Adaptive Forest Management Project

In recent years, the term adaptive management has become an important and commonplace theme in virtually all progressive organizations, and this has not been excluded from the forestry sector. Adaptive management is now a well established process that allows for continual evaluation and improvement of management approaches and practices. Ultimately it leads to positive changes in management techniques based on an examination of outcomes. There are six steps to an adaptive management cycle: assessment, design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment. In forestry, assessment and design are particularly challenging steps as they occasionally generate conflict among stakeholders, and also require a certain degree of creativity.

The project premise was to accelerate understanding of the effectiveness of certain forest management practices, and to use this new knowledge as a basis to adjust silvicultural treatments in an existing forest management plan. A focused Adaptive Management Workshop was held in December 2000, which along with supplementary meetings helped develop specific project details amongst the partners.

The Adaptive Forest Management Project will continue into Phase III of the Lake Abitibi Model Forest. Silvicultural treatment outcomes are currently being monitored, evaluated, and compared to original predictions. Management policies and practices will be adjusted when and where appropriate, pending any new or different information. The effects of alternative management scenarios will be analyzed with the intention of reviewing existing silvicultural treatments and adjusting them where necessary. Eventually, recommendations will be made to revise certain relevant parts of the provincial silvicultural guides, based on the new knowledge generated through this project.

For both industry and regulators, the successful adoption and use of an adaptive forest management process is essential. The application of an unambiguous and efficient adaptive management methodology is pivotal in the rapid application of new and proven forest science and research within a forest planning or operational setting. This project is serving as a solid example of how to achieve and maintain such a process. Partners in the Adaptive Forest Management Project included the Ontario Forest Research Institute in Sault Ste. Marie, Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., Domtar Inc., and the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC).