Silviculture Stratification

In order to assess the effects of IFM the commercially managed portion of the Legacy Forest (Southern Dog River-Matawin) must be divided into zones of varying degrees of management intensity. The main idea is to delineate a range of zones each of which will contain a different level of intensive silviculture.

In general it makes more economic sense to have greater silvicultural investment closer to the mill and the least silvicultural investment further away. Currently, existing models take into account the economic effects of differing land productivities and will contribute to the development of the Legacy Forest.

In order to comply with the concept of sustainable forest management the landbase stratification must include the three cornerstones of sustainability (i.e., economic, social and environmental elements). Also, the silvicultural treatment history of this forest needs to be included.

The task of stratifying the landbase needs to be realistic and defendable since it will be the foundation for this projectand will also be incorporated into the 2005-2025 Forest Management Plan for the Dog River-Matawin Forest. The above image is the initial stratification as of March 1, 2003 with site productivity based on the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources OLIPSIS model and historical silviculture levels combined for each OLI polygon. The stratification will be developed further as more variables are considered in the exprimental design.

Click here to dowload a PDF version of the initial stratification.