Book Description

This project was developed to identify a set of risk indicators to predict the risk of summer-ground loss at the watershed level within the Vanderhoof Forest District (VFD) and others, subsequent to the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation of lodgepole pine stands. This report was done in relation to the VFD annual cut of stands, and the following difficultings that operators found in running their equipment in wet versus dry soils in harvest years. Risk indicators were selected from available GIS information, aerial photographs, and local knowledge. The most effective indicators for predicting the risk of wet-ground areas at the watershed level were found to be lodgepole pine content, understorey, drainage density, sensitive soils, and the topographic index, all of whose values are available from provincial databases. The work includes information on materials and methods, results and discussion, the authors' conclusions, as well as recommendations.--Includes text from document.