Dahl Forest Sugar Maple PSPs Report

Dahl Forest Sugar Maple PSPs Report

Edward Kellaway

Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT), Greg Wickware

Shaun Watmough, Trent School of the Environment

TP-4759

2018

Online

Haliburton Highlands

Environmental Science / Studies
Forestry
Natural Resource Management

The natural regeneration and reforestation of derelict land plots is essential to reduce fragmentation among natural forest communities. Reintroduction of habitat, with time, will restore an ecosystem to suitable function for an abundance of flora and fauna. This in turn produces both economic and social benefits. Land plots donated to organizations such as, the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) allow for the regeneration of natural areas in perpetuity. The extent to which the local scientific community understands the processes and progression within recovering forest stands is limited. Permanent survey plots (PSPs) allow for perpetual monitoring of communities within a forest stand. The Dahl Forest property is 500 acres of reclaimed land, used for agriculture for a brief time following increased settlement in the region. In this study, three upland sugar maple dominated PSPs were established, along with one PSP located in a red pine plantation, adjacent to the Burnt River. This paper focuses on the establishment of the three upland PSPs. The objective was to create a baseline report and dataset summarizing the community, for comparison to future surveys to monitor forest progress, and to compare to similar ecosystems in the region. The three plots were in various positions along a northeastern facing slope. Overall, the three plots had similar community compositions and canopies, with variable quantities of stem defects and downed woody debris (DWD). Plots 01-01 and 01-02 were similar in stand maturity and had low to moderate levels of stem defects and DWD, representing the greater sugar maple ecozone. The third plot was an outlier within the tree plots due to an infringing transitional forest community. This resulted in elevated stem density, defects, and DWD volumes within the stand as the mixed forest changes to a mature deciduous stand.