User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Study area – Beaver Lodge Forest Lands, Campbell River, BC.
Date – March 17, 2020
Time – 13:00 – 16:00
Altitude – 95m
Coordinates 49°58’20 N, 125°15’19 W.
Temperature – 10°C
Weather – sunny, clear skies, no wind
Size of area of interest– Harvested area 0.5km2, second growth forest 0.5km2
Total area of Beaver Lodge Forest Lands – 416 ha
Zone of interest: Transition between the second growth ecosystem and the relatively recent harvested area where no silviculture methods have been applied. Treeline of interest runs North to South. Area is a donated to the province for research in forestry, it is also used for recreation purposes and there is a network of mountain biking and dog walking trails.
Second Growth Ecosystem: Within the canopy of the second growth forest of Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, Red Alder, and Big Leaf Maple, there is evidence of old growth logging (large Western Red Cedar stumps logged by hand with spring board notches still visible). The trees have been planted and the vast majority are Douglas fir and Grand Fir of the same age, though there also seems to be some variation levels of the canopy with young trees growing. In these areas of disturbance there is new growth of Red Alder and Big Leaf Maple, and in wetter areas it seems Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock are abundant.
Main Ground Cover: Dominated by Salal, Red Huckleberry, Oregon Grape, Salmonberry, and Bracken Fern, with sparse Trailing Blackberry. The bottoms of the trees were covered in mosses and lichens and there were many areas where trees had blown down opening up the canopy for new growth. Salal and Oregon grape were very green with big broad leaves. Salal leaves were 4” long on average, and Oregon Grape leaves were 3” long on average.
Animals: Not very much Black Tailed Deer sign. Bird life was abundant with American Robins, Varied Thrushes, and Stellar’s Jay flying about. Ravens were observed as well as Great Horned Owl calls (but no sightings this time).
Early Succession ecosystem:
History: Harvested cutblock of unknown age. Stumps are a few years old and it is clear that it was not logged by hand and instead with a feller buncher. It either was hoe chucked or a skidder was used for yarding the logs as machine ruts have overgrown and become water filled depressions. Cleared area is 0.5km2 with a riparian zone cutting through the middle as well as a few small residual patches left standing.
Main ground cover: Bracken fern is dominant in open areas with intense sun along with abundant Red Huckleberry and sparse naturally regenerated Pine trees observed. There is a saturated riparian zone running through the block with slowly running water amongst blue-joint grass, Red Alder, Western Hemlock and Western Red cedar. The ground in this area is completely covered in blue joint grass and moss that seems to have out competed all competition. Salal and Oregon grape are stunted(<0.5m) with smaller leaves (<2”), many are red coloured, Oregon grape only found on the fringe of the forest.
Animals: In the open areas of the cutblock there is a network of Black tailed deer trails with abundant scat and tracks. Some scat old and some more recent (black and shiny). Tracks were observed in the soft soil, measuring 2 ¾“ long, accompanied by much smaller ones which leads me to believe these were from a doe and fawn. In the wet riparian zone with tree cover there is abundant Roosevelt Elk trails and scat. I observed what looks to me like a possible Roosevelt Elk rut pit from last season. It is an area 10m in diameter that has been well trampled and 20+ groupings of scat. There was evidence of browsing on the new huckleberry shoots, though I expect it was from black tailed deer as there was more recent evidence of their presence in the immediate area (fresh track and scat). After following the elk trails and branching deer trails, I observed that all the trails heading out of the treed wet area were used by the black tailed deer, and all the trails heading through the safe wet cover and bluejoint grass were used by Elk. The deer seemed to be using the residual patches as safe cover for bedding zones and the open area as feeding zones, as there was evidence of beds in the covered area and a greater abundance of scat in the open area. The Elk did not seem to be venturing out of the safety of the riparian zone.
Main questions:
1) Is Western Red Cedar more abundant in wetter areas?
2) Do Salal and Oregon Grape need shade? They were both stunted in the sun, their leaves were small, and the increase of light intensity seems to have caused them to reflect different wavelengths of light, thus giving them red leaves.
3) Is an increase in blue joint grass correlated with an increase in Roosevelt Elk sign?
4) Are the species to first take advantage of openings in the forest different than those in the cutblock?
5) Have the trees in the harvested area been limited in their ability to recover due to competitive ground cover species?
Excerpt from field journal (pdf)
