Bulkley Valley Research Centre - Science in the Public Interest

NSERC Industrial R&D Fellowship

Project Reference Number: 2013-02

Project Status: Complete

Led by: Amalesh Dhar, NSERC Industrial R&D Postdoctoral Fellow

Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Dr. Amalesh Dhar will be involved in the research project Stand dynamics of residual secondary structure after mountain pine beetle attack: growth, regeneration and mid-term timber supply under the supervision of Dave Coates, PhD, Research Silviculturist, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, Smithers.

Dr. Dhar will be involved in all phases of the research with reponsibility for data collection, management, analysis, and manuscript preparation.

The project objective for the first year are:

1. To use a combination of existing plot data and dedicated field sampling to better understand stand dynamics post-MPB attack in unsalvaged stands.
2. Describe the growth response of the secondary structure by time since attack, age class, level of MPB attack and changing climatic conditions.
3. Identify stands which are best left to contribute to mid-term timber supply and will provide short-term forest resilience in a post MPB environment.

The project long term objectives are:

1. Develop growth and yield scenarios for unsalvaged stands based on the level of MPB attack and the performance of the secondary structure.
2. To understand how factors such as tree species, age, size, condition and damage affect the magnitude of secondary structure growth release response.
3. To project future stand dynamics and growth in unmanaged MPB impacted stand types using SORTIE-ND.

Related Reports