EMEND and a Helicopter

August 7, 2013 11:24 am Published by Andre Knight-Lira Leave your thoughts

The other day I got the opportunity to do something that I had been looking forward to since getting the internship with DMI, go for a flight in a helicopter. This was one of the things that they mentioned I may be able to do during my time here at DMI, and I was thrilled when I was told that it was actually going to happen.

The principle reason for taking the flight was to be able to have an aerial overview of the landscape that DMI operates on and practices ecosystem-based management (EBM). The tour was about an hour long and focused on looking at DMI cutblocks and sites that are committed to a long term research study project known as EMEND, which stands for ecosystem management emulating natural disturbance.

Prior to taking part in this tour I was taught more about EBM and the EMEND project by one of DMI’s employees who specializes in biodiversity stewardship. From him, I learned a great deal about DMI’s motivation for moving towards EBM both financially and environmentally.

DMI is one of the primary project partners of EMEND along with CANFOR and other select governmental and non-governmental partners. Over the years DMI has contributed around 7000 ha of its Forest Management Area to be used exclusively for EMEND, and quite a lot of money. What the EMEND project aims to achieve is providing a knowledge base for academics and companies alike that are interested in grasping a better understanding of the long term response of a forest to disturbance. The sites for EMEND were harvested in a manner that mimics a natural disturbance like fire. This was accomplished by leaving variable retention when harvesting in the form of clumps and patches of trees. These trees are never to be harvested and are to be left until they die and fall down to mimic old growth forests and provide complexity to the forest ecosystem. These old growth patches provide an ecological niche that certain species require to live. On certain sites instead of harvesting prescribed burns were performed (see picture below). In having done prescribed burns researchers can now look at the similarities and differences in the regrowth of a stand harvested with the EBM strategy of leaving variable retention. Factors that will be considered are not only the growth of the trees, but the establishment of plants and animals, the cycling of nutrients and overall levels of biodiversity within the stand.

Before actually going up into the air we met up with one of the many students doing research at the EMEND sites. This particular masters student from the University of Alberta is studying pollinators, and was collecting various species of bees, hover flies and other common pollinators to look at the diversity of pollinators in the surrounding area with hopes of discovering a new species.

When up in the air the view of the boreal forest was spectacular. The first thing that really struck me was the sheer size of area that DMI operates on and that the EMEND sites are a part of. It was interesting to see what DMI’s cutblocks looked like from above and how the retention left around riparian zones and that left behind to emulate the effects of fire looked. The vivid contrast between the watercourses and terrain was stunning and it was cool to be able to spot out trumpeter swans down in lakes.

Overall, it was an unforgettable experience and really helped me appreciate the level of progressive thinking that individuals in the forestry sector are showing, and makes me see that they are really stewards of the environment.