Dr. Phil Burton’s lecture provided the UNBC colloquium audience with a broad review of the concept of ecological resilience.  By drawing on an array of examples that were primarily local and all relatable, he provided definitions of resilience and various forms of adaptive capacity.  He transitioned to how concepts of resilience can be applied in managing forests.  Not only did he describe how they can be applied but he convincingly presented why forest management should incorporate managing for forest resilience.

Dr. Burton presented the results of several studies that were of significant interest.  The fact that salvage activities post-mountain pine beetle are considered to reduce fire hazard but actually result in increased fire incidence was interesting.  This was attributed to the increase in slash loading and the creation of roads providing opportunities for new ignition sources.  I was also interested in Dr. Haeussler’s results comparing post-fire vegetation communities with post-mountain pine beetle communities and the significantly different results after different intensities of burn.  It will be interesting to follow the vegetation communities in time to see if they converge.  Perhaps most fascinating though was the result from the United States that bark beetle affected landscapes did not experience a higher incidence of area burned as other forest areas.  This is significant considering the level of concern in northern BC communities regarding fire hazard relating to the significant area of mountain pine beetle attacked stands.  It would be interesting to assess whether this finding is applicable to our landscape or if there are other factors that may be significantly different (i.e. lower degree of forest fragmentation – greater areas of contiguous forest).   This would be one question that I would pose to Dr. Burton.

Dr. Burton’s Resilience Management Checklist and suggestions for Managing for Forest Resilience were very pertinent for provincial forest management.  “Plan with risks in mind, prepare to replan” was very well stated and yet a significant challenge for managers.

My project will include studying caribou low elevation winter range and assessing the change in habitat post-disturbance.  Disturbance in this study includes forest harvesting, mountain pine beetle, and wildfire.  I will keep in mind this presentation when considering the resilience and recovery of caribou habitat.  I should keep in mind the variety of mechanisms by which resilience may be accomplished.  Also important is to consider that the timeframe may be long and the recovery pathway may not be direct.

One final question that I would ask Dr. Burton would be regarding his description of the recovery of the vegetation communities at Date Creek after varying intensities of harvest.  He noted that after 24 years, the late seral shrubs and herbs had recovered to an even greater presence in the clearcuts than the unharvested stands.  However, in most ecosystems some species are unlikely to be observed in a forest until it reaches a certain level of maturity – were there any such species at Date Creek?