This report presents the importance of best management practices for mitigating erosion from resource roads and preventing sediment from entering a watercourse. Key to achieving these goals is the understanding of erosion from the road surface and the level of connectivity from the delivery point of the sediment-laden water onto the forest floor and the watercourse. This report provides a list of best management practices that is specific to resource roads.
The research and technology transfer has national implications that will support bioenergy facilities and rural and Indigenous communities across the country. The CWFC is continuing this work to increase our understanding and expand the safe and sustainable use of biomass for bioenergy.
Le transfert des connaissances et de la technologie soutiendra les installations de bioénergie ainsi que les communautés rurales et autochtones dans l’ensemble du pays. Le CCFB poursuit ce travail a n de mieux comprendre et d’élargir l’utilisation sûre et durable de la biomasse pour la bioénergie.
The researchers suggest partial harvesting - in this case, thinning forests in 20-year increments during the natural pest disturbance periods. The result is a cost-effective and sustainable way to harvest trees and maintain resilient forests.
Les chercheurs suggèrent une récolte partielle; dans ce cas, l`éclaircissage des forêts par tranche de 20 ans pendant les périodes de perturbation naturelle des ravageurs. Le résultat est un moyen durable et économique de récolter des arbres et de maintenir des forêts résilientes.
Forests make up nearly 35 per cent – 347 million hectares – of Canadian land. For the forest sector, that’s a lot of inventory to manage and monitor. To run any successful business, inventory needs to be monitored. That’s why researchers at the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC) are enhancing current inventory systems to improve how forest managers, provincial governments, and other communities across Canada manage forests.
Le Canada compte 347 millions d’hectares de forêt, ce qui correspond à près de 35 % de sa super cie. C’est beaucoup de stocks à gérer et surveiller pour le secteur forestier. Pour gérer avec succès une exploitation, une surveillance des stocks s’impose. C’est la raison pour laquelle les chercheurs du Centre canadien sur la bre de bois (CCFB) s’emploient à améliorer les systèmes d’inventaire actuels de manière à améliorer la façon dont les aménagistes forestiers, les gouvernements provinciaux et d’autres collectivités du Canada gèrent les forêts.
The FastTRAC project brought together scientists, foresters and economists from the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Laval University, FPInnovations, the Government of Québec, J.D. Irving, and the New Brunswick Tree Improvement Council. They demonstrated tree genomic-assisted selection at the operational scale and highlighted the economic benefits of FastTRAC technology.
Des chercheurs primés du Centre canadien sur la bre de bois du Service canadien des forêts (CCFB/SCF) mènent cette recherche génomique dans le cadre d’un projet appelé FastTRAC (Fast Tests for Rating and Amelioration of Conifers / Tests rapides pour l’amélioration des conifères). Ces travaux transforment les programmes traditionnels d’amélioration génétique des arbres, ils améliorent la sélection des arbres et ils dotent les producteurs de semences de recherches et d’outils essentiels.
La recherche sur les cultures intensives en courte rotation du CCFB fournit les connaissances et la technologie dont nous avons besoin pour atténuer les effets du changement climatique en améliorant la façon dont nous gérons les forêts et utilisons les produits ligneux récoltés.
Compared to slower growing trees like spruces, hybrid poplars and selected aspens grown in these plantations are ready for harvest in less than 20 years. The technology development specialists established this a mixed wood crop to evaluate how short-rotation or fast-growing tree crops (123 to 17 years to maturity) could sustain and expand the bioenergy sector. High-yield crops like these are crucial for the sector, which relies on woody biomass to produce clean energy.
Intelligent transportation system safety applications such as an approaching vehicle emergency warning, co-operative collision warning system, and co-operative adaptive cruise control, may have potential to improve road user safety on resource roads. This report documents a feasibility study of these safety applications under the operating environments and road conditions of resource roads. This report found that existing safety messages could be tailored to the needs of resource road operations. Two safety-related use cases
(i.e., oncoming vehicle warning and one-lane bridge warning), and two non–safety-related use cases (i.e., platooning and teleoperation) are presented.
This report is part of V2X report series. Refer Technical Report no. 20 to know more about user interface for broadcasting V2V basic safety messages to drivers and Technical Report no. 55 for V2X coverage results.
Native forest insects are an essential part of the forest ecosystem. However, increased density beyond a threshold, or their invasive nature – as seen with Spruce budworm (SBW) in eastern Quebec in recent years – can cause long-lasting damage to a healthy ecosystem. Developing tools and means for identifying risk early on, to effectively deploy control measures, has been one of the critical objectives of collaborative research through the “SBW Early Intervention Strategy” network, with researchers from NRCanCFS, the Healthy Forest Partnership, provincial governments, universities, industry, and FPInnovations. This information is especially needed for the comprehensive forest management program used for timely intervention in New Brunswick.
The load-bearing capacity of forest roads is often reduced by excess water combined with harsh weather conditions. This decreases the reliability of these roads and has an impact on the cost and access to fiber. In order to overcome this challenge, the construction of feeder roads is one of the most used solutions. This technique involves shaping the road and allowing it to consolidate for a period of time to reduce its moisture content prior to the placement of granular materials. Although this practice is widespread, its effectiveness had never been quantified. With this in mind, FPInnovations, in collaboration with several members of the forest industry, evaluated the technical, financial and functional benefits of this practice.
Abstract
La capacité portante des chemins forestiers est souvent réduite par un excès d’eau associé à des conditions climatiques difficiles. Ceci diminue la fiabilité de ces routes et a un impact sur le coût et l’accès à la fibre. Afin de pallier ce défi, la construction des routes d’avance est l’une des solutions les plus utilisées. Cette technique consiste à faire la mise en forme de la route et à la laisser consolider pendant un certain temps pour diminuer sa teneur en humidité avant la mise en place des matériaux granulaires. Bien que cette pratique soit répandue, son efficacité n’avait jamais été quantifiée. C’est dans cette perspective que FPInnovations, en collaboration avec plusieurs membres de l’industrie forestière, a évalué les avantages techniques, financiers et fonctionnels de cette pratique.
Forest fuel treatments are applied across a broad range of ecosites in Alberta and Canada, with an overarching goal of managing hazardous fuel buildup to mitigate wildfire. These treatments use various manual and mechanical processes to achieve fuel treatment objectives. Planning and application of a specific forest fuel treatment technique is often shaped by several factors, including objectives of the fuel treatment, availability of resources (personnel and equipment), and commitment to using local resources (socio-economics). In addition, site conditions in certain ecosites will favour the application of some treatment techniques over others.
With the broad nature of numerous fuel treatment techniques applied over a wide range of environmental conditions, it is difficult to document all treatments and develop comparative productivity and cost evaluations. This summary of fuel treatment studies accesses current research to present relevant findings and identify knowledge gaps in research on stand-level fuel treatment productivity.
Through the Forestry 4.0 program, FPInnovations is investigating and testing telecommunication technologies for the forestry industry, this includes the application of TV White Space (TVWS) technology. TVWS radios operate in the frequency spectrum between 450 to 698 MHz and the majority of this spectrum is unlicensed and not acquired through federal government auctions. A short-term field trial was conducted in Central Québec forest operations in December 2020.
Cost-effective connectivity will bridge the gap between the forest and the rest of the supply chain. Operational efficiency, flexibility and worker safety will be improved by enabling instant communication with currently isolated logging operations. This report summarizes the findings and results obtained in this first operational trial aimed at quantifying the scope of mobile connectivity through this new technology.
Par l’initiative Foresterie 4.0, FPInnovations trouve et met à l’essai des technologies de télécommunication pour l’industrie forestière tel que la technologie TV White Space (TVWS). Les radios TVWS opèrent dans le spectre de fréquence de 450 à 698 MHz et la majorité de ce spectre est non-licencié et pas acquis par l’entremise des enchères du gouvernement fédéral. Un essai sur le terrain à court terme a été réalisé dans une exploitation forestière du centre du Québec en décembre 2020.
Une connectivité rentable comblera la division entre la forêt et le reste de la chaîne d'approvisionnement. L'efficacité opérationnelle, la flexibilité et la sécurité des travailleurs seront améliorées en permettant une communication instantanée avec les opérations d'exploitation forestière actuellement isolées. Ce rapport résume les constats et résultats obtenus lors de ce premier essai opérationnel visant à quantifier la portée d’une connectivité mobile grâce à cette nouvelle technologie.
Modified oxygen consumption calorimetry was used to track the seasonal flammability of black spruce and tamarack. Age class related samples were collected for both species from May to September at research site in central Alberta. These samples were assessed for their differential heat release using test equipment at the Protective Clothing and Equipment Research Facility (PCERF) at the University of Alberta.
The test method was able to successfully quantify the differences in seasonal flammability between black spruce and tamarack. Data showed the age-related flammability differences were less pronounced, with the exception of new growth samples early in the season.
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s (AAF) Wildfire Management Branch recently contracted two Sikorsky S-61N heavy helicopters. Both helicopters are equipped with an external tank (max. volume 1000 U.S. gallons) and have on-board injection systems that are capable of mixing class A foams and water-enhancers.
Currently, there is limited data on comparative drop footprints of foam and water-enhancers (suppressants) for these heavy helicopters. To fill this knowledge gap, AAF has asked FPInnovations to conduct drop tests in different wildland fuel environments. This study focuses on mapping the drop footprints of water, foam, and water-enhancers in black spruce stands at specific flight parameters.
Reduced surface evaporation rates are marketed as a competitive advantage by water-enhancer manufacturers. In this report, a new test method is developed and applied to quantify the evaporation rates of various commercially available water-enhancer products in a controlled environment. These quantified evaporation rates were then compared to the evaporation rate of water which served as the benchmark.
