Potential factors that influence the silvicultural status of a stand based on its silvicultural background

Abstract

The silvicultural effectiveness monitoring program is important in determining the silvicultural status of a stand. Each stand can be classified as being a silvicultural success (SS), regeneration success (RS), or not satisfactorily regenerated (NSR). The status of the stand may be due to the silvicultural history of the block. Data was obtained from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) from the silvicultural effectiveness monitoring program within the boreal forest of northeastern Ontario. The objective of this thesis is to observe any trends between the silviculture background of a stand and its silvicultural status. Regeneration methods (plant, seed, natural methods), site preparation (mechanical, chemical or absent), and vegetation management (absent or present) of each block will be analyzed. Data from one forest management unit, the Gorden Cosens Forest, is used for this study. After review of relevant literature, four null hypotheses were developed: that 1) regeneration method, 2) vegetation management, and 3) site preparation do not have a statistically significant effect on the status designation or the average well-spaced free growing (WSFG) stems/ha of a block. The fourth hypothesis is that the year of assessment will not have a significant effect on the designation of a stand (SS, RS, NSR). A three-way ANOVA was conducted to analyze the first three hypotheses and a one-way ANOVA was conducted to test the fourth hypothesis. Results from the three-way ANOVA indicate that regeneration method, vegetation management, and site preparation did not have a statistically significant effect on the status of the stand or average WSFG stems/ha. Results of the one-way ANOVA reveal that year of assessment did have a statistically significant effect on status designation. Lack of data and missing replicates within the dataset can be the reason of the non-significance found in this study. On the other hand, the significant difference between year of assessment can be due to the success of the planting or seed year which can be related to budget constraints or environmental conditions at the time. Inconsistency in assessment method and between surveyors may also play a role in the variation between years. Therefore, a higher detailed analysis of the conditions at the time of regeneration would be beneficial to understand the difference in stand success and/or average WSFG stems/ha between years.