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

Stand Age - Provisions for Mature Forest Stands

Forests intensively managed for timber production generally rely on short-rotation harvest to allow the maximum timber yield. This system does not permit the persistence of mature and overmature stands - a habitat type that supports many species not found in young and middle-age stands. The maintenance of biodiversity is a major objective of the GFE and the FMF. As such, it is important to maintain a part of the landscape in mature and overmature conditions. This provision should be made for all forest community types. Defining which parameters constitute the components of the habitat needed by mature-dependent species is difficult because of the number of species involved and our limited understanding of even the most abundant ones. Therefore, we use a broad index of maturity to provide a surrogate for the habitat requirements of many species. Maturity is defined as the onset of significant mortality of the overstory cohort of trees. Permanent sample plot (PSP) data from the entire province were used to calculate the age at which tree mortality typically occurs. Not enough PSP sites exist within the FMF to use only local site data. Small sample sizes for some tree species in the PSP data set limit some conclusions but Table 4 indicates the typical age for mortality (for stems that were >10 cm dbh and >20 cm dbh).

Mature-overmature Red Spruce forest along Rose Brook (Photo: G. Forbes)

An analysis of the PSP data set was conducted on the 11 community types in the GFE. Analyses were done on the survival of softwood stems within a softwood-dominated community type and for hardwood stems in hardwood-dominated communities (Table 5). Based on these analyses the onset of maturity can be defined for species and communities composed of these species as: BFSP........... 60 yrs. BSBF........... 80 yrs. THMIX...... 120 yrs. IHMIX........ 80 yrs. SPBF........... 90 yrs. (best estimate)

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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/standage.htm