| dc.description.abstract | Original Crown Survey notes were used to infer the European pre-settlement
forest diversity condition in the management units of Algonquin Park, French-Severn,
Nipissing and Temagami in central Ontario, Canada. This diversity condition was then
compared to the 1990 diversity of the forests as determined from forest resource
inventory (FRI) maps. This study compared selected compositional proportions of the
forest to identify potential changes that have occurred since 1890,
Ten sub-divided townships were randomly selected from Algonquin Park, French-
Severn and Nipissing while all available non-sub-divided townships were used in the
management unit of Temagami. The 1890 data represented the pre-settlement condition
of the forest and acted as the baseline to which the 1990 data was compared. The 1890
data were derived from the original Crown Survey notes which were the forest cruise
notes of the day, giving detailed descriptions of the forest cover including species
composition, abundance, diameter at breast height and disturbances. The 1990 data were
provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in the form of FRI maps and
spreadsheets. The data were sorted into working group proportions, hardwoods and
softwoods, shade tolerance groupings and frequency of occurrence.
This study revealed that in terms of changes in working group proportions there
have apparently been region wide increases in maple (Acer spp.), while balsam fir (Abies
balsamea), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and the ‘other conifer’ group (larch (Larix
larcind) and cedar (Thuja occidentalis)) have apparently decreased. This study revealed
that there has been an apparent increase in the proportions of hardwoods in the region
with a subsequent decrease in the proportion of softwoods. The analysis of shade
tolerance groupings showed that there seems to have been an increase in the shade
tolerant species while no large changes have occurred with the mid-tolerant species or the
shade intolerant species. The regional comparison of frequency of occurrence of each
species revealed that a total of nine of the fourteen species have apparent large changes.
This study has shown the usefulness of the Crown Survey notes in reconstructing
the pre-settlement condition of these forests. These survey notes were easily available
and could be simply converted to spreadsheet form. Future forest management plans
should attempt to use these data as it will allow for more informed decision-making and
will lead to a better understanding of original diversity conditions. | |
