Managing second-growth forests as caribou habitat

Habitat management for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia has generally focussed on protecting old-growth forests from logging. As that strategy becomes more difficult to maintain, biologists are beginning to explore opportunities to manage second-growth stands to provide arboreal lichens and other habitat resources important to caribou. Special harvesting and stand management practices are being developed and formulated into strategies for maintaining caribou populations in managed stands

Forestry and caribou in British Columbia

Forest harvesting in mountain caribou range has been an issue for many years. Radiotelemetry studies on mountain caribou in the last decade have helped identify the geographic areas of conflict, improved understanding of the mechanisms by which forestry activities affect caribou, and suggested new approaches to management. Forest harvesting has begun to impact population of northern caribou, and researchers have begun to examine those impacts. Interest in integrating forest management and caribou habitat management has increased and has manifested itself in two ways: experimentation with special stand management practices intended to maintain or create caribou habitat, and the creation of tools to help managers make decisions in a landscape context

Introduction to the Mountain Caribou in Managed Forests Program

Short introduction to a group of papers with focus on the woodland caribou in eastern British Columbia

Review of forestry practices in caribou habitat in southeastern British Columbia, Canada

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia feed mainly on arboreal lichens in winter. Some modified forestry practices that have been used or proposed for caribou ranges are reviewed. Partial cutting results in the retention of some forage lichens. Partial cutting and small patch harvesting may improve lichen growth on the remaining trees. Retention of advanced regeneration and some residual trees may improve lichen growth in the remaining stand. Extension of the rotation age increases the amount of harvestable forest useful to caribou at any one time. Progressive cutting minimizes road access to caribou ranges, and may be combined with partial cutting. Most forestry practices intended to maintain lichen production will result in increased human activity in caribou ranges, unless road access is controlled. The management strategy selected depends on site conditions and on the relative importance assigned to the impact of habitat alteration and human activity on caribou

Place advocacy at Snowshoe Mountain Resort : a case study of a destination ski resort

Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 29, 2009)Vita.Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.The purpose of the research was to gain a greater understanding of what is so special about Snowshoe Mountain Resort. Snowshoe Mountain has a unique sense of place that is established through the built, natural, and social environments that exist within the mountain development. This case study utilized Grounded Theory Analysis. Through the review of qualitative responses to an open ended question about the clients' perceptions of the image of Snowshoe, it became evident that Snowshoe Mountain Resort has a special sense of place. Snowshoe visitors expressed feelings of attachment to the resort along with feelings of restoration. Snowshoe Mountain fulfills all of the characteristics of a restorative environment. Based on an intimate understanding of the mountain location and the behaviors reported in the responses, a new theory emerged. Place Advocacy theory offers an explanation of the behaviors that result from both the development of place attachment feelings and self restoration feelings. Place advocacy behavior includes behaviors of repeated visitation, making recommendations and referrals to others, and feelings of protection, belongingness and ownership over that environment.Includes bibliographical reference

Effect of estrogens on skin aging and the potential role of SERMs

In humans, structural and functional changes attributable to aging are more visibly evident in the skin than in any other organ. Estrogens have significant effects on skin physiology and modulate epidermal keratinocytes, dermal fibroblasts and melanocytes, in addition to skin appendages including the hair follicle and the sebaceous gland. Importantly, skin aging can be significantly delayed by the administration of estrogen. This paper reviews the effects of estrogens on skin and the mechanisms by which estrogens can alleviate the changes due to aging that occur in human skin. The relevance of estrogen replacement therapy (HRT) in post-menopausal women and the potential value of selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) as a therapy for diminishing skin aging are also highlighted

Creative River Journeys: Using Reflective Practice Within a Practice-Led Research Context

The past two years have seen Kylie Stevenson deeply immersed in designing and enacting a PhD research project, Creative River Journeys. The project involves her working with a group of nine artist-researchers who, like Kylie, are also completing their PhDs (or research Masters) at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, and for whom creative practice is a key component of their projects, some identifying as practice led researchers and others not. The co-author of this paper, Sue Girak, is one of those artist-researcher participants. Prior to engaging in the Creative River Journey project, Sue had elected to use the methodology a/r/tography that Kylie also uses. Sue is completing a M.Ed. by research, with a studio practice component. Other artist-researcher participants come from the disciplines of visual arts, performing arts and creative writing. This paper will show how, through conversation and reflection, Kylie and Sue have worked together to document the critical moments – that is, moments of significance or change – in Sue’s creative and research practice using a reflective practice tool called the Creative River Journey. Kylie is particularly driven by her deep interest in identifying meaningful methodologies for practice-led researchers. In this paper, Kylie will give a brief overview of the PhD project including Sue and Kylie’s chosen methodology, a/r/tography. Kylie will outline the theoretical foundations of the project that, like a/r/tography, involve the conceptual terrains of art practice, research and teaching. Using Sue’s practice as a case study, Kylie and Sue will illustrate how the Creative River Journey acts as reflective practice to document the creative process, thus facilitating connections for the artist-researcher between practice and research. Kylie and Sue will propose, with reference to this artist-researcher’s Creative River Journey, that the reflective practice is a method of facilitating and documenting practice-led research

Using Alternative Silvicultural Systems to Integrate Mountain Caribou and Timber Management in British Columbia

Even-aged forest management using the clearcutting silvicultural system as it is currently applied threatens mountain caribou habitat in British Columbia. Since neither complete preservation nor maximum development of timber resources are socially acceptable alternatives, forest managers are anxious to find integrated management options. We describe alternative silvicultural systems currently being tested, including single-tree and group selection. All the treatments have the goal of periodically extracting viable timber volumes while perpetually retaining stand characteristics necessary for caribou. The effects of these logging prescriptions on lichen biomass and growth rates are being tested. Alternative silvicultural systems may become part of a larger strategy to maintain caribou habitat in managed forests

Can partial‐cut harvesting be used to manage terrestrial lichen habitat? A review of recent evidence

Recent research suggests that partial-cut harvesting techniques can be used to alter successional trajectories in pine- and spruce-lichen woodlands, allowing forest managers to extend the period of reindeer lichen growth in mid- to late seral boreal forest stands. In Quebec, a fully replicated partial-cutting trial found that terrestrial lichen abundance remained at least as high in the partial cut as in the clearcuts or unlogged stands, and that the partial cut appeared to be on a trajectory to have even more terrestrial lichen due to sustained higher growth rates. In Alberta, a retrospective study found higher terrestrial lichen abundance in an early horse-logged partial cut than in undisturbed adjacent old forests or in clearcuts. Follow-up studies of partial-cut harvesting trials in British Columbia found that group selection plots 10 years after harvesting had lichen cover equivalent to that of undisturbed forest. In contrast, studies on lichen woodlands that have been defoliated by mountain pine beetle showed a major decline in reindeer lichen cover and a corresponding increase in vascular plant cover, similar to the results of previous studies on clear-cut logging impacts. Taken together these studies provide qualified support for the hypothesis that partial-cut harvesting can be used to enhance, or at least maintain, terrestrial lichen mats used as forage by caribou

Arboreal forage lichens in partial cuts – a synthesis of research results from British Columbia, Canada

The mountain ecotype of the woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is highly dependent on the arboreal hair lichens Bryoria spp. and Alectoria sarmentosa during winter. In parts of British Columbia, partial-cutting silvicultural systems have been used in an effort to provide continuously usable winter habitat for mountain caribou, while allowing some timber removal. We reviewed available information about the changes in hair lichens after partial cutting in Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) – subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) forests of British Columbian and Idaho. Generally, abundance of Bryoria spp. in the lower canopy of individual residual trees increases with increased exposure after partial cutting, until the new regeneration begins to shelter the lower canopy of the residuals. Heavy basal area removal, however, results in low lichen availability at the stand level for many years. Abundance of Bryoria on the regeneration is low, and appears to be limited largely by the structure of the young trees, not by lichen dispersal, although dispersal capability may be limiting in Alectoria. Both distributional and physiological data suggest that Bryoria is intolerant of prolonged wetting, and that increased ventilation, rather than increased light, accounts for enhanced Bryoria abundance in the partial cuts. Alectoria sarmentosa reaches its physiological optimum in the lower canopy of unharvested stands; its growth rates are somewhat reduced in the more exposed environment of partial cuts. Both genera are capable of rapid growth: over a 7-year period, individual thalli of A. sarmentosa and Bryoria spp. (excluding those with a net biomass loss due to fragmentation) in an unlogged stand more than tripled their biomass. Calculated growth rates, as well as dispersal potential, are influenced by fragmentation. Bryoria produces more abundant, but smaller, fragments than Alectoria, and fragmentation in both genera increases in partial cuts. In subalpine mountain caribou habitat, partial-cutting prescriptions that enhance exposure of residual trees while keeping basal area removal low will maintain forage best. Regeneration management should focus on maintaining ventilation in the lower canopy of the residual stand