The Canadian Forest Service (CFS) has historically integrated—with great success—its science research with ongoing technology development and advanced forest and afforestation production and management system practices in co-operation with its research, development, forest industry practitioner, landowner, and stakeholder partners.

This relationship has developed and evolved through an adaptive process where forest managers and regulators identify key issues, which are collaboratively addressed through the adoption of newly developed or developing practices, technologies, and silviculture systems, and which are applicable to Canadian conditions.

Some of these issues include improving upon regeneration efficiency which originated from Canada’s backlog reforestation challenges that occurred in the late-1980’s, advanced treatment adoption, novel applications, and innovative diversification of tools and techniques.

Other issues that CFS and its partners have addressed over the past 30 years include increasing tree/piece size, sustainable fibre supply, ecosystem management mimicking natural disturbance, mixedwood understorey protection, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, while also pursuing habitat enrichment and biodiversity.

Site preparation, vegetation management, tree seedling propagation including genetics and handling systems, partial harvest systems including pattern and integrated practices, as well as afforestation of fast-growing species, clones, and species mixtures have been deployed to complement forest areas in close proximity to final forest commercial users as well as to address local environmental, social and economic values.

Silviculture tools have been developed, demonstrated, field-tested and applied in head-to-head trials to make the research and development a reality. This work was conducted in co-operation with Canada’s primary landowners, provincial governments, forest managers, industry practitioners and other end users, resulting in relevant, protected and eco-bio-efficient values.

The Technology Development Unit, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, and the Forest Practices Innovation Group of the CFS have led the charge since the mid-1980’s, with the establishment of a significant network of research and development sites from Ontario, across the Prairie provinces, into the Northwest Territories, and into northwestern British Columbia, focused on operational deployment.

These applied field trials have become legacy sites which have longstanding infrastructure establishment characteristics, have local stakeholder vested interest and protection, and have withstood the test of time, having been established as far back as the early to mid-1980’s—and are used for tours and demonstrations to transfer technology advancement to practitioners and forest managers.

Site preparation was among the earliest developed practices, first by introducing technologies from other parts of the world, adapting them to Canadian conditions and then enhancing their use, with vegetation manipulation and tree planting to shrink rotations and expand or increase forest production. Diversity of species types as well as stock types were all part of this development and evolution. CFS and its partners played a significant role in this evolution as we advanced into the 21st century.

More recently, silviculture practices have become more consistent and have been enhanced to an increased efficiency due to onsite consumption, in other words, maximizing utilization of tree species and tree size, as well as diversifying product types with the development of such novel products as LVL, OSB, and CLT, waste use in commercial mills, and commercial biomass recovery. This biomass often comes from opportunity sources, those being forest slash, non-commercial species, and fibre from high-risk fire sites that require some form of treatment.

Additionally, on the purpose-grown front—represented by fast-growing species which are specifically grown over short rotations—it has been shown that they can be manipulated so that they have very precise and finite fibre characteristics for use in paper products and solid, liquid or gaseous forms of renewable energy.

This brings us to current times as it relates to ongoing development.

Today, many of Canada’s silviculture practices and forest application developments are focused on increasing the size, scale and scope of Canada’s forest types, which includes species diversification for maintaining and enhancing the environmental values and health of forest stands as well as fire and insect stand protection and resilience. This includes reduction of monocultures and/or multi-entries into monocultures that advance production, fibre size and age class diversification, resulting in final product diversity.

For more information about past and ongoing CFS applied research and development initiatives, contact Derek Sidders, Program Co-ordinator and Advisor, Forest Practices Technology and Development, Canadian Forest Service,
at derek.sidders@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.