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Save Algonquin's Old-growth Forests
A project to find and document endangered old-growth forests in Algonquin Park
Old-Growth Forests Consume Highest Levels of CO2
“large, old trees do not act simply as senescent carbon reservoirs but actively fix large amounts of carbon compared to smaller trees; at the extreme, a single big tree can add the same amount of carbon to the forest within a year as is contained in an entire mid-sized tree.” (Stephenson et al., Nature, 2014)
About the Project
Old-growth forests in Algonquin Park continue to be logged as CO2 keeps increasing.
It is estimated that 60,000 acres of old-growth forest are available for logging in Algonquin. This project is dedicated to locating and documenting these remaining endangered ecosystems within the 65% of Algonquin that is not officially protected from logging. (photo: remains of an old-growth red pine forest in Algonquin Park)
“In the short-term, individual groups and societies might profit from forest destruction. However, with old-growth forest vanishing at an unprecedented pace, mankind as a whole loses the ecosystem services provided by these forests… [including their] spiritual and/or aesthetic nature, genetic resources, non-timber products, habitat for wildlife, the sequestration of carbon, the prevention of floods and erosion, to name only a few...
Data on old-growth forests are generally scarce… NGOs involved in the protection of old-growth or primary forests need fast and efficient survey methods and, given the land-use pressure on the remaining areas, they cannot afford to waste time.” (Old-Growth Forests, Wirth et al. 2009)
Declining Species and Ecosystems (photo: red pine logs, Algonquin Park)
It is now generally accepted that old-growth forests in Ontario, south of the Boreal Forest region, are rare ecosystems at minimum. More likely, they are endangered, as has been documented for North America’s old-growth red and eastern white pine forests (Quinby 1993, EAB 1994).
Logging of Algonquin’s endangered old-growth forests began in the early 1800s and continues to this day – 60,000 acres (24,000 hectares) are available for logging within 65% of the Park. In addition, AESL (2010) found that the following 13 tree species have significantly declined in the Park over the last two centuries including: American elm, basswood, black cherry, eastern hemlock, eastern white pine, jack pine, larch/tamarack, northern white cedar, red oak, red pine, red spruce, white ash, and yellow birch.
Habitat declines in Algonquin have had negative impacts on bird species including barred owl, blackburnian warbler, black-throated green warbler, brown creeper, oven bird, parula warbler, red-shouldered hawk, saw-whet owl, white-winged crossbill, and wood thrush (AESL 2010, Geleynse et al. 2015). Additional species impacts due to humans have been documented in Algonquin for wolves (Benson et al. 2015), moose (McLaughlin et al. 2011), beaver (AESL 2010), lake trout (Shuter et al. 2015), gray jays (Derbyshire et al. 2015), bees (Nol et al. 2006, Nardone 2013), hoverflies and click beetles (Nol et al. 2006), and crayfish (Hadley et al. 2015).
Quinn (2004) assessed forest habitat changes in Algonquin since the 1800s and found the following main changes: “loss of conifer, alteration in gap size structure, qualitative change in woody debris, a reduction in basal area and of “supersize” trees, and a reduction in early successional riparian (beaver) habitat.” He goes on to say, “With the continued maturation of the forest landscape in and around Algonquin Park the long-term outlook is for a moose–wolf system and, perhaps inevitably, the return of the gray wolf.”
We agree that the Algonquin Park landscape should continue to mature, however, this requires protecting much more than 35% of a park. The Government of Canada (2018) has committed to protecting, “…at least 30 percent of terrestrial areas and inland water” in the country. This means increasing protected area in Ontario by at least 15 million hectares. We believe that this new protection should start with unprotected areas inside existing parks.
Seeking Citizen Scientists and Supporters
Ancient Forest Exploration & Research http://www.ancientforest.org is looking for assistance to identify and characterize unprotected old-growth forests in Algonquin Park. You can help by locating and documenting old-growth forest, making a donation or both! Please contact us if you are interested.
The purpose of this project is two-fold: 1) conduct forest assessments in the field to determine if forest composition mapping for Algonquin's potential old-growth forests is accurate, and 2) describe those unprotected forests that have been confirmed as old-growth with photographs, videos and other field data including ages determined by tree cores where possible.
Field reports will be produced for each old-growth landscape that is assessed and will be used to educate the public and advocate for their protection. We will share our results with The Wilderness Committee and Global Forest Watch so that they may use our findings to promote protection of these endangered ecosystems.
If you share our concern for the Algonquin landscape or just want to learn more about this project, we want to hear from you.
Bibliography
ArborVitae Environmental Services (AESL). 2010. Management of Algonquin Park West Side Forests. Report Prepared for Algonquin EcoWatch. Georgetown, Ontario.
Benson, J. F. et al. 2015. Resource selection by wolves at dens and rendezvous sites in Algonquin Park, Canada. Biological Conservation 182:223–232.
Derbyshire, R., D. Strickland and D. R. Norris. 2015. Experimental evidence and 43 years of monitoring data show that food limits reproduction in a food-caching passerine. Ecology 96:3005–3015.
Environmental Assessment Board (EAB). 1994. Reasons for Decision and Decision: Class Environmental Assessment by the Ministry of Natural Resources for Timber Management. Ontario Environmental Assessment Board, EA-87-02, 2300 Younge Street, Toronto, Ontario.
Geleynse et al. 2016. Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) demographic response to hardwood forests managed under the selection system. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 46:499–507.
Government of Canada. 2018. Canada Biodiversity Targets 2020. From:http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/eccc/CW66-524-2016-eng.pdf.
Hadley, K. R. et al. 2015. Altered pH and reduced calcium levels drive near extirpation of native crayfish, Cambarus bartonii, in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. Freshwater Science 34:918–932.
McLoughlin, P. D. et al. 2011. Seasonal shifts in habitat selection of a large herbivore and the influence of human activity. Basic and Applied Ecology 12:654–663.
Nardone. E. 2013. The Bees of Algonquin Park: A Study of their Distribution, their Community Guild Structure, and the Use of Various Sampling Techniques in Logged and Unlogged Hardwood Stands. M.Sc. Thesis, Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario.
Nol, E. et al. 2006. The response of syrphids, elaterids and bees to single-tree selection harvesting in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. Canadian Field-Naturalist 120: 15–21.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). 2003. Old Growth Policy for Ontario’s Crown Forests. Version 1, Forest Policy Section, Forest Management Branch, Ministry of Natural Resources, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Quinby, P. A. 1993. Old-growth eastern white pine forest: An endangered ecosystem. Forest Landscape Baselines Report #2, Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, Powassan, Ontario. http://www.ancientforest.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/flb2.pdf
Quinn, N. 2004. The pre-settlement hardwood forests and wildlife of Algonquin Provincial Park: A synthesis of historic evidence and recent research. Forestry Chronicle 80:705-717.
Shuter, B. J. 2016. Fish life history dynamics: shifts in prey size structure evoke shifts in predator maturation traits. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 73:693–708.
Stephenson, N. L. et al. 2014. Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size. Nature 507:90–93.
Wirth, C., G. Gleixner and M. Heimann (eds.). 2009. Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate and Value. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
