile of abiotic and biotic parameters using available land resource data bases was created. Available spatially-referenced data include:


- soil type, fertility, and drainage
- forest cover type, including dominant species groups and non-forested areas
- age-class information
- a Maritime Wetland inventory of all wetlands greater than 0.4 ha in size
- geologic parent material
- watershed divisions

Ground assessment was conducted on all sites identified by the above process. For a variety of reasons including habitat destruction or colonisation/persistence failure, approximately 50% of the identified sites did not meet any of our criteria.

Identified Ecologically Significant Areas
Occurring on N.B. Crown Land
(Lease #7)

Although ecologically significant sites and areas totalling 7,661 ha have been identified in the FMF, their locations have not presently been mapped due to confidentiality concerns and on-going negotiations with land owners. 1. Fundy Coastal Ravines - All eleven of the Fundy coastal ravines that occur within the FMF boundaries were selected. This included the non-park side of the Goose River, the upper reaches of the Point Wolfe River outside of the FNP, and the eastern half of the Little Salmon River gorge. The decision to include all 11 ravines was based on the following: a) It was determined that including only one or several of the ravines could not adequately represent the total diversity of species associated with these features. Variations in geologic substrate result in differences in species diversity and composition among the ravines, especially for the rare Arctic-alpine flora found at these locations.

Ravines of the Point Wolfe River Fundy National Park (Photo: G. Forbes)

b) All of the larger ravines are important in the effort to re-establish viable breeding populations of Atlantic Salmon in the Bay of Fundy.
c) Each ravine has steep slopes, many of which are cloaked in Red Spruce of considerable age and stature. Harvesting these trees could cause severe erosion and would destroy a forest stage no longer found elsewhere in the FMF.
d) Though not related to biodiversity, the Fundy Hiking Trail fords each of the ravines except the upper reaches of the Point Wolfe. The aesthetic integrity, and recreation value of the trail depends on maintaining the existing forest cover.

2. Fundy Plateau Bogs and Associated Lakes and Ponds

Three such areas have been identified along the coastal edge of the Fundy Plateau: the "airplane bog", the "curly grass fen" and Dowdall Lake. Each of these features contains bog habitat-types and associated species, some of which are rare in New Brunswick and are not contained in Fundy National Park (S. Clayden, pers comm.). The two rarest plants are Curly-grass Fern and Screw-stem. The lake and pond features found in these and other smaller but similar sites along the Fundy Coast of the FMF may also contain the rare Four-toed Salamander, which has only been recorded only once in New Brunswick in Fundy National Park.

3. Fundy Coastal Headlands

The Fundy coastal headlands are rocky, windswept formations found along most of the Fundy coast within the FMF. The most spectacular example is Martin Head. Numerous rare plant species are found scattered in the crevices and cracks at these sites, including Glaucous Poa, Rand's Eyebright, Livelong Saxifrage, and Bird's-eye Primrose.

4. Fundy Coastal Marshes and Tidal Flats

The presence of steep coastal headlands limits the formation of salt marshes and tidal flats along the Fundy coast of the FMF. The two largest such formations are at the mouth of the Alma and Quiddy Rivers. These features support a large complement of species strictly associated with this habitat-type, as well as serving as feeding grounds for migrant shorebirds.

5. McManus Hill Hardwood Stand

A large percentage of McManus Hill occurs on crown land at the border of FNP near Wolfe Lake. This stand has an extensive canopy of Sugar Maple and Beech, with ground flora that is diverse, though typical of these forest types. One provincially uncommon species has been recorded here - a grass species Milium affusum. It has been recognised in previous inventories of critical natural areas in New Brunswick. From an aesthetic perspective, the hill is an important part of the viewscape surrounding Wolfe Lake inside Fundy National Park.

6. Babcock Brook Sedge Meadows and Wet Jack Pine Forest

Located on crown land near The Glades, are a series of sedge meadows bordered by extensive stands of wet Jack Pine forest. The meadows host extensive populations of several orchid species, including a rare hybrid of the Ragged Orchis and Large Purple-fringed Orchis. The Jack Pine stands occur on wet organic soils, with an understory dominated by Sphagnum Moss and heath species. The uncommon plant, Pinesap, occurs in this area.

Identified Ecologically Significant Habitat
Types Occurring on Private Land
in the FMF

1. Wet Cedar Forest

Wet Cedar forest may possess highly species-rich floristic assemblages, including species of rare orchids. As a result of habitat destruction, however, these forests are now very uncommon within the FMF and in New Brunswick in general. They also face increasing harvesting pressure due to the current high commercial demand for Eastern White-cedar. It appears that much of the floristic understory of this forest does not recover following disturbance, unless seed sources are available nearby. As a result, there is an urgent need to protect the few remaining, undisturbed stands of this community type. One such site within the FMF has been located along the North River near Lewis Mountain. This Cedar-Black Spruce stand covers over 50 ha and hosts a large assemblage of provincially uncommon, rare, and very rare plant species, including Showy Lady's-slipper, Hookers Orchis, Yellow Lady's-slipper, and Small Yellow Water-buttercup.

2. Freshwater Marsh

Extensive freshwater marsh systems are not common in the FMF. Most are small and spatially discrete, averaging less than 6 ha in total area. Freshwater marshes provide breeding habitat for a large number of bird species, including waterfowl, rails, and bitterns. Ducks Unlimited (DU) currently manages all or parts of 12 freshwater marshes within the FMF. However, most FMF wetlands remain under no form of special management. As well, the focus of DU is waterfowl. By maintaining high water levels throughout the year, some wetland species, especially vegetation, are adversely affected.

Waterside Marsh - an example of freshwater habitat
(Photo: G. Forbes)

3. Hemlock Stands

Hemlock stands are uncommon in the FMF, due to past exploitation, conversion of forest-cover to other more commercially valuable species, and limited suitable habitat. At present 9 Hemlock stands, all small in total area, have been identified within the FMF.

4. Mixed Species Forest

Land management practices in the FMF have altered the species composition of the forest. Mixed assemblages containing a variety of conifer and deciduous species in a late successional stage are uncommon. Two extensive stands of mature mixed forest have been identified within the FMF, at Gibson Creek near the Pollett River Gorge, and in the Parlee Brook Valley. Both contain a mix of Hemlock, White Pine, Red Spruce, Balsam Fir, White Ash, Yellow Birch, Sugar Maple and Beech. Butternut occurs at the Parlee Brook site. Several provincially uncommon or rare ground flora occur at both sites, including Pyrola minor and Frog-Orchis at Gibson Creek, and the Large Round-leaved Orchis, Laurentian Bladderfern, and Livelong Saxifrage at Parlee Brook.

5. Cliff Faces and Forested Talus Slope

Rocky substrate, in the form of cliffs, escarpment, and talus, provide specialised habitat that often supports uncommon or rare species of vascular plants, mosses, lichens, and liverworts. Cliff faces supporting uncommon or rare plants are scattered throughout the FMF, including along the coastal river ravines, in the Sussex uplands, and at Mount Zachy-Jonah. Escarpments are restricted to the Sussex Uplands at Rockville and in the Parlee Brook area. Talus forest escapes human disturbance due to substrate instability, and often supports mature tolerant hardwood forest, including - in some areas - pure stands of Ironwood. Talus forests can be found in the Sussex Uplands, Mount Zachy-Jonah, Urney, and in the Hampton area.

Management Options for Described Habitat Types of These Sites

We recommend complete protection of all habitat types discussed above. However, the following activities may be allowed:

1. Recreational hunting and fishing may be allowed in areas where they are currently being practised (for example Fundy coastal ravines [sporadic fishing, except Salmon] and Fundy upland bogs [Moose])

2. In some of the forested sites, some form of limited extraction may be acceptable as long as it:

a) excludes the harvest of Hemlock
b) reflects existing natural disturbance regimes (e.g. selective harvesting in tolerant hardwood stands)
c) maintains late seral forest in areas where it presently exists
d) respects stream buffer zones, and avoids areas containing rare or uncommon plants.

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Information provided by:
Dr. Graham Forbes
Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at UNB
Last Update: Dec 17, 1997
This document: http://www.unb.ca/web/forestry/centers/cwru/protect.htm