Regeneration after catastophic disturbance

While silviculturists can generally ensure regeneration success following harvest, stand re-establishment following catastrophic disturbances such as fire is much more variable. BC has experienced two of the largest ever recorded fire years in terms of area burned over the past three years. As a result, many hundreds of thousands of hectares need re-establishing, not all under active forest management. This project will utilise synoptic broad scale remote sensing approaches with the objective to provide a landscape assessment of the poorly regenerated areas. Sarah Smith-Tripp (PhD) will develop approaches by first assessing the rates of recovery of spectral indices from imagery and monitor broad scale re-establishment, and then examine how establishment success varies across the landscape, using these satellite indicators and field data, in response to species, topography, climate and disturbance type. Outcome (OB.1a): New techniques to assess re-establishment after severe disturbance over large areas, and areas prioritised for remediation measures.

Sarah Smith-Tripp, PhD at University of British Columbia
Main Partner: Future of Forestry Think Tank (British Columbia)
Professor Nicholas Coops
Collaborator Dominik Roeser