A detailed literature review of red alder management in mixedwoods stands

UBC Undergraduate Research

A detailed literature review of red alder management in mixedwoods stands Laing, Chris

Abstract

This literature review is a synthesis of recent publications and developments regarding the growing acceptance and potential of Alnus rubra (Bong) commonly called red alder. The project summarized some of the concerns and benefits of including red alder in coastal forest mixedwood management strategies. Some of the concerns include overtopping of conifers and competition for light. Some benefits include increases to site productivity, biodiversity, forest health and diversification of the coastal forest industry. It also examined past and current industry and government policies towards alder in mixedwood management and recent changes in some of these policies including the just released “Hardwood Management in the Coast Forest Region” policy paper. There is now recognition of the importance of alder management and there is a framework in place for patch mixedwood management in coastal BC. But before intimate mixedwood strategies are accepted and used operationally, further research and trials are required. There needs to be a better understanding of both the competetitive and beneficial effects of red alder in mixture with conifers for complex forests to in order to assist forest managers in making sustainable management decisions.

Item Metadata

Title	A detailed literature review of red alder management in mixedwoods stands
Creator	Laing, Chris
Date Issued	2009-12-02
Description	This literature review is a synthesis of recent publications and developments regarding the growing acceptance and potential of Alnus rubra (Bong) commonly called red alder. The project summarized some of the concerns and benefits of including red alder in coastal forest mixedwood management strategies. Some of the concerns include overtopping of conifers and competition for light. Some benefits include increases to site productivity, biodiversity, forest health and diversification of the coastal forest industry. It also examined past and current industry and government policies towards alder in mixedwood management and recent changes in some of these policies including the just released “Hardwood Management in the Coast Forest Region” policy paper. There is now recognition of the importance of alder management and there is a framework in place for patch mixedwood management in coastal BC. But before intimate mixedwood strategies are accepted and used operationally, further research and trials are required. There needs to be a better understanding of both the competetitive and beneficial effects of red alder in mixture with conifers for complex forests to in order to assist forest managers in making sustainable management decisions.
Extent	363313 bytes
Subject	Biodiversity; Alnus rubra (Bong); Mixedwood management; Red alder; Sustainable forest management; Site productivity
Genre	Graduating Project
Type	Text
File Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
Series	University of British Columbia. FRST 497
Date Available	2009-12-02
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0103504
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/16071
Affiliation	Forestry, Faculty of
Campus	UBCV
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Undergraduate
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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