Planting kelp beds as an innovative habitat compensation tool for the British Columbia forestry sector

林业部门是温哥华岛上重要的经济产业，养活着成千上万的家庭。现代伐木做法寻求最大限度地减少对环境的影响；然而，在不列颠哥伦比亚省(BC)沿海地区，伐木造成的海洋栖息地退化仍然是一个挑战。在这个项目中，NSERC将支持北岛学院与MC Wright and Associates和BC Timber Sales合作，使用不同的种植技术在受采伐影响和未受影响的地点种植海带，以评估海带是否为林业部门的栖息地修复工具。海带床自然为许多不同的物种提供食物和栖息地，同时为水提供氧气并吸收海洋中的碳。这项研究将测量这些地点的物种丰度、海带生长和碳吸收以及海洋学参数，以将种植的海带栖息地与对照地点和处理进行比较。该项目更广泛的目标是在受伐木做法影响的类似地点利用海带开发一个生境补救/补偿战略工具箱。

The forestry sector is an economically important industry on Vancouver Island that supports thousands of families. Modern logging practices seek to minimize environmental impacts; however, marine habitat degradation from logging remains a challenge in coastal British Columbia (BC). In this project, NSERC will support North Island College to work with MC Wright and Associates and BC Timber Sales to plant kelp at logging impacted and non-impacted sites using different planting techniques, to assess kelp as a habitat remediation tool for the forestry sector. Kelp beds naturally provide food and habitat for many different species, while oxygenating the water and absorbing carbon from the ocean. The research will measure species abundance at the sites, kelp growth and carbon absorption, and oceanographic parameters to compare the planted kelp habitat against control sites and treatments. The broader goal of this project is to develop a toolbox of habitat remediation/compensation strategies using kelp in similar sites affected by logging practices.