Author: Teresa A. NewsomePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a common component of forests throughout interior British Columbia, particularly in north and central parts of the province. In the Cariboo-Chilcotin area of the Southern Interior Forest Region, aspen commonly regenerates along with planted and natural lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.) in the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF), Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS), Sub-Boreal Pine-Spruce (SBPS), and Interior Cedar-Hemlock (ICH) biogeoclimatic zones. Although aspen can be a strong competitor with shade-intolerant pine, maintaining a low-density aspen component within stands offers many benefits to both individual conifers and the site as a whole. Until recently, managing aspen included reducing its presence among young pine as much as possible by applying aggressive site preparation and brushing treatments. While strategies for managing mixed broadleaf-conifer stands are now changing throughout British Columbia, forest practitioners still require information about threshold levels of broadleaves that can be retained without seriously affecting conifer performance. A retrospective study to investigate the effects of aspen competition on lodgepole pine in the Cariboo region was established in 1992 and, by 1997, results were suggesting that dry-belt (IDFdk) thresholds for aspen as tall or taller than target pine were in the range of 2000-5000 stems ha-1. To investigate pine-aspen interactions further and to more clearly define thresholds for aspen retention in the Cariboo-Chilcotin dry-belt, a variable density study was established in 1998 at a site near Meldrum Creek in the IDFxm subzone. This technical report presents 4th-year results of that study.
