Canadian Forest Service Publications
Forecasting the spatial distribution of logging residues across the Canadian managed forest. 2018. Barrette, J.; Paré, D.; Manka, F.; Guindon, L.; Bernier, P.; Titus, B. Can. J. For. Res. 48: 1470-1481.
Year: 2018
Issued by: Laurentian Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 39346
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1139/cjfr-2018-0080
† This site may require a fee
Abstract
There is a growing interest in using logging residues as feedstock in the bioeconomy. However, quantifying the amount of this resource over large areas has been difficult due to the lack of availability and consistency in forest inventory data across jurisdictions, and the lack of a clear definition of what constitute logging residues. The goal of this study was to develop an approach to spatially estimate the amounts of logging residues that would potentially be available in the near future across the Canadian managed forest using remote sensing maps and to compare these estimates to field assessments. Remote sensing estimates of branch and foliage biomass, although only a fraction of total post-harvest residual biomass, were generally comparable to estimates from field assessments of recoverable residues after harvesting at the forest management unit (FMU) scale or at the 100-km2 scale. However, they tended not to capture the strong variability between sites and to underestimate observed field values in regions that have very high biomass density. On average, the national logging residue density is estimated to be 26 ± 16 oven dry tons (ODT) ha-1, and annual national availability is estimated to be 21 M ODT y-1. Maps produced are made available at http://dx.doi.org/10.23687/5072c495-240c-42a3-ad55-c942ab37c32a.
Plain Language Summary
In this article, the researchers present a new approach to spatially estimate the amount of harvest residues that would potentially be available in the short term for the bioeconomy.
At the forest management unit level, branch and foliage biomass estimates based on remote sensing were generally comparable to field estimates. However, estimates based on remote sensing did not demonstrate the high variability between sites.
Across Canada, harvesting residues average 28 bone-dry tons per hectare and annual availability is estimated at 21 million bone-dry tons per year.