NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

Tags: forest fire, forest regrowth, forest management

Objective(s): 1) To monitor the recovery of NWT forests following wildfire to better understand post-fire changes on forest composition and ground vegetation. 2) To develop baseline information about proposed forest management areas to support assessment of harvesting impacts on these areas.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5902. This project has two main objectives: 1) To monitor the recovery of NWT forests following wildfire to better understand post-fire changes on forest composition and ground vegetation 2) To develop baseline information about proposed forest management areas to support assessment of harvesting impacts on these areas. For objective 1 methods are as follows: - Revisit existing network of forest plots established following the 2014 fires to evaluate recovery of these forests seven years after the fire. This includes remeasurement of seedlings and ground vegetation, collection of vegetation and soil samples, drone surveys to support upscaling of lichen biomass and other forage species measurements, end-of-season permafrost probing, and mapping of downed wood. At eight of these sites, a single, near-surface permafrost core (i.e., short core) will also be collected. Mature forest sites that burned in 2023 will also be revisited to evaluate combustion severity and residual vegetation. - Establish new sites in holdover fires and 2023 fire sites. Holdover fires, also called zombie fires or overwintering fires, are becoming more common with changing climate. After the 2014 fire season, many fires overwintered, smoldering in the peat soils, and resulted in reignitions the following spring, earlier than fires would normally start. The research team will access 20 of these holdover fires in the summer of 2022. The team will use existing plot protocol (60 m2 rectangular plot in which burn severity, forest structure, tree and ground vegetation recovery, and soil carbon stocks will be measured) to understand how these holdover fires may differentially impact forest recovery and soil carbon losses compared to single season fires. Paired plots will be established with one site in the holdover fire and one site in the neigbouring single season fire to allow for this comparison. New fire ecology sites will also be established following existing protocols from 2023 fire scars around Fort Smith, including at the Tsu Lake camp used for training students in Aurora College’s ENRT program, with the primary goals of supporting development of fire ecology research infrastructure and capacity within Aurora College and its students and supporting post-fire evaluation of locations important to local communities. The research team will work with communities in and around Fort Smith to identify locations that are important to evaluate and monitor for recovery. For objective 2, methods are as follows: - complete vegetation surveys in the proposed forest management areas in existing monitoring transects that follow the fire monitoring protocol described above. Vegetation surveys will also be completed in adjacent areas that will not be harvested to serve as unharvested control sites. A small amount of leaf material will be collected from each site for evaluation of pre-harvest nutrient status at the sites. - update and repair existing permafrost monitoring instruments and install deep ground temperature monitoring in sites where permafrost conditions may be affected by harvest. The communication plan involves three key components: 1. The research team in the coming summer will include staff and students from the Environment and Natural Resources Technology Program (ENRTP) at Aurora College’s Thebacha Campus in Fort Smith, a community that was evacuated for an extended period during the 2023 wildfire season. These individuals will be trained in leading methods for quantifying the impacts of wildfire in northern forests. An attempt will be made with Aurora College to identify a ENTRP student to hire as part of our research team this summer. The establishment of sites in and around Fort Smith will also create opportunities for ongoing training of ENRTP students in these methods in the north by northerners and build up research and monitoring data that can support research programs of college faculty on the increasingly important topic of wildfire impacts. The project includes support for Laurier researchers to spend time at the Thebacha campus, working with faculty and students on sample processing and analysis, data exploration and analysis, and research reporting. This will provide opportunities for ongoing research collaboration and training. 2. Inclusion of GNWT researchers as active members of our research teams: This project involves direct collaborations with ECC Forest Resources (Lisa Smith, Kathleen Groenewegen, Oleg Melnik), Fire Management (Rick Olsen, Matt Coyle), and the Geomatics group (Jurjen Vander Sluijs). There will be a meeting in Hay River to discuss research activities on April 9/10, 2024. The field teams often include GNWT staff as active team members, which helps to ensure an understanding of the methods/protocols being used, inclusion of these individuals in the research activities and decisions, and critical points of contact to ensure awareness of research progress. 3. Engagement in community and government meetings and on-the-land knowledge sharing events: the research team is committed to participating in both formal and informal knowledge sharing activities throughout the field season and as data analysis and writing advances in several ways. First, to spend time in communities and participate in community activities wherever possible thereby developing relationships and learning from community members. Second, to engage actively in community, regional, and territorial meetings aimed at sharing our research results in these more formal settings. Similarly, the team meets with Territorial and Indigenous governments regularly to provide updates on research activities and advances. Third, to develop plain language materials to communicate results broadly. These include but are not limited to infographics, digital stories, and reports. Fourth, to make our data openly available and accessible to the public thereby ensuring access by NWT stakeholders, communities, or future research teams. Finally, through other grants, collaborate with communities on on-the-land camps aimed at two -way exchange of knowledge and engagement of Indigenous youth in science. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: June 04 - October 31, 2024