This winter, Camosun College Environmental Technology students Karen, Katie and Patrick teamed up with TLC and a landowner to conduct a biodiversity study of a Coastal Douglas-fir forest on Galiano Island. The landowner recently registered a conservation covenant with TLC and has been actively managing their forest for over 20 years using the principles of ecosystem-based sustainable forestry to mitigate forest fire risk, increase carbon sequestration and benefit local biodiversity.
Galiano Island has a long and intimate history with timber logging. By the 1980’s the chainsaws stopped but only after approximately 50% of the island’s forests were logged. The “forests” that are present today are actually large plots of old tree plantations. They look like forests, but they were really designed for quick regrowth of timber for harvesting. This type of forest doesn’t allow for the return of the once lush Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem flora and fauna as the trees were planted in a very dense manner.
The aim of the biodiversity study is to determine the effects of eco-forestry techniques, specifically on the return of biodiversity. The eco-forestry techniques include selective thinning, trimming and pruning of branches. These actions allow for sunlight to reach the forest floor so that understory plants have a chance to return. As one can imagine, biodiversity projects like this can have a broad scope as biodiversity encompasses many components. The research group has divided the work over the course of six months and will be presenting their findings in June with a presentation and a report.
Over the Christmas holidays, instead of sitting indoors catching up on Netflix and drinking hot cocoa, the researcher students spent their time conducting tree density measurements, including tree coring! Forests are dynamic and go through successional phases, changing the composition of which flora and fauna are occupying the space. Once the group has determined the age of the tree stands in each of the study plots, this will indicate which types of flora are expected to be growing.
The best part for the researchers was sanding down the tree core samples and counting the rings under magnification. In the mature forest they found some trees were up to 150 years old! Their next trip will include identifying moss and lichen species and recording their abundance. Mosses and lichens play a huge role in forest ecology, providing biomass for nutrients to soils, plants and animals. And of course, they are Karen’s favourite kind of flora! Stay tuned to find out what the researchers discover.
