Energy, Mines, and Resources
Forestry
Research
The Forest Management Branch has a long history of conducting and supporting research in the Yukon Territory. Our emphasis is on supporting co-operative approaches to the identification of research and monitoring priorities, and the development and delivery of research and monitoring programs. We also support research and monitoring that assists with sustainably managing forest resources in the Yukon.
Below is a sample of some of the research and monitoring projects currently underway at the Forest Management Branch. More information on these and other projects is available.
Establishment of an Adaptive Management Framework
We support ongoing efforts to establish adaptive management frameworks in support of the Strategic Forest Management Plans for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory and the Teslin Tlingit Traditional Territory. Adaptive management is a management approach that rigorously combines management, research, monitoring and means of changing practices so that credible information is gained and management activities are modified by experience.
Initial Status Report: Local Level Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management
We are coordinating the development of Initial Status Reports for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory and the Teslin Tlingit Traditional Territory. The Strategic Forest Management Plans for these traditional territories establish a number of objectives of forest management. Indicators are “signs” that determine whether progress is being made toward achieving the objectives of the plan. The Initial Status Reports will serve as a baseline against which all future monitoring reports will be compared.
Model Forest Special Project Area
The Champagne Aishihik Traditional Territory Model Forest Special Project Area was a one-year program that was jointly funded and supported by the Model Forest Program, Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Yukon Forest Management Branch, and the McGregor Model Forest. Projects that were underway in 2006-2007 included a wood product assessment, a community capacity development project, a project to develop and deliver a questionnaire to gather local knowledge on indicators of sustainable forest management, and a project to compile socio-economic indicators.
Fuel Abatement Monitoring Program
In cooperation with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and with assistance from the Research and Monitoring and Fuel Abatement Technical Working Groups (inter-departmental and inter-agency working groups that were established under the implementation agreement for the Strategic Forest Management Plan 
), the Forest Management Branch initiated a successful pilot program last year to monitor the effectiveness of fuel abatement treatments in the southwest Yukon. The objectives of the pilot monitoring program were:
- to initiate a field-based sampling program for monitoring the effectiveness of fuel abatement treatments as part of the monitoring program under the Strategic Forest Management Plan;
- to assess the applicability of the program for community-based monitoring and the potential of the program to build local capacity;
- to assess whether or not the fuel treatment work carried out by contractors was consistent with the site prescriptions; and
- to assess whether or not the treatments were effective in reducing the risk of a crown fire developing in these stands.
Research Forests
The Forest Management Branch is involved in managing a network of research forests across the territory that came under Yukon government management in 2003 as a result of devolution. These research forests were originally established by the Government of Canada for the purposes of forest research and forest management studies. The first draft strategic plan the Gunnar Nilsson and Mickey Lammers Research Forest was released in 2004.
Climate Change Adaptation Research
The Forest Management Branch, Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, University of British Columbia (UBC), and the Model Forest: Special Project Area Program are supporting UBC researchers who are leading a series of focus group discussions on climate change in the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory. These focus groups build on an earlier project entitled Forest Management in a Changing Climate: Building the Environmental Information Base for Southwest Yukon and the Champagne Aishihik First Nation/Alsek Renewable Resource Council community workshop Climate Change in our Backyard. The aim of this stage of the research project is to seek the viewpoints of resource management practitioners on the applicability of alternative forest renewal strategies that may be undertaken in light of climate change to achieve the objectives of the plan.
The Forest Management Branch is:
- supportive of efforts to build local forest management capacity through the communication of research results, and by encouraging opportunities for local participation in research and monitoring projects.
- interested in research that informs the development of forest-based legislation and policy and identifying best management practices.
- interested in research in support of implementation of strategic forest management plans, including research that supports the adaptive management of forest resources in the Yukon.
- actively seeking feedback on research and monitoring needs and is actively encouraging new research partnerships. We are currently working towards standardizing our process for supporting researchers who express an interest in working with us, and our partners, in implementing some of our research and monitoring needs and priorities.
Research - Contact Us:
We are interested in your feedback. If you are currently conducting forestry related research or are considering initiating a research project in the Yukon, we are interested in hearing from you. For more information on research and emerging research priorities at the Forest Management Branch, please contact:
Aynslie Ogden, M.Sc., R.P.Bio., P.Ag., R.P.F.
Forest Science Officer, Forest Management Branch
Department of Energy, Mines and Resources
Government of Yukon (K-918)
Box 2703, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 2C6
Phone: 867.633.7908
Fax: 867.667.3138
Email: aynslie.ogden@gov.yk.ca