Forest Thinning for Biodiversity and Restoration in the Atleo River Watershed скачать в хорошем качестве

Forest Thinning for Biodiversity and Restoration in the Atleo River Watershed

What a mess of sticks this forest has become! Our work in the Atleo river watershed in ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ First Nation Territory involves thinning these overstocked forests that have established after logging to help improve ecological function and diversity in the landscape. Like many forests in this part of the world, after they were initially clearcut logged, they were left to regenerate naturally from the seed bank in the soil, which quickly led to overstocked forests of mostly Western Hemlock that all rapidly compete with one another to fill the clearing. As a result of this fierce competition, the trees choke each other out, creating a dense canopy with no light coming through to the understory and thus no diversity, as well as limited nutrients that stunts the forests succession by hundreds of years. As part of ongoing restoration, we regularly thin these forests to create canopy gaps and openings that allows for complex habitat features to form and biodiversity to flourish. With light now reaching the forest floor, understory growth will be encouraged to create food sources and habitat for wildlife, while also slowing the rate of overland flow of water and helping to build topsoil. We also will plant a mix of other tree species here to break up this monoculture of trees to create a more resilient ecosystem, which will all thrive with more light coming in. The additional space and light that the remaining trees receive helps them grow bigger faster, which helps stabilize these landscapes as the river meanders in the valley, providing complex root structures that secure riverbanks and bigger trees that add complexity to the river channel and create habitat for salmon. Working with ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ and embracing a model of stewardship that intimately connects us to these lands, we recognize that restoration is not a one-time event, and that this thinning is just one part of an ongoing process of monitoring and working to create healthy ecosystems and systems of abundance for a prosperous future for us all. Learn more about what we do at ReddFish.org __________________________________________________________________________ Redd Fish humbly acknowledges the ancestral territories of the Nuučaanuł Nations, who have owned and managed their territories since time immemorial. We gratefully operate in partnership with the Hiškʷiiʔatḥ Nation, ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ Nation, ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ Nation, tukʷaaʔatḥ Nation Government, and the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government.