Revisiting the functional zoning concept under climate change to expand the portfolio of adaptation options. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12030273

Climate change is threatening our ability to manage forest ecosystems sustainably. Despite strong consensus on the need for a broad portfolio of options to face this challenge, diversified management options have yet to be widely implemented. Inspired by functional zoning, a concept aimed at optimizing biodiversity conservation and wood production in multiple‐use forest landscapes, we present a portfolio of management options that intersects management objectives with forest vulnerability to better address the wide range of goals inherent to forest management under climate change. Using this approach, we illustrate how different adaptation options could be implemented when faced with impacts related to climate change and its uncertainty. These options range from establishing cological reserves in climatic refuges, where self‐organizing ecological processes can result in resilient forests, to intensive plantation silviculture that could ensure a stable wood supply in an uncertain future. While adaptation measures in forests that are less vulnerable correspond to the traditional functional zoning management objectives, forests with higher vulnerability might be candidates for transformative measures as they may be more susceptible to abrupt changes in structure and composition. To illustrate how this portfolio of management options could be applied, we present a theoretical case study for the eastern boreal forest of Canada. Even if these options are supported by solid evidence, their implementation across the landscape may present some challenges and will require good communication among stakeholders and with the public.

Nouvel outil de prédiction de la régénération forestière 5 ans après feu dans la sapinière à bouleau blanc. CERFO. Technote 2014-03.

Durant l’été 2010, de grandes superficies forestières ont brûlé en Haute-Mauricie (105 000 ha environ). Immédiatement après le passage d’un feu, des questions importantes se posent pour les aménagistes forestiers : La régénération naturelle sera-t-elle suffisante? Quelle sera la composition des peuplements après feu? Quelle sera l’ampleur des travaux sylvicoles à planifier, en fonction des objectifs de production poursuivis et de l’état de la régénération naturelle (densité, composition)?

Pour aider la planification des interventions sylvicoles sur ces territoires brûlés, le CERFO a développé, en 2012, plusieurs modèles de prédiction de la régénération naturelle en essences commerciales (Côté et al. 2012). Cette étude représente une amélioration d’un premier travail effectué par le CERFO dans les années 2000, qui proposait une première série de clés prédictives de la régénération après feu (Boulfroy et al. 2001).