Permanent Sample Plots for Vegetative Monitoring in Dahl Forest -Final Report 2017-2018

Permanent Sample Plots for Vegetative Monitoring in Dahl Forest -Final Report 2017-2018

Jenna Kentel

Haliburton Highalnds Land Trust - Greg Wickware

Tom Whillans, Environmental and Resource Science/Studies

TP-4760

2018

Online

Haliburton County

Forest monitoring, management and protection has become increasingly important as Climate Change continues to alter the environment. The Haliburton Highland Land Trust (HHLT) has recently acquired Dahl Forest as part of an Ecological Gifts program. As part of this program they area required to ensure the long-term health of the forest. The objective of this project was to provide the means for the HHLT to monitor the changes in forest health and composition over time. This was accomplished through the means of: preparing a standardized PSP protocol and database, establishing PSP’s in Dahl Forest, and collecting baseline data from the PSP’s. A protocol was established based on a series of protocols produced by Ecological Monitoring Assessment Network (EMAN) to assess the tree health, downed woody debris (DWD) and regeneration of the forest. PSP’s were established in the Sugar Maple and mature Red Pine forests. Based on the baseline data collected it was determined that the Sugar Maple forests composition was dominated by the tolerant Sugar Maples. The forest was relatively healthy with some stem defects found. The Red Pine forest composition was mostly Red Pine with some White Pine and White Spruce. The forest was considered healthy as there were only a few stem defects found. The following future recommendations were made: (a) to establish more PSP in different ecosites and continue monitoring every 5 years to assess the health of the forests, (b) To establish additional protocols that compliment this protocol to develop a greater understanding of the overall health of the forest, (c) to conduct future data analysis to understand the changes occurring in the forest based on the data, (d) to educate the public on the monitoring program and its importance.