Edge effects of road material and compaction on the regeneration of jack pine in the English River Forest

Abstract

There is potentially a considerable proportion of harvestable forest area experiencing road edge effects. It may be important to understand these effects and how trees respond to them to improve forest growth modeling systems commonly used for forest management planning. The two objectives of this study are 1) to observe if road material type and road compaction affect the height growth of jack pine trees growing on road edges and 2) to estimate the proportion of forest area experiencing edge effects within the English River Forest Management Unit of Ontario. Results from this study indicated no evidence of a relationship between road material and tree height or between road compaction and tree height. However, a larger sample size may have yielded more meaningful results. The total amount of forest area in the English River Forest experiencing edge effects was estimated to range from 1075 hectares to over 21,000 hectares. These areas represent 0.29% and 8.84% of the maximum harvestable forest area, respectively.