Poster
Environmental Monitoring and Research

Environmental monitoring of planned forest harvest sites and nearby permafrost terrain in the southern NWT

Theatre Lobby

Author(s)

N. Weiss (Presenting)
Wilfrid Laurier University
J. Baltzer
Wilfrid Laurier University
J. Olesinski
Environment and Natural Resources, GNWT
M. Turetsky
University of Guelph
C. Beel
Wilfrid Laurier University
C. Dieleman
University of Guelph
A. Sniderhan
Wilfrid Laurier University
J. Paul
Wilfrid Laurier University
B. Rusk
Wilfrid Laurier University

South Slave communities and the NWT government are exploring the viability of commercial forest management to increase local biofuel production and promote economic development. The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) signed Forest Management Agreements (FMA) with Digaa Enterprises (Fort Providence) and Timberworks Inc. (Fort Resolution). The FMAs were planned with the involvement of Aboriginal business corporations to ensure for sustainable timber harvest in designated areas around these communities within the next 25 years. A Forest Resource Assessment was completed to calculate an Annual Sustainable Harvest Limit. Harvesting is currently expected to start in the winter of 2020-2021.

However, there is limited understanding of the environmental impacts and sustainability of forest harvesting in permafrost regions. There are concerns over changes in hydrologic and permafrost conditions, which could potentially compromise landscape stability, and impact downstream water quality. Furthermore, little is known about the rates of boreal forest recovery following harvest in high latitude environments.

In the summer of 2019, we started an interdisciplinary project to better understand linkages and study the potential cumulative effects of harvesting on permafrost, hydrology, and forest regeneration in three target catchments that contain proposed harvest areas. Initial field observations were made in July and thaw depth measurements were carried out in October in order to determine the spatial distribution of permafrost. Ground temperature monitoring was initiated in key landscape components.

We plan to expand the current permafrost monitoring network and collect water samples and hydrologic data prior to the proposed harvest and in the years following. Pre-harvest (baseline) and post-harvest observations will be supplemented with data from unaffected control sites. We thereby aim to identify cascading effects from the productive uplands down to permafrost affected wetlands and lakes, as well as the overall ecosystem impacts from forest harvesting.