Considerations for Rehabilitating Naturally Disturbed Stands: Part 2. Stand Level Treatments and Hydrological Equivalent Clearcut Area

Abstract

Large wildfires near communities in southern BC, and the extensive outbreak of mountain pine beetle (MPB) throughout pine forests of the BC Interior, have created many new issues for forest managers. A particular concern is managing the cumulative effects of large natural disturbances in combination with forest management activities. In the past, planning for multiple values focused on forest development plans for normal commercial forest harvest in landscapes dominated by mature forest. Now, increasing pressure to recover disturbed stands for biofuels has resulted in multiple overlapping volume-based tenures, and an increased rate and extent of large-scale commercial salvage.