McCall Engineering (ME) was retained by FPInnovations to conduct the study of non-forest industry loadings on forestry bridges and to prepare simplified Live Load Capacity Factors (LLCFs) for typical forestry bridge types that can be used to screen forestry bridges for an overload quickly. Since data for heavy off-highway non-forest industry vehicles were not readily available, ME proposed to represent overloads by three typical overweight permit vehicle configurations; a standard track width low bed vehicle, a wheeler axle (8-tire axle) low bed vehicle and a wheeler axle platform trailer vehicle. It was assumed that an overweight permit would be sought from the MOF when a non-forest industry equipment transporter plans to move a heavy load on exclusively off-highway routes that include a Forest Service Road (FSR). The live load factors for these configurations operating under single trip permits are well understood and summarized in CSA S6 (Canadian Hwy Design Bridge Code).
The objective of this study was to calculate simplified adjusted LLCFs for representative forestry bridge types, spans and design vehicles, and three reference permit vehicle types and to develop a tool to enable LLCFs to be extracted for spans ranging from 5 m to 70 m and considering four typical bridge cross sections, 13 bridge design vehicles and three reference permit vehicles. The LLCFs can then be used by experienced bridge evaluators to quickly screen-evaluate bridges for any overload vehicle with a similar (or wider) track width as one of the reference permit vehicles.
The success of current and future forest management, particularly when dealing with triggered changes stemming from extreme climate change-induced events, will require prompt, timely, and reliable information obtained at local scales. Remote sensing platforms and sensors have been evolving, emerging, and converging with enabling technologies that can potentially have an enormous impact in providing reliable decision support and making forest operations more coherent with climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives.
This is chapter 27 from the open access book: Boreal Forests in the Face of Climate Change, sustainable Management (2003) available: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-15988-6
The use of night vision imaging systems (NVIS) offers the opportunity to conduct operations such as heli-tanking at night. Due to reduced fire behaviour at night owing to lower temperatures, greater relative humidity, and often less wind, night-time suppression from helicopters can conceptually offer a notable benefit.
To better understand the benefits and limitations of NVIS technology in wildfire applications, the Wildfire Management Branch (WMB) at the Government of Alberta engaged FPInnovations to collaborate on an NVIS-supported operational trial. The intent of this trial was to explore the feasibility of using NVIS in rotary wing operations with emphasis on heli-tanking.
A catalogue listing of the various technology transfer opportunities offered by FPInnovations in forest operations for 2022 - 2023. Opportunities for technology transfer in harvesting, transportation, roads, connectivity, mill yards, GHG emissions, biomass, Indigenous forestry, drones as well as workshops, library, and on-line tools are detailed.
Résumé
Un catalogue des différentes possibilités de transfert de technologie offertes par FPInnovations dans le domaine des opérations forestières pour 2022 à 2023. Les possibilités de transfert de technologie dans les domaines de la récolte, du transport, des routes, de la connectivité, des cours d’usine, des émissions de GES, de la biomasse, de la foresterie autochtone, des drones ainsi que des ateliers, des bibliothèques et des outils en ligne sont détaillées.
A summary of the forest operation research focus areas for 2022-02023 including fibre costs and value, fibre supply, forestry 4.0, workforce all in connection to sustainability and safety.
Relative humidity (RH) and temperature play a large role in the moisture content of available fuels, affecting the fire weather indices that indicate intensity, ignition, and spread potential of wildfires. However, the magnitude of increase in RH and decrease in temperature necessary to impact intensity and ignition potential is dependent on many additional factors including aspect, altitude, wind speed, atmospheric stability, fuel loading, fuel structure, and moisture content of the fuels.
SBW AIDD. Developing an adaptive and intelligent defoliation detector. Adaptive deep and transfer learning to predict tree level SBW annual and cumulative defoliation at various platforms
Defoliators like spruce budworm (SBW) damage trees by eating young needles that emerge early in the growing season. Consecutive repeated attacks removing photosynthetic material impact growth and gradually may result in mortality (MacLean and MacKinnon 1996). Periodic outbreaks are known to affect more territory than fire or forest harvesting in Europe and North America significantly impacting their ecology and economy (Fei et al 2019, NRCan 2016). Hence detection of the early signs of their impacts can help in effective planning of response strategies to control insect spread and minimize the impact on the forest industry (MacLean et al 2019, Liu et al 2019, Nidiquet et al 2016).
The feeding debris created by SBW during bud-burst (late June-early July) that gets entangled in the silken web, generally concentrated towards the top canopies, gives a reddish brown appearance. This short window of opportunity of discoloration is the only visual indication of the annual damage perceivable on large spaces, especially from above the canopy. Operationally available annual aerial surveys conducted by provinces in Canada utilise this narrow opportunity to map annual extent and broad level of severity of defoliation (MacLean et al 1996). Unlike bark beetles whose impact could be seen through predominant discoloration of foliage and eventually a rapid death, cumulative impact of defoliation is a gradual process and discoloration is not visibly evident on lightly defoliated trees. Assessment of annual surveys was found to be less accurate in discriminating light from very light/nil defoliation (MacLean et al 1996). In addition, defoliation being the amount of the chewed, mined or missing needles, unless the tree has moderate amount of bare woody parts, estimation of the cumulative defoliation outside the narrow time window, after opening of the buds, is challenging.
Full copies of the report must be requested through the library@fpinnovations.ca and /or the author
The Trident mobile high-volume water delivery system is self-contained. The main components of the system are two UTVs, a 200 hp high-volume pump, and 7000 feet (2134 m) of 4-inch hose. It can deliver 500 gpm of water at 190 psi in a wildfire operational situation. Alberta Wildfire asked FPInnovations to document three deployments in 2021 to identify opportunities for using the system and to reduce the knowledge gaps around best practices for deployment.
