Forest Health Perspectives: Indicators of Unhealthy Forests at Various Scales

Forest Health Perspectives: Indicators of Unhealthy Forests at Various Scales

Open to anyone interested in science and our boreal backyards (no need to be a researcher or industry professional)! As part of the Boreal Nature Series, this webinar features Ryan Hermanutz and Matthew Gelderman from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

What makes a forest healthy? This presentation will explore the characteristics that indicate the overall health of a forest, and examples from NW Alberta will be used to demonstrate healthy vs. unhealthy forests at various spatial scales. As spatial scale increases, the definition of healthy forests changes to include stands that encompass a wide range of conditions, where processes such as diversity, disturbance and climate change impacts become critical to determining overall health. Specifically, mountain pine beetle outbreak and drought-related aspen decline will be used as case studies to explore these issues.

Ryan Hermanutz and Matthew Gelderman make up the NW Alberta regional forest health team, which is aims to manage biotic and abiotic forest health disturbances and their impacts on forest values.

This webinar will also share related 360 photography and video content, exploring some examples of the kinds of stands discussed in the webinar. The content will be shared apart from the webinar, and in addition may be presented during the webinar if the online connection permits.

Please register for access to webinar link. The webinar link will be sent out via email one week prior to time of the event.

We hope to see you online!

Questions can be directed to Rielle at riellem@nait.ca

Thank you to NSERC and our sponsors of ‘Partners in Boreal Education: Boucher, Canfor, Mercer, Zavisha, West Fraser, and FRIAA.