The FORWARD Project: Objectives, framework and initial integration into a Detailed Forest Management Plan in Alberta

Abstract

The Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance (FORWARD) project input into the Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. Detailed Forest Management Plan consists of three main components: 1) watershed and stream layer maps and associated datasets; 2) soil and wetland layer maps and associated datasets; and 3) a lookup table that permits planners to determine runoff coefficients (the variable selected for hydrological modelling) for functional first order watersheds, based upon various site factors and time since disturbance. The watershed and stream layer component includes a hydrological network, a Digital Elevation Model, and Strahler classified streams and watersheds for functional first and third order watersheds in the entire Millar Western Forest Management Agreement area. Relatively coarse mineral soils (which drain quickly) and wetlands (which retain water) were the key features that needed to be identified for the FORWARD modelling effort; therefore, the soil and wetland layers represent a combined soil texture and wetland coverage. The runoff coefficient lookup table integrates predictions of hydrologic impacts of harvest into planning.

Overstory vegetation influence nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon flux from the atmosphere to the forest floor: Boreal Plain, Canada

“…This study is a component of the Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance (FORWARD) Project, a long-term, multidisciplinary study designed to develop hydrological and water quality models for direct application to industrial forest planning in Boreal Plain watersheds (Prepas et al, 2008a). Studies measuring annual N flux in bulk deposition and throughfall often assist with predicting N export in streams draining watersheds (Dise et al, 1998).…”

Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance Project (FORWARD)

“…• The development of predictive tools (e.g., streamflow models, runoff coefficients) were used by Millar Western to improve forest management planning by predicting how the proposed forest management would affect streamflow and water quality (Prepas et al 2008a). …”

Incorporating water quantity and quality modelling into forest management

“…Delineate the digital elevation model (DEM) of the MWFP FMA area into first order watersheds (~ 5 km 2 ) using the eight-direction pour-point algorithm and a reasonable threshold for flow accumulation. This task is already completed and details are presented in Prepas et al (2008). 2.…”

“…The FORWARD project study area includes 16 watersheds (3 to 250 km 2 ) located in the Virginia Hills, Alberta (locations shown in Prepas et al 2008). Seven of the watersheds are relatively undisturbed systems, four were up to 100% burned during the Virginia Hill fire in 1998, four were harvested in 2004, and one was harvested in 2000.…”