Managing Your Forest in a Changing Climate Practical Advice for Renfrew County Woodlot Owners
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Managing Your Forest in a Changing Climate Practical Advice for Renfrew County woodlot owners APRIL Published by the Renfrew County Chapter of the Ontario Woodlot Association 2015 Managing Your Forest in a Changing Climate Practical Advice for Renfrew County woodlot owners Published by the Renfrew County Chapter of the Ontario Woodlot Association http://www.ont-woodlot-assoc.org/chapt_renfrew.html The Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) Renfrew County Chapter The OWA promotes the sustainable management of Ontario's privately owned forest by providing its members with guidance and advice and by representing their interests through a united provincial voice. OWA members are working to ensure that Ontario’s privately owned forest will always contribute to the health of our society, our environment, and the economy. The Renfrew County Chapter, one of 20 across southern Ontario and the near North, has an active educational and recreational program focused on good forest management for private woodlot owners. The chapter provides the opportunity to engage with others of similar interests through field trips, seminars, and an annual forest fair while learning about good forest management. The privately owned forest in Renfrew County is the largest of all counties in the province at 250,000 ha (600,000 acres). This is equal in area to the Crown land forest in the County. Our forests represent huge value to our woodlot owners and our citizens. Privately owned forests provide for recreation, wood for our forest industry, clean air, clean water, and all the trees, plants and animals that make this part of the world special. Photo credits: All photos are by the authors except photos 6, 7, 16, 25, and 30 (Bob Butler); photo 10 (David Sexsmith), photo 19b and 37 (Don Leckie), Photo12 (Andrea D’Eon) and photo 23a (Linda Touzon). The credit for photo 29 is Sherry Ritten. Managing Your Forest in a Changing Climate Table of Contents i. Authors’ Note. ii. Introduction. 1. Climate Change is Real. -Projected Climate Change for Renfrew County. -Existing Trends indicative of a Changing Climate. 1.1 Weather Events. -Blowdown. -Drought. -Winter Thaw followed by a Deep Freeze. -Ice Storms. -Spring Frosts. -Winterburn. -Will the occurrence of Insects and Diseases increase under Climate Change? 1.2 Climate Change and Tree/Forest Adaptation. -Why is Climate Change a problem for forests in Renfrew County? -It’s more than just Averages. -Forests are more than Trees. 2. Principles of Forests under Stress. -The Site is the Resource, Trees and Forests are the Crop. -Tipping Points. -Seasonality of the stress is important. -Secondary pests will move in. -Stressed trees might put on a bumper seed crop. -Trees are tough, but stress is cumulative. -No matter what you do, some events are so severe your forest crop will be wiped out. -A Tree’s defence to damage: Compartmentalization. -A Tree’s Recovery from damage: New Growth. -A Forest’s defence: Diversity. -An example of Diversity; how different tree species resist wind. 3. Actions a Woodlot Owner can take to improve the Resilience of their Forest. 3.1 Natural Resilience to Wind in Trees and Forests. -Actions a woodlot owner can take to improve the wind resistance of their forests. -Salvaging blowdown. -Safety. -Choosing to leave blowdown where it is. 3.2 Improving the Resilience of your Forest to Drought. -Actions a woodlot owner can take to reduce the impact of drought. 3.3 Increasing Forest Resilience to all things Climate Change through improved Diversity. -Retaining the existing species. -Adding tree species. -Increasing the genetic diversity of species already growing on your property. 3.4 Roads, Ruts, Logging Damage and Climate Change. 4. Summary and Conclusions. 5. Bibliography. Executive Summary This publication provides information and advice about climate change that have been tailored for woodlot owners in Renfrew County, Ontario. First, we summarize the observations of some changes in climate that have already occurred, and make some projections into the future. We can expect that ‘average’ climate will become warmer and drier. We expect that severe weather events such as blowdown, drought, ice storms, and erratic timing of freezing and thawing will become more frequent. In the second section we describe how individ- ual trees, and the forest as a whole, respond to these events. Trees will become stressed from severe weather events and more vulnerable to damaging agents. Damage from some weath- er events will be unavoidable. In the third section we present some actions woodlot owners can take to improve the resilience of their forest against these trends. The recommended actions can be summed up as: think defensively and avoid treatments in your woodlot that will increase risk; control stand density and structure to keep existing trees healthy; and maintain and possibly increase species and genetic diversity. Authors’ Note All of the woodlot owners we meet accept the We would like to thank Gary Neilson and two anony mous challenge that they are growing a crop for at reviewers for suggestions that improved the manuscript, least 40 years into the future. During this time Valri Poley of Pembroke for editorial assistance and frame and beyond they know their forests have Doug Connelly of Deep River for laying out the manuscript to survive all the extreme weather events. Climate for publication. change will bring a change in the frequency and extremity of weather events. Woodlot owners The Editorial Committee also know their forests have to grow well during Renfrew County Chapter the expected normal conditions. Climate change Ontario Woodlot Association will bring shifts in what were previously the normal conditions. Privately managed forests make up a great part of Renfrew County and we have found that owners want to know what they should be doing in the face of uncertainty caused by a changing climate. We have always found private woodlot managers to be passionate about their forests and willing to undertake the necessary actions to keep their forests healthy and productive. Unfortunately we have found guidance from the usual sources lacking on what specific actions a woodlot owner can take to prepare for climate change. You, the reader, should decide your level of comfort with the actions you have taken or not taken in your woodlot to adjust to a changing climate. Hopefully this report will prove helpful in deciding what, if any, changes you should make to your woodlot. This report contains much of what can be termed ‘professional speculation’, helped along by local knowledge. Whenever we can we supply a link to easily accessible source documents. Other source literature is listed in the bibliography. If you find any content of this report beneficial in reviewing or changing your activities in your woodlot, then please share this report with others who you think will find it useful. i Foreward If you were to go on a road trip that included North Bay, Nepean, Napanee and Niagara, you couldn’t help but be impressed with the variety of landscapes in Ontario; Boreal to Carolinian, and urban to rural. Spend a little time in different parts of the province, and you’ll begin to appreciate that each has its own strengths, priorities and challenges. The mandate of the Ontario Woodlot Association is to promote “the wise use of Ontario’s private forests”. One of the ways we do this is by maintaining a network of chapters as the face of the organization or, as I like to think of it, our “boots on the ground”. It shouldn’t be a surprise that these chapters are just as varied as the Ontario landscape. But there are certain things we all have in common, the main one being a fascination with trees and their role in a healthy society. We also share a concern for the future health of our forests, with climate change arguably becoming the most significant factor. As our climate changes, so does everything else, including seasonal rhythms, weather events and migration of non-native pests and plants. Woodlot owners tend to be practical people looking for workable solutions, so as I read through this publication, I’m pleased to see that it presents straightforward ways a landowner can try to deal with the anticipated effects of our changing climate. I congratulate the Renfrew County Chapter for producing a timely, clear and understandable document. While its focus is on their part of the province, the message is applicable everywhere. This publication continues the OWA tradition of providing sound, practical and relevant forest man- agement information to its members and the public. David Sexsmith President, Ontario Woodlot Association ii Introduction Private woodlot owners in Renfrew County are view of the private forest land owner and the well empowered to manage their land as they acceptance that Renfrew County is not immune see fit subject to what they can afford to do, what to climate change means the prudent forest society will allow them to do, and what nature manager might consider taking some actions will accept them doing. These three forces in now to mitigate the expected negative effects balance (economics, societal values, and environment) of climate change. Unfortunately, there are have been the mantra of sustainability. But now few resources providing climate change mitigation a new unknown is in the game; climate change, advice of sufficient detail to be useful to the and it will affect all three forces. private woodlot owner in a localized geographic area such as Renfrew County. This report is an “Climate is what you expect, weather is what attempt to remedy that situation. you get.” This famous quote from Mark Twain succinctly sums up the issue of climate change Chapter 1 consists of a best case/ worst case for woodlot managers in Renfrew County.