Forest Management and Disturbance Monitoring

Wildfire Disturbance Matrix Development
Insect Defoliation and DiebackProject

Forest management and natural disturbances, such as forest fires and severe insect outbreaks, influence the carbon stocks in forest ecosystems. NFCMARS uses the best available statistics on forest management and natural disturbances, obtained from the National Forestry Database program, the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, and from provinicial and territorial resource management agencies.

Canada’s provinces and territories report forest management activities, including clearcut harvesting and thinning, to the National Forestry Database Program or directly to the carbon accounting team of the Canadian Forest Service. The carbon accounting team incorporates the annual impact of these activities into the NFCMARS.

Natural disturbances, including forest fires and severe insect outbreaks, also influence the carbon stocks in forest ecosystems. Provincial and territorial agencies usually monitor burned and insect-infested areas. A national satellite-mapping program also monitors fires. The CWFIS (Canadian Wildland Fire Information System) team compiles the various fire datasets into a single annual report that includes both the area affected and the impact of the fires. The carbon accounting team incorporates this information into the NFCMARS. The carbon accounting team also incorporates information on the areas of insect outbreaks in the NFCMARS. While the area affected is fairly straightforward, entomologists are relied upon to provide expertise on the impact of different insects on carbon stocks.

Wildfire Disturbance Matrix Development

Wildfires are a major disturbance in the Canadian landscape with a significant impact on the national forest carbon balance. Greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires are a function of fire behaviour, which is a function of fuel type, weather and topography. Under this project, the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) is being used to obtain the most accurate information possible to develop wildfire disturbance matrices for use in the CBM-CFS3. Information from the CWFIS and forest inventory (i.e., fuel type) are modeled using Borfire, a fuel consumption model. Resulting output is converted to a CBM-CFS3 disturbance matrix format that is used to estimate regional fire emissions.

For more information, contact:
Brian Simpson

Insect Defoliation and DiebackProject

The carbon accounting team of the Canadian Forest Service is a partner in a project called Gauging the Health of Canada’s Forests: Accounting for Insect Defoliation and Dieback in the Indicators of Sustainability for Canadians. This project will improve the representation of insect area and impacts in the NFCMARS. The short-term priorities are to account for aspen defoliators and spruce budworm. Future insects to be studied include hemlock looper and jack pine budworm.

For more information, contact:
Eric Neilson