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Pour poursuivre nos mises à jour de l’automne 2023, la communauté Silva21 s’est réunie le mercredi 18 octobre pour discuter des projets de recherche en cours sous le thème de l’engagement communautaire, de la collaboration et des politiques. Nos partenaires des Premières Nations de W8banaki et sept PHQs nous ont parlé de plusieurs projets de recherche! Consultez les résumés de leurs mises à jour ci-dessous. If you are a member of the Silva21 team and would like to receive a copy of all slides, log in to our Members area. Forgot the password? Email amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca. Our next update meetings will take place in Spring 2024! Stay tuned with all news Silva21 by subscribing to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Pour poursuivre nos mises à jour de l’automne 2023, la communauté Silva21 s’est réunie le mardi 17 octobre pour discuter des projets de recherche en cours sous le thème des technologies innovantes et de l’adaptation axée sur les données. Nous avons entendu nos partenaires de l’industrie à Domtar et huit PHQ sur plusieurs projets de recherche! Consultez les résumés de leurs mises à jour ci-dessous. Si vous êtes membre de l’équipe Silva21 et souhaitez recevoir une copie de toutes les diapositives, connectez-vous à notre espace Membres. Oubliez le mot de passe? Envoyez un courriel à amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca. Nos prochaines réunions de mise à jour auront lieu au printemps 2024! Restez à l’affût de toutes les nouvelles Silva21 en vous abonnant à notre infolettre au bas de cette page.

Pour poursuivre nos mises à jour de l’automne 2023, la communauté Silva21 s’est réunie le mercredi 11 octobre pour discuter des projets de recherche en cours sous le thème de la perturbation et de l’adaptation axée sur la résistance. Nous avons entendu huit PHQ parler de plusieurs projets de recherche! Consultez les résumés de leurs mises à jour ci-dessous. Si vous êtes membre de l’équipe Silva21 et souhaitez recevoir une copie de toutes les diapositives, connectez-vous à notre page pour nos membres Vous avez oublié le mot de passe? Contactez amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca. Nos prochaines réunions de mise à jour auront lieu au printemps 2024! Restez à l’affût de toutes les nouvelles Silva21 en vous abonnant à notre infolettre au bas de cette page.

Alors que la saison de terrain de l’été 2023 se terminait, la communauté de Silva21 s’est réunie pour une autre série de réunions de mise à jour pour se tenir au courant des mises à jour du projet, des derniers résultats et poser des questions brûlantes! Cette fois-ci, nos réunions étaient divisées en quatre thèmes : Stratégies sylvicoles pour la résilience climatique Perturbation et adaptation axée sur la résistance Technologies novatrices et adaptation axée sur les données Engagement, collaboration et politiques communautaires Les PHQ ont été divisés en différents thèmes pour faire le point sur leurs projets, partager les résultats actuels, discuter des implications pour la sylviculture adaptative et poser des questions à la communauté Silva21. Dans chaque thème, un membre du gouvernement ou de l’industrie a également présenté une mise à jour, discuté des répercussions et posé des questions à la collectivité. Le mardi 10 octobre, la communauté de Silva21 a discuté des stratégies sylvicoles pour la résilience climatique, en écoutant sept projets de recherche et un partenaire du ministère des Richesses naturelles et des Forêts de l’Ontario. Cliquez sur le titre et le nom de la recherche ci-dessous pour lire leur mise à jour. Si vous êtes membre de l’équipe Silva21 et souhaitez recevoir une copie des diapositives, consultez la page pour les membres. Vous avez oublié le mot de pass? Contactez amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca. Nos prochaines réunions de mise à jour auront lieu au printemps 2024! Restez à l’affût de toutes les nouvelles Silva21 en vous abonnant à notre infolettre au bas de cette page.

Smith-Tripp, S*., Stackhouse, L., Wotherspoon, A.R. Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada. *Corresponding author: ssmithtr@student.ubc.ca Using drones to acquire light detection and ranging (Lidar) data is increasing in popularity as the technology becomes more accessible and affordable. In forest, Lidar makes it easier and faster to repeatedly monitor forest characteristics in new qualitative and quantitative ways. However, in Canada, drones above 250g require a drone piloting license which may be complicated for graduate students to acquire if they are not Canadian citizens. Instead they are considered foreign pilots. To fly a remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS is the federally definition though they are colloquially called drones), for any purpose, foreign pilots must apply for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) issued by Transport Canada. With this certificate, drone pilots can fly in unregulated (class G) airspace until the end of the year. Applying for this advanced SFOC can be a complicated process. Here we lay out preliminary steps to gather materials required to ease the application process. Canadians may also follow these guidelines for advanced operations which are useful in forestry when forest research sites are very complex and remote. Foreign drone pilot: A nonCanadian citizen, permanent resident or corporation incorporated by or under federal or provincial law (Transport Canada, 2023) Before applying for a SFOC, follow these steps: Step 1: Get a drone pilot certification If you are flying in unregulated airspace you need to pass the basic operations drone exam. This will be included in your application. Step 2: Register your drone with Transport Canada Foreign pilots or operators cannot register drones. This is often why university labs register drones under the name of the supervising faculty member for use by their graduate students. Acquire the following information from your supervisor and include them in your application: Drone registration numbers and VIN Manufacturer details of the drone system A history of the maintenance on the system Step 3: Create an operation plan These plans must include: A description of operation including the purpose and objectives of the flight, flight dates and order of events A site-survey with a clear depiction of the area, with boundaries expected altitudes, and hazards A direct mention of no-fly situations An adequate risk assessment Step 4: Create a safety plan for the proposed operation Safety plans are usually specified by your institution and must include a contingency plan for the operation including emergency operations. It must also include detailed descriptions of: Equipment including any modifications Equipment and personnel that are available to respond to emergencies All communication protocols and a list of contacts in the event of emergency Step 5: Include crew member certifications This includes names, certificates, licenses, permits and qualifications of the crew members. This includes both the pilot and visual observers. Step 6: Prepare your application Compile all contact information for the type of drone operations you plan to fly (Step 3), your pre-flight safety plan (Step 4) into a combined document (with page numbers) We also recommend including a cover letter in the case that TC Canada has any questions with the application. They have been known to reach out with questions that were quickly and easily answered over the phone The application may seem like a daunting task, but preparing these documents in advance makes the application process a lot easier. And now you're ready to complete the application form. Good luck and happy flying! This content was originally written as a blog post by Sarah Smith-Tripp which can be found here. Figure 1 created by Leanna Stackhouse. Summarized by Amy Wotherspoon Further reading that may be of interest: Chadwick, A. J.; Goodbody, T. R. H.; Bater, C. W.; Martens, L. A.; Nuijten, R. J. G.; Smith-Tripp, S.; Grubinger, S.; Irwin, L.; Arkin, J.; Hervieux, A.; and Coops, N.C. 2022. “Best Practice Guide to Acquisition of 3D Imagery from RPAS,” Department of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. Note: We are not legal advisors and only describe the process to facilitate graduate students to fly drones for their own personal data collection processes

Smith-Tripp, S*., Stackhouse, L., Wotherspoon, A.R. Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada. *Corresponding author: ssmithtr@student.ubc.ca Using drones to acquire light detection and ranging (Lidar) data is increasing in popularity as the technology becomes more accessible and affordable. In forest, Lidar makes it easier and faster to repeatedly monitor forest characteristics in new qualitative and quantitative ways. However, in Canada, drones above 250g require a drone piloting license which may be complicated for graduate students to acquire if they are not Canadian citizens. Instead they are considered foreign pilots. To fly a remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS is the federally definition though they are colloquially called drones), for any purpose, foreign pilots must apply for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) issued by Transport Canada. With this certificate, drone pilots can fly in unregulated (class G) airspace until the end of the year. Applying for this advanced SFOC can be a complicated process. Here we lay out preliminary steps to gather materials required to ease the application process. Canadians may also follow these guidelines for advanced operations which are useful in forestry when forest research sites are very complex and remote. Foreign drone pilot: A nonCanadian citizen, permanent resident or corporation incorporated by or under federal or provincial law (Transport Canada, 2023) Before applying for a SFOC, follow these steps: Step 1: Get a drone pilot certification If you are flying in unregulated airspace you need to pass the basic operations drone exam. This will be included in your application. Step 2: Register your drone with Transport Canada Foreign pilots or operators cannot register drones. This is often why university labs register drones under the name of the supervising faculty member for use by their graduate students. Acquire the following information from your supervisor and include them in your application: Drone registration numbers and VIN Manufacturer details of the drone system A history of the maintenance on the system Step 3: Create an operation plan These plans must include: A description of operation including the purpose and objectives of the flight, flight dates and order of events A site-survey with a clear depiction of the area, with boundaries expected altitudes, and hazards A direct mention of no-fly situations An adequate risk assessment Step 4: Create a safety plan for the proposed operation Safety plans are usually specified by your institution and must include a contingency plan for the operation including emergency operations. It must also include detailed descriptions of: Equipment including any modifications Equipment and personnel that are available to respond to emergencies All communication protocols and a list of contacts in the event of emergency Step 5: Include crew member certifications This includes names, certificates, licenses, permits and qualifications of the crew members. This includes both the pilot and visual observers. Step 6: Prepare your application Compile all contact information for the type of drone operations you plan to fly (Step 3), your pre-flight safety plan (Step 4) into a combined document (with page numbers) We also recommend including a cover letter in the case that TC Canada has any questions with the application. They have been known to reach out with questions that were quickly and easily answered over the phone The application may seem like a daunting task, but preparing these documents in advance makes the application process a lot easier. And now you're ready to complete the application form. Good luck and happy flying! This content was originally written as a blog post by Sarah Smith-Tripp which can be found here. Figure 1 created by Leanna Stackhouse. Summarized by Amy Wotherspoon Further reading that may be of interest: Chadwick, A. J.; Goodbody, T. R. H.; Bater, C. W.; Martens, L. A.; Nuijten, R. J. G.; Smith-Tripp, S.; Grubinger, S.; Irwin, L.; Arkin, J.; Hervieux, A.; and Coops, N.C. 2022. “Best Practice Guide to Acquisition of 3D Imagery from RPAS,” Department of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. Note: We are not legal advisors and only describe the process to facilitate graduate students to fly drones for their own personal data collection processes

Les nouveaux ateliers Silva21 pour les PHQ sont conçus pour explorer différents sujets dans le domaine de la recherche forestière ou dans la vie de scientifique. L’objectif est d’aider les PHQ à développer de nouvelles compétences, à partager leur expertise et à maintenir régulièrement des rencontres collaboratives interactives. Objectif de l'atelier : Explorer différentes techniques d'organisation de la recherche académique (littérature, données, réunions, etc.) Contenu : Pourquoi l'organisation de la recherche est-elle importante ? Comment préparer vos recherches et rester organisé Outils numériques Organisation des données Gestion du temps et des tâches Maintenir votre système Pour une copie de la présentation originale dans le cadre de l'atelier Silva21 HQP, cliquez sur l'image à droite Pourquoi l'organisation de la recherche est-elle importante ? Les étudiants gradué(e)s sont souvent confrontés à des difficultés dans la gestion du matériel de recherche, des données de terrain et de laboratoire, ainsi que de leur temps. La meilleure façon de surmonter ces défis est de trouver un système organisationnel qui vous convient. Cela peut prendre la forme d’un journal de laboratoire ou d’un cahier de recherche sur papier et stylo ou à l’aide d’outils numériques. Trouver un système qui vous convient vous garantit de rester productif, de limiter le stress et d'améliorer la qualité de vos recherches. Comment préparer vos recherches et rester organisé Le meilleur moment pour s'organiser est idéalement au début des études supérieures. Mais les étudiants diplômés ne sont pas encore prêts à affronter ce que cette expérience leur réserve. Nous dirons donc que le deuxième meilleur temps est maintenant (si ce n’est pas déjà fait). Commencez par vous organiser en établissant un plan et une structure de recherche avant de vous lancer dans la recherche proprement dite. Cela vous aidera à établir clairement les objectifs, les questions et les méthodologies de recherche tout en conservant les documents et en suivant les progrès. D'après notre discussion, voici quelques-uns des meilleurs outils utilisés par les étudiants diplômés pour rester organisés : Reclaim : Reclaim est une application d'automatisation de la planification IA qui trouve le meilleur moment pour votre réunions, tâches, habitudes et pauses Mapping mental comme PowerPoint et Canva Outils de gestion de projet comme Monday.com, MS Project et MS Planner ( il a été discuté que le projet MS pourrait être l'option préférée car il permettait plus de détails dans des délais plus courts) Outils de gestion de tâches comme Notion, Asana Les classiques comme les post-it, l'agenda papier et un babillard ! Outils numériques De nos jours, il existe une infinité d'outils disponibles pour vous aider à rester organisé. Ce qui est important, c'est que vous en trouviez un qui vous convient et que vous puissiez l'utiliser de manière cohérente ! Passer d’un logiciel à l’autre trop souvent n’est souvent qu’une perte de temps. Gestionnaires de références Nous savons tous que toute recherche commence par une solide revue de la littérature. C'est là que les gestionnaires de références deviennent votre meilleur ami. Les deux logiciels les plus courants sont Zotero et Mendeley et tous deux constituent d'excellents moyens de suivre votre littérature. Pour une discussion plus approfondie sur la recherche, la lecture et l'organisation de votre revue de littérature, vous pouvez lire le article de blog ici. Organisation de revue de la littérature Une fois que vous avez effectué toutes les recherches et que vous avez enfin votre pile virtuelle de PDF à lire, il peut être intimidant d'essayer de comprendre comment prendre des notes pour chaque article. Pour cela, des outils comme Notion et Canva sont d’excellentes options. Notion peut être utilisé pour créer des formats de tableaux avec des balises et des mots-clés, et peut également être intégré à un plug-in Zotero, ce qui constitue un énorme avantage (pour des instructions étape par étape, visitez le IRSS GitHub). Sinon, si vous êtes plutôt un apprenant visuel, Canva propose d'excellents tableaux blancs et tableaux de cartographie mentale. Prise de notes Quand il s'agit de prendre des notes, le plus simple est peut-être de s'en tenir à Microsoft Word ou Google Docs. Mais si vous recherchez quelque chose de plus technologique, les pages et les notes peuvent être intégrées dans Notion, ou vous pouvez utiliser un programme entièrement différent comme Evernote ou OneNote. Bien sûr, il existe d'autres types d'applications de prise de notes qui ont été évoquées ; la prise de notes basée sur des graphiques comme Obsidian peut être un excellent moyen de résumer des idées et des notes dans un manière plus visuelle. Organisation des données En matière d'organisation des données, c'est là que vous devriez être le plus organisé (et le plus protecteur !). Bien qu'il existe une variété de programmes de données différents que nous pouvons utiliser tout au long de nos études supérieures, quel que soit ce que vous utilisez, c'est là qu'il est le plus important de rester organisé. Il est essentiel d'avoir une gestion des données bien structurée, y compris un système hiérarchique et de dénomination des fichiers bien organisé. Il s'agit notamment d'avoir : Dossiers structurés qui séparent les données brutes, les données traitées, les scripts et les résultats d'analyse Noms de fichiers descriptifs et clairs qui incluent une description des données, des noms d'études et des identifiants spécifiques Format de données structurées pouvant être des fichiers .CSV avec des colonnes bien définies et/ou une documentation de données (par exemple README.txt) pour fournir des métadonnées Nettoyage et prétraitement des données : séparez les scripts, documentez chaque étape et suivez les données manquantes, les valeurs aberrantes et la prise de décision Scripts de codage : que vous utilisiez R ou Python, veillez à ce qu'ils soient bien commentés et organisés en sections logiques. Utiliser des fonctions pour modulariser le code et améliorer la réutilisabilité Reproductibilité : conservez tout le code et les données nécessaires qui permettraient à votre analyse d'être répliquée par quelqu'un d'autre. Utilisez des chemins relatifs dans vos scripts et faites référence aux fichiers de données afin que votre code reste fonctionnel même si vous déplacez un projet vers un autre répertoire. Sauvegarde et stockage des données : sauvegardez régulièrement vos données (vous pouvez utiliser un logiciel de code comme Robocopy) et conservez une copie dans le cloud ou dans un autre emplacement pour éviter perdre vos données les plus précieuses. Nous ne saurions trop insister non plus sur l’importance des disques durs externes. Partage et archivage des données : pensez à partager votre ensemble de données nettoyés et traités avec vos scripts sur des référentiels tels que Github pour faciliter le travail collaboratif sur le code et pour que vos recherches puissent perdurer au-delà de votre date d'obtention du diplôme. Ce code peut également être utile à partager avec vos camarades étudiants diplômés pour leur faire gagner du temps lorsqu'ils travaillent sur le nettoyage de données ou le prétraitement de données similaires aux vôtres. Gestion du temps et des tâches Les études supérieures prennent beaucoup de temps, il est donc préférable de gérer votre temps et de l'utiliser efficacement. Une façon d'y parvenir pour maintenir la productivité consiste à utiliser des techniques de gestion du temps telles que la définition de priorités de tâches pour se concentrer en premier sur les choses les plus importantes. Les outils dont nous avons déjà parlé, comme Notion, peuvent être d'excellentes options pour cela, ainsi que d'autres comme Trello ou Asana. C'est toujours une bonne idée de diviser la tâche la plus importante en morceaux plus petits et plus faciles à gérer afin qu'ils ne semblent pas si intimidants. Fixez des délais plus courts et plus réalistes pour vous aider à rester sur la bonne voie (votre conseiller vous remerciera plus tard). D'autres techniques d'écriture de productivité incluent des éléments tels que la méthode Pomodoro pour vous aider à rester concentré avec des pauses programmées. C'est également une excellente idée de procéder à des examens réguliers de l'avancement de vos recherches et de votre système d'organisation. Vous devrez peut-être faire appel à votre conseiller pour cette étape ! Entretenez votre système Ce type de système ne fonctionnera que si vous le maintenez à jour ! Il est important de mettre constamment à jour et de maintenir votre système organisationnel à mesure que la recherche progresse. Cela peut être une bonne idée de fixer une heure précise pour les séances d'organisation régulières afin d'éviter l'encombrement et la confusion, comme au début de chaque mois. Nous espérons que cet article de blog vous a aidé à comprendre l'importance de l'organisation et des différentes stratégies disponibles pour les étudiants diplômés. Nous espérons que vous pourrez utiliser certaines de ces stratégies organisationnelles dans votre propre expérience de recherche. Bonne chance ! Vous avez des questions sur ce contenu ? Envoyez un courriel à notre coordonnatrice scientifique : amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca

On June 9th, members of Silva21 and the IRSS lab left Vancouver, BC to begin Canada's first coast-to-coast remote sensing tour. Follow this blog post, Written by Amy Wotherspoon, Liam Irwin and Sarah Smith-Tripp, to keep up with their 5-week, 12,000 km journey from British Columbia to Nova Scotia and back! The goal? Provide access to drone data at active critical research sites across Canada while engaging with collaborators and providing UAV flight demonstrations. Section 1: About the trip The longest route possible to the AGM After the AGM -- Section 2: Along the way British Columbia: June 9 - 13, 2023 Northern Ontario: June 14 - 20, 2023 Québec: June 22 - 25, 2023 The AGM, Nova Scotia: June 26 - 30, 2023 -- Section 3: Post-AGM Nova Scotia; June 30 - July 2 New Brunswick; July 4 - 6 Back in BC; July 10 - 15 Many Thanks Photos The longest route possible to the AGM... This 5-week adventure beings in Vancouver, BC and travels to Silva21's Annual General Meeting, being held on the western shore of Nova Scotia - 6,000 km away. The first leg of the trip from Vancouver to Nova Scotia is being led by Silva21 member Liam Irwin a PhD student in the IRSS lab at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Nicholas Coops, co-lead of Silva21. Liam's PhD research project explores advanced remote-sensing techniques, particularly in the free-to-grow thinning stage of forests in British Columbia and Ontario. For the first half of the trip Liam is joined by fellow IRSS lab members Ramon Melser and Brent Murray to collect high UAV laser scanning over BC's forests during an outbreak of severe fires. After leaving BC and traveling across the prairies (sorry, no UAV data for wheat fields!), the boys will travel to Thunder Bay for a team member swap - Ramon and Brent will fly home and Silva21 members Chris Mulverhill and Tommaso Trotto will take over for the rest of the trip to the AGM. Chris is a Postdoctoral Fellow working to develop a continuous forest inventory framework and Tommaso is a PhD student who's research project explores key stand attributes that can be linked to forest resilience. With the new crew members on board, the team will travel to Nova Scotia with stops at the Romeo Malette Forest in Ontario and Montmorency Forest in Québec, where they will also be joined with colleagues from Université Laval. Read the segments below to explore the different forests visited by the Scantiques Roadshow crew and the data being collected! British Columbia; June 9 - 13 The first stop in BC was to Vaseaux Lake National Wildlife Area with Dr Lori Daniels and a wildfire manager. This area is part of a long-term prescribed burning experiment that has looked at changes in plant ecology and fuels across treatment unit gradients (read more on Lori Daniels lab's Twitter). Two other sites were flown for the BC Wildfire Service (BCWFS) and are part of their large scale Wildfire Risk Reduction Fuel Management Project. The first area surrounding Cranbrook, BC, is a large region that has been previously thinned and treated with prescribed burning. The burning provides a large barrier for high severity fires that could encroach on a nearby town. The high density lidar collected here will help the BCWFS assess the post treatment impact of their fuel mitigation plan. The second area is north of Jaffray, BC and is currently in the pre-treatment stage. Here, BC's Wildfire Service will use this high density drone based lidar data to estimate the distribution of fuels across the landscape and plan the spatial distribution of their treatments. Though the group didn't have any data acquisition across the prairies, there was still plenty to see! Photos by Liam Irwin. Timmins, Ontario; June 14 - 20 After crossing the prairies, the Scantiques Roadshow crew arrived in northern Ontario and met up with the Canadian Forest Service and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (pictured, right). The first site to fly was the Romeo Malette forest, a Silva21 research hub south of Timmins, ON. Here the group got busy flying lidar and multispectral imagery over a large complex of regenerating stands within the Enhanced Forest Productivity site, Block 18. These data will be used as part of Liam's PhD research project to demonstrate the ability of these datasets to assess silvicultural performance across this stand. The site is unique as it features a large number of planted species mixes as well as areas of natural regeneration. Liam will combine these estimates with previously acquired airborne laser scanning data to assess height growth at the species level across a wide range of site conditions. Quebec; June 22 - 25 After leaving Ontario, the team headed to Quebec to the Fôret Montmorency - the last stop before the AGM! Here, they were joined by HQP Alexandre Morin-Bernard and Raphaël Pouliot from Université Laval. In this area, three large forest sites were sampled: 1) the BEREV site, a unique balsam fir site studied closely by Jean-Daniel Sylvain and Guillaume Drolet at the Quebec Ministère des Forêts, de la faune et des parcs. They will incorporate this high density lidar data to provide tree level estimates of structure and site condition into their existing network of dendrometers and soil based sensors monitoring tree performance and site conditions across the watershed. 2) A severe windthrow site along Beauce road; this forested stand was blown down in recent years and has several levels of partial harvest treatments within it. At this site, Raphaël Pouliot will generate a fine-scale enhanced forest inventory and use the drone lidar data to evaluate the extent of disturbance across the site. Ultimately this site will help integrate drone-based inventory data into day-to-day operations at Foret Montmorency to help develop their management and monitoring for the 21st century. 3) The final site near Lac Sables will be used in a similar manner to guide future harvest operations in the area. Next the crew packed up and headed to the AGM! The AGM; June 26 - 30 After 20 days on the road, the group finally made it to the AGM at Oak Island Resort & Conference Centre on the Western Shore of Nova Scotia! The group was exhausted but did a great job giving the group a recap of their adventures on the first day of sessions. To read session summaries of the HQP presentations visit the blog here (coming soon). After giving the IRSS lab truck a few days off, the group was back on the road but this time taken over by Silva21 PhD student Sarah Smith-Tripp, a member in the IRSS lab at UBC with Dr. Coops. Sarah's PhD project uses remote sensing to explore regeneration after catastrophic disturbance in BC. Sarah is joined by other IRSS lab members, Evan Muise and Silva21 MSc student, Madison Brown. Shout-out to Madi for undertaking such a long road trip back to Vancouver after having just starting her MSc a month ago. Madi's MSc project uses remote sensing to explore metrics for silvicultural prescription and stand conditions in Quesnel, BC. On the way back the team will stop at sites in New Brunswick including Black Brook forest, a private forest owned by our industry collaborator JD Irving. Be sure to check out Sarah's blog; it not only has details of the Scantiques Roadshow but also remote sensing information like the trails of drone field work, real time kinematic processing and becoming a drone pilot. Nova Scotia; June 30 - July 2 Back on the road and diving back in! Sarah and the team spend Canada Day in the Acadia Research forest flying two different field sites. The first was the TransX projet; a transborder climate gradient experiment led by Silva21 collaborator Loïc D'Orangeville at the University of New Brunswick. To read more about the TransX project click here. Here the team was flying a cutblock which will be planted with 10 different tree species from different geographic regions. This drone data will provide baseline data in their experiments to test acclimation of warm-adapted versus cold-adapted tree species to warmer climate conditions. Next, Sarah met up with Olivier Van Lier, a remote sensing specialist and Funda Ogut, a research scientist, from Natural Resources Canada. This project recently acquired a novel hyperspectral drone which can capture data beyond the electromagnetic spectrum for seeing small differences in tree health. Unfortunately the calibration for the hyperspectral imaging is very complicated and was not able to be captured at the time but Lidar was flown over a the of older red spruce of mixed genetic origins. To read more about the trials of drone field work, check out Sarah's blog post. New Brunswick; July 4 - 6 After finishing up at the Acadia Research Forest, the team headed to another Silva21 hub site; Black Brook research forest, a 1,678 km2 temperate hardwood forest hub north of Fredericton managed by JD Irving. For Silva21's data for the Black Brook research hub click here. Here, the crew met up with our contact at JD Irving, Shane Furze and another Silva21 grad students working in the area, Chloe Larstone-Hunt. Within this area is a huge drought experiment called ThiRST (Thinning to Reduce Stress in Trees) which explores how pre-commercial thinning can make white spruce plantations less vulnerable to drought. Sarah and the crew climbed over the massive networks of PVC pipes and timber to explore the nine plot types and then captured remote sensing data which will help to quantify the exact percentage of the site that are water-restricted along with other tree characteristics and mensuration data. To read more about this field site from Sarah's perspective (including her "undroughting" experiment at New Brunswick breweries), click here. Thunder Bay, Ontario; July 7-8 After a long drive from New Brunswick Madi, Sarah, and Evan met up with Doug Reid from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Lake Nipigon Forest near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Doug gave a tour of the oldest commercial thinning in Ontario. Four Lidar flight where completed in the area. Back in BC; July 10 - 15 After a long trek across the prairies (and dropping Evan off at the airport), briefly stopped for respite at the Calgary Stampede. At the Stampede they got the chance to chat with some representatives from Old's College on what remote-sensing tools they use in their agricultural school. Post-respite, they geared up to cross the Great Continental Divide for the last site in Vernon BC with Silva21 collaborator Bianca Eskelson. This last site was pine-spruce mixture experiment deep in the forest to one of the few sites where data acquisition included collecting data from the site itself (rather than flying above) - with interest in terrestrial laser scanning data. While conducting surveys, Sarah and Madi were forced out of the field due to intense thunder storms where fire danger is labelled Extreme. But once safe and sound, and out of fire danger, they headed back on the final leg back to Vancouver where the IRSS lab track is safe and sound after a coast-to-coast (to coast) trip across the country! Many thanks Many thanks to everyone involved in making this huge coast-to-coast (to coast) adventure possible! First, we would like to acknowledge that this cross-country journey took us onto many traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of Indigenous communities. We acknowledge the diverse Indigenous cultures, languages, and histories that have shaped and continue to enrich the lands we are privileged to study. We pay respect to the Elders, both past and present, and extend our gratitude to the Indigenous communities who have stewarded the forests and lands upon which we live, work and play. Secondly, we thank our principle investigator Alexis Achim and co-lead Nicholas Coops for providing us the flexibility and the funds to plan and execute this trip. Thirdly, we would like to thank all the Silva21 collaborators and partners we met throughout the journey. Thank you for your time and patience, as well as your collaboration and valuable discussion. Lastly, thank you to all non-Silva21 hands that were lent throughout the trip including (but not limited to) Brent Murray, Ramon Melser and Evan Muise - we couldn't have done it without you! P H O T O S By Liam Irwin

The Quesnel and Area Future of Forestry Think Tank held on May 2-3, 2023, was an exciting event that brought together representatives of the forestry industry to discuss the future of forestry in BC. As the scientific coordinator of Silva21, I was there to represent the ongoing research projects surrounding adaptive silviculture in Canada’s changing climate. and contribute to discussions on behalf of Silva21's large-scale collaborative efforts across the country. This includes research in the fields of adaptive silviculture, remote sensing sensing, forest inventory, dendrochronology and growth and yield modelling. And of course for climate change projections and impacts on future forests - my role as a postdoctoral fellow at UBC. The Future of Forestry Think Tank (FFTT) event was hosted by the City of Quesnel and the Three Rivers Community Forest. It is part of the Forestry Initiatives Program (run by Erin Robinson) which was created to address the challenges faced by the city and to protect the community from wildfire. The FFTT has a clear vision of making the City of Quesnel and the surrounding area a hub of innovation in forest and land management, manufacturing of forest products, and workforce development. The event revisited past recommendations and progress from the first and second events that took place in 2018 and 2019 respectively. After a hiatus due to COVID, the Think Tank event was back with the objectives to align with new government policies, and identify opportunities for collaboration, investment, and action. A huge thank you to Erin Robinson for the invitation to attend and organizing such a great event and to Mike Simpson who did an excellent job facilitating. Be sure to check out these links: The City of Quesnel's Forestry Initiatives Program: includes all presentations of the event and the final report of the event (coming soon). Biographies of people mentioned in this post, as well as those who presented at the event here. Press coverage: Forestry think tank in Quesnel explores the possibilitrees (best article title ever) The final report of the event Click on the links below to jump to the particular sections in this article Topic #1: Land management policy today and in the future Topic #2: manufacturing facilities and products Topic #3: The Workforce Topic #4: The Forestry Cluster Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 Topic #1: Land management policy today and in the future The Future of Forestry Think Tank event began with an appropriate presentation looking at BC’s land management policy today and into the future by Josh Pressey from the Cariboo Regional Executive Director from the Ministry of Forests. Discussing how we can modernize forest policy in BC, Josh discussed the components of the plan which included meaningful reconciliation, considering resilient landscapes, competitive markets, fair returns on assets and sustainability and stewardship. The forest operations plan was also discussed and the importance of making it consistent with the forest landscape planning and the importance of maintaining a platform for communication for all stakeholders. Ongoing questions relating to BC’s forest policy were then discussed in a World Café style discussion - this was my first time participating in this kind of discussion and I could not believe how much more engaging it was and a great way to encourage collaborative discussions. A World Café is a structured conversational process that facilitates collaborative dialogue and sharing of knowledge and ideas among participants. It is designed to create an open and creative conversation that fosters collective exploration of complex issues. In this type of discussion, participants are divided into smaller groups and sit around tables or in a circle, and each table has a facilitator. The facilitators are responsible for guiding the conversation and ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak and be heard. After a set amount of time, participants move to a different table, and a new conversation begins based on the previous one. This allows for a diversity of perspectives and ideas to emerge, and for the group to build on the collective knowledge that is generated through the process. Across 8 tables there were 4 questions up for discussion: What does DRIPA mean, what does it look like, how do we make it work? How do we engage “stakeholders” constructively without having a fight? What does the outcome of a forest landscape plan look like? What do we mean by ecological resilience or landscape resiliency? Facilitators and scribes at each table helped the flow of conversation and recorded main ideas that could be turned into action items. These were later presented to the group as a whole - a great way to gather input from various perspectives and to produce action items in a short amount of time - perfect for this kind of “Think Tank” event. Topic #2: manufacturing facilities and products Later in the day, the topic shifted towards manufacturing facilities and products. Quesnel and surrounding area was one of the hardest hit areas during the mountain pine beetle outbreak and as a result took a huge long-term hit to its annual allowable cut. Prior to the pine beetle, AAC was around 4 million cubic metres, which then sky rocketed to 7 million to account for salvage and rescue logging. But now, a few years after the fact, the AAC sits below 2 million cubic metres. For this reason, BC's forestry industry is seeing a decline in sawlog availability and other forest fibres. However, there is potential in the rising demand for innovative products in the forest bioeconomy sector with the decline of single use plastics. The need for housing in BC also offers an opportunity for mass timber housing, a market unique to the province. To tell us more about these potential new markets and where BC is currently at at meeting this demands, a panel of experts were asked for their expertise and thoughts on the subject, as well as the opportunity for Quesnel in the forest bioeconomy and solid wood sector. The panel consisted of: Sandy Ferguson, the Director Forest Bioeconomy at Foresight Canada; Alex Boston, the Executive Director of Renewable Cities and Fellow at the MJ Wosk Centre for Dialogue at SFU; Tim Caldecott, the Director of Carbon and Market Economics at FP Innovations; and Gustavo Oliveira, the Director of Innovation, Bioeconomy and Indigenous Opportunities Branch at MOF. A common theme amongst the panelists was the way in which ecosystem values and challenges have evolved within the province in the way the market has shifted from volume to value. Sandy highlighted the limited collaboration with innovation and challenges to invest (with the exception of industry partners like West Fraser and Resolute). However, this isn't stopping BC interests in fibre flows, value-added products, mill asset repurposing First Nations collaborations, end-user markets and supply chain optimization. As Alex discussed, there is also the unique market in utilizing in timber housing, not only to promote renewable materials but also as a way to stabilize the labour force by focusing on offsite construction to promote affordability and supply, climate change mitigation and an economic transition to a different market. Echoed by Tim and Gustavo was the emphasis to produce more value with less fibre while providing more jobs. Can we also just highlight (personal opinion): forestry in BC, which is unusually close to large cities like Vancouver has a bad rep. A lot of people look at forestry as a destructive practice and harmful to the environment. Meanwhile they utilize resources taken from precisely these forests every day and still declare war on single use plastics - an industry that can only be replaced by the forestry industry. So in addition to action items specifically for the forestry sector, I found the discussion on highlighting the truth, practicality and benefits of forestry particularly interesting and worthwhile. Part of encouraging this portion of the industry is the positive language used for “bioeconomy” and - as it has been used in other provinces and countries - over “residue”, “by-products”, etc. which make them seem much less appealing. Ending Day 1 with SLIDO: Another great interactive aspect of the day was how we wrapped using using SLIDO - a web app where participants were given the opportunity to answer questions and input their thoughts as to their most and least favourite parts of the day, as well as their opinions on which items were the most feasible and possible for the city of Quesnel. It was a great way to gather immediate feedback and for participants to share their final thoughts for the day. I'll definitely be incorporating this the next time I organize a large event. Wednesday, May 3rd Topic #3: The Workforce The second day shifted to focus on the forestry workforce. Given the large labour shortage in trades as a whole, the lack of labour in the forestry sector is being felt throughout the industry, from contractors and carpenters all the way to harvest operators. The main focus of the day's discussion was to prioritize action items that would help to recruit workforce to the forestry industry, retain them for the long-term and encourage migration towards rural communities such as Quesnel. We began with presentations from a panel of those involved in attracting, training and educating the forest industry workforce: Amy Reid, the Manager of Economic Development and Tourism at the City of Quesnel; Emily Colombo, the Regional Manager at JEDI; Dominik Roeser, the Associate Professor of Forest Operations at the University of British Columbia; and Douglas Jamieson, the Director of Regional Education at the College of New Caledonia. Panelists were asked questions as to whether the vision of the forestry industry in Quesnel can be achieved without retraining the workforce, how to address the challenges with retooling a workforce, and what a community needs to do to attract a workforce. It was great to hear from Amy and Emily about what specifically the City of Quesnel and the province of BC are doing to attract and retain workers in smaller, remote communities. This includes not only relating to making the city more attractive and self-sufficient but also the number of government grants available to industry partners. Hearing from Dominik and Douglas shed light as to what needed to be at both the university and college levels, respectively. Both agreed that in order to train the next generation of workforce in Quesnel, a forestry-focused curriculum was imperative, as well as training programs, experiential learning, focus on sustainability and providing attractive incentives. While we’re currently rushing towards digitalization and human-machine collaboration, Dominik Roeser reiterated the importance that at the key of workforce retention needs to be integrated values and perspectives with the common value being the land and not just products that it gives us. While focusing on the importance of the forestry labour force, we also had the great opportunity to hear from the Honourable Harry Bains, the Minister of Labour, on the direction of the BC government on forestry workforce to hear his perspective on recruitment, retention and ensuring the safest work environments. Workplace injury or death in the field of forestry (including operations, fire fighting, silviculture, etc.) is higher than the provincial averages so it was great to hear about the consideration and prioritization for worker safety. To read the media coverage about his visit to the event click here. Topic #4: The Forestry Cluster To bring all the contents of the event together, we shifted our conversation towards The Forestry Cluster and how we can bring innovation that is already being demonstrated in other parts of the world and into Quesnel and the surrounding area. To kick off the discussion we heard from: Jukka Matikainen, the Managing Director of Nordic Trading House Matyas Kosa, the Bioproducts Lead at West Fraser Mills Ltd. Bob Simpson, former mayor of Quesnel and Independent Insights Consulting Hearing from Jukka, we saw the potential of the forest bioeconomy in other countries such as Sweden and Finland. Such countries are the benchmark for climate-smart forestry in action to provide solutions in the full value chain including logging operator training. Some of this innovation was already in practice in local industries, such as West Fraser. Examples of different biomaterials and potential for lignin and cellulose-based products were presented by Matyas including cellulose-based fully biodegradable material that can be used in regular plastic processing equipment like 3D printers. While these products show potential for the forestry industry, there still remains a missing link from aspiration to action by the rest of the province. Bob Simpson pointed this out by highlighting our current unprecedented challenges that call for unprecedented response. As Bob said, this link is often missing in branches of government that need to call for proper regulation, incentives and policy; which is common in a province that is run by politics instead of government. The event concluded with another World Café-style discussion, where the focus was on turning ideas into action. We explored what may be stopping the City of Quesnel and the surrounding area from stepping up and enabling and fast-tracking innovation. The topics at the tables were what actions can we take in the following sectors: The forest and land resource, Manufacturing facilities and products, The workforce and training Centre, and What else is missing? What synergies or multiple wins align with the mornings forestry cluster Concluding thoughts Events like the Quesnel and Area Future of Forestry Think Tank are essential for moving any industry or project beyond the planning stage into the action stage. This collaborative discussion with participants from academic, research, local and provincial government, industry, Indigenous peoples, and the community is crucial in identifying opportunities for innovation and growth in the forestry industry. Though my area of expertise was slightly removed from the specifics of the forestry industry, it was inspiring to see the motivation behind those involved and the drive to lead in innovation through sustainability and community values. It is clear that Quesnel is on the right track to being an excellent working example for other regions of BC and to be a leader in the industry. I look forward to seeing what comes out of the Quesnel area - which is Silva21's main research hubs in western Canada. This event took place on the unceded traditional territory of the Lktako Dene Nation and was supported by the City of Quesnel and the Three Rivers Community Forest, with financial contributions from the North Cariboo Community Futures. This blog post has not been peer reviewed or fact checked and is an independent article. Any comments, questions or corrections can be sent to amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca

In the context of global change, a better understanding of the dynamics of wood degradation, and how they relate to tree attributes and climatic conditions, is necessary to improve broad-scale assessments of the contributions of deadwood to various ecological processes and ultimately for the development of adaptive post-disturbance management strategies. This post is a summary of the scientific article "Broad-scale wood dynamics in the face of climate change: a meta-analysis" by Catherine Chagnon, Guillaume Moreau, Christine-Bombardier-Cauffope, Julie Barrette, Filip Havreljuk and Alexis Achim, published in GCB Bioenergy, Volume 14, Issue 9, p 941-958 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12951), and has been approved by the corresponding author. A harmonized classification system for visual criteria of deadwood of both standing dead and downed wood debris A harmonized three-class system was created to describe the state of decomposition of both downed and standing woody debris (Fig 1) to simplify data collected within the meta-analysis. This classification is then useful for its use to facilitate comparison with future studies. Both climatic conditions and tree-level variables are important indicators of time since death (TSD) of woody debris Using climatic conditions and tree-level variables obtained using a meta-analysis, linear regression models showed that TSD was best explained using interactions between decay class and the following four variables: Maximum summer temperature; higher temperatures decreased TSD Total annual precipitation; greater precipitation increased TSD Wood density; greater wood density increased TSD Tree phylogeny; TSD was 4.4 years higher in softwoods compared to hardwoods The above four variables accounted for 84% of the variance between observations, which were classified into three main clusters using a PCA-analysis. A decay-class transition rate model was included to account for mean residence time of 75% of the trees being 'out of the system' and classified beyond DC #3 (Fig. 2). Projected warming is likely to accelerate wood decomposition and decrease residence time in the decay stages Using baseline climate data across Europe, mean TSD of deadwood in the first decay class was, on average, ~10 years. Lower values were observed around the Mediterranean and higher values in the Alps, Scotland and southwestern coast of Norway (Fig. 3). Future climate projections show that mean TSD could decrease from 10 years to 6 and 4 years by 2100, according to SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively (Fig. 3). A shorter residence time will change deadwood dynamics, thereby impacting diversity and salvage logging practices Saproxylic biodiversity may be altered due a reduced availability of deadwood of different decomposition stages over time, reducing the amount of available of habitat. This is likely to worsen with rising temperatures. Shorter residence times of deadwood suggests a reduced "shelf life" of dead trees that are used as value-added products. This is especially true for hardwoods in warmer regions where salvage harvesting needs to occur in a shorter period after a disturbance. Climate change and faster decaying wood is likely to affect the carbon footprint, sequestration rate, timing and quantity emissions related to the decomposition of dead trees. A copy of this blog post is available as an Extension Note in PDF format, available in English and French. Corresponding author of article: Catherine Chagnon, M.Sc. Summary and design by Amy Wotherspoon, PhD.

Pour la troisième semaine consécutive, nous rattrapons notre personnel de haute qualité (PHQ) pour un mis à jours des projets de recherche sous le thème 'Adapt'! Dans le cadre d’ADAPTER, la recherche des traitements sylvicoles novateurs et des stratégies de gestion forestière adaptées à la nouvelle réalité socio-environnementale, afin d’assurer la durabilité de l’approvisionnement en fibres partout au Canada. Le mardi 29 novembre, nous avons entendu les PHQ suivants avec des projets sous le thème ADAPT : Cliquez sur un nom pour lire leur résumé Si vous êtes membre de l’équipe Silva21 et vous souhaitez recevoir une copie de toutes les diapositives, veuillez contacter notre coordinateur scientifique(amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca) Nos prochaines réunions de mise à jour auront lieu au printemps 2023! Restez à l'affût de toutes les nouvelles Silva21 en vous abonnant à notre infolettre au bas de cette page.

Pour suivre les réunions thématiques de novembre, cette semaine nous avons rencontré les PHQ sous le thème « Anticiper »! Dans ANTICIPATER, la recherche vise à améliorer les modèles de croissance et les méthodes de prédictions pour tenir compte de la réalité climatique et synthétiser les risques de perturbation auxquels les forêts sont confrontées Le mercredi 23 novembre, nous avons entendu les PHQ suivants avec des projets sous le thème Anticiper : Cliquez sur un nom pour lire leur résumé: If you are a member of the Silva21 team and would like to receive a copy of all slides, please email our scientific coordinator (amy.wotherspoon@ubc.ca) Our ADAPT meeting takes place next week, so we'll be sure to post summary reports of that as well! Stay tuned!