Hydrology, ecology & disturbance in the Western Boreal Forest phase 2 ( HEAD 2 ) : Forest harvest impacts and hydrologic recovery

森林采伐和油砂开发是阿尔伯塔省和加拿大经济的主要组成部分。总的来说，它们对西部北方森林（WBF）有很大的潜在影响。对水和能源途径、森林演替（初级或次级）和水文恢复之间相互作用的基本理解，是制定最佳林业管理做法和建立设计标准和基准的基石，成功的复垦工作将建立在这些标准和基准上。我们的研究结合了a)细尺度（10公顷）和粗尺度（10平方公里）的配对流域森林收获实验，以及b)水文建模以制定管理框架。该框架将用于预测森林采伐实践和植被演替对水循环的影响，这是受WBF地质和半湿润气候的影响。我们将开发景观指数，提供一个地区对特定干扰的反应信息，并允许非水文学家预测和评估森林管理实践（FMP）对采伐地点的水文影响以及对开垦景观的森林演替。该项目对加拿大林业和油砂行业的具体益处包括：1)新的或改进的景观水文模型，以描述当前和预测西部北方森林特征的现有和填海景观的未来行为；2)有效的规划工具，可用于制定严格和客观的科学标准和建议，以对特定规模的FMP水文后果进行累积风险评估，以及适当的填海程序和油砂租赁景观配置；3)适宜和可防御的土壤水文指标，用于监测和评估FMP和油砂复垦的成功。我们预计，管理框架将使我们的研究成果能够应用于省级水资源战略，并作为省级综合土地管理人员的指导方针。该框架也可以在国家范围内应用，促进研究知识在不同地区之间的转移。

Forest harvesting and oil sands development are major components of the Albertan and Canadian economies. Collectively, they have a large potential to impact the Western Boreal Forest (WBF). A fundamental understanding of the interaction of water and energy pathways and forest succession (primary or secondary) and hydrologic recovery is the cornerstone to developing best forestry management practices and to establishing design criteria and benchmarks to which successful reclamation efforts will be built. Our research uses a combination of a) paired catchment forest harvest experiments at fine (10ha) and coarser (>10km2) scales, and b) hydrologic modelling to develop a management framework. This framework will be used to predict the influence of forest harvest practices and vegetation succession on water cycling as influenced by the geology and sub-humid climate of the WBF. We will develop landscape indices that provide information on an area's response to particular disturbances and allow non-hydrologists to predict and assess the hydrologic impacts of Forest Management Practices (FMP's) on harvested sites and forest succession on reclaimed landscapes. Specific deliverables of benefit to the Canadian forestry and oil sands industries arising from the project include: 1) new or refined landscape hydrologic models to describe the current and predict the future behaviour of existing and reclaimed landscapes characteristic of the Western Boreal Forest; 2) effective planning tools that can be used to develop rigorous and objective scientific criteria and recommendations for cumulative risk assessment of the hydrologic consequences of FMP at a given scale, and appropriate reclamation procedures and landscape configuration of oil sands leases; and 3) appropriate and defensible soil and hydrologic indicators for monitoring and assessing success of FMP and oil sands reclamation. We anticipate that the management framework will allow results of our research to be applied to provincial water strategies and to serve as guidelines for integrated land managers at the provincial level. The framework can also be applied at the national scale, facilitating the transfer of research knowledge among different regions.