Bulkley Valley Research Centre - Science in the Public Interest

The Response of Caribou Terrestrial Forage Lichens to Mountain Pine Beetles in West-Central BC

Project Reference Number: 2011-14

Project Status: Complete

Led by: Deborah Cichowski, Caribou Ecological Consulting, Smithers

Funder: Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation; Canadian Wildlife Federation

This project will asses the impacts of MPB and forest harvesting on caribou terrestrial forage lichens on the Tweedsmuir-Entiako caribou winter range by re-measuring permanent sample plots that wre previusly established in 2001 and re-measured in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

The long-term objectives of this project are:

1. To assess the short term and long term response of terrestrial caribou forage lichens and competing vegetation to the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
2. To assess the timing and extent of coarse woody debris accumulation, as an indicator of movement barriers for caribou, following a mountain pine bettle epidemic.
3. To assess changes in stand structure and composition in caribou winter habitat following a mountain pine beetle epidemic.

The short-term objectives of this project are:

1. To re-measure terrestrial lichen abundance, competing vegetation abundance, stand structure, regeneration and coarse woody debris on 79 permanent plots in the East Ootssa and Entiako areas.
2. To assess changes in forest floor vegetation dynamics, stand structure, regeneration and coarse woody debris accumulation since the last re-measurement in 2007 and since the study began in 2001.

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