@article {48607,
	title = {Development of opinion-based generic reforestation regimes and their application in vegetation management and water modelling in the Upper and Lower Foothills of Alberta},
	volume = {7},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {S23-S33},
	publisher = {Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science},
	abstract = { The operational forestry practices employed by Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. in the Upper and Lower Foothills of Alberta, Canada integrate a broad range of tools to plan, implement, and manage post-harvest site regeneration of pure and mixedwood boreal forests. Following tree harvesting, mechanical site preparation is often used to improve microsite conditions to promote conifer seedling establishment or natural regeneration. Chemical and mechanical site preparation and stand tending control competing vascular weed species. To meet forest regeneration commitments, incorporating knowledge gained from forestry experimentation, long-term field data and iterative deterministic modelling into modified management approaches is employed to formulate appropriate vegetation management strategies. These strategies consider and balance multiple biodiversity (e.g., habitat supply modelling), physical environmental (e.g., streamflow), and societal (e.g., industrial fibre requirements) needs relative to a regenerated vegetation complex. From this experience and understanding, the Company developed a series of generic establishment regimes (GERs), which prescribe detailed silvicultural activities to achieve site-regenerated vegetation complexes in alignment with higher-level forest management planning. An outcome of the GER formulation was the development of corresponding plant community assembly diagrams (PCADs), which describe vegetation complexity and permit calculation of total biomass relative to the time series of silvicultural activities within each GER. In turn, these allow forest planners to model biological, physical, and societal factors, while taking into consideration specific stand growth trajectories based on impacts of silvicultural activities on vegetation biomass and species composition. The GERs and PCADs help formulate vegetation complexes over time and are used to guide the behaviour of a vegetation growth model used in conjunction with a hydrologic simulation model. Les pratiques forestières utilisées par la compagnie Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. dans les hauts et les bas contreforts en Alberta, Canada, comprennent une large gamme d{\textquoteright}outils aidant à planifier, implanter et gérer la régénération des sites après la récolte des forêts boréales mixtes et à une seule espèce. À la suite de la récolte, le site est couvent préparé mécaniquement pour améliorer les conditions afin de faciliter l{\textquoteright}établissement de semis de conifères ou la régénération naturelle. La préparation chimique et mécanique du site et les soins sylvicoles contrôlent l{\textquoteright}apparition d{\textquoteright}espèces de plantes nuisibles vasculaires. Pour rencontrer les engagements de régénération de la forêt, il a fallu incorporer des connaissances acquises d{\textquoteright}expériences en foresterie, des données à long terme prises sur le terrain ainsi qu{\textquoteright}une modélisation déterministe itérative dans les approches de gestion modifiées; cela a permis d{\textquoteright}établir des stratégies appropriées de gestion de la végétation. Ces stratégies tiennent compte et équilibrent de multiples besoins de biodiversité (p.ex. modélisation des habitats), c{\textquoteright}est à dire fournir des habitats d{\textquoteright}environnement physique (p.ex. écoulement) et de société (p.ex. demandes de fibres industrielles) d{\textquoteright}un complexe végétatif régénéré. Selon cette expérience et la compréhension acquise, la compagnie a mis des interventions sylvicoles qui prévoient des activités détaillées permettant d{\textquoteright}atteindre des complexes de végétation régénérés sur le site qui concordent avec une planification de gestion sylvicole de niveau élevé. Un résultat de ces interventions a été le développement de diagrammes d{\textquoteright}assemblage de communautés végétales (PCAD) qui décrivent la complexité de la végétation et calculent la biomasse totale par rapport à la série chronologique des activités sylvicoles dans chaque régime d{\textquoteright}établissement. Cela permet aux planificateurs forestiers de modéliser les facteurs biologiques, physiques et sociétaux tout en tenant compte des courbes de croissance des peuplements spécifiques selon les impacts des activités sylvicoles sur la biomasse végétale et la composition des espèces. Les GER et les PCAD aident à établir les complexes de végétation dans le temps et ils sont utilisés pour servir de guide au comportement du modèle de croissance de la végétation utilisé en concomitance avec un modèle de simulation hydrologique.  Read less },
	keywords = {Millar Western Forest Products Ltd.},
	url = {http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1139/S09-001},
	author = {Godin, Paul and Russell S. and MacDonald, J. Douglas and Putz, Gordon and Prepas, Ellie E.}
}
