The application of silvicultural systems in the B-19 Foothills, region of Alberta was examined in the light of current problems in management, silviculture, and utilisation. Following a regional description, in which a classification of site is developed, certain silvicultural systems were examined and recommended for the dominant stand types which occur on three major site groups, viz:- 1. Dry Upland 2. Moist Transition 3. Wet Consideration was given in each case to clearcutting, shelterwood and selection systems. Recommendations were based on the information presented in the preceding chapters and that available in those references cited in the bibliography. It has been pointed out in conclusion that there are three main phases in the development of control of the silviculture and management of the region. These are:- 1. The preparation of management plans for sustained yield. 2. The selection of silvicultural systems to, bring silvicultural control into the framework of sustained yield management. 3. The development and application of cultural treatments through research to improve local conditions and to help solve particular regeneration problems. The importance of the hypothesis presented in Chapter III is finally re-stressed with reference to the above mentioned development phases. That is - That there are already available to the practising forest management planner, silvicultural systems which are applicable, with or without further adaptation, to the forest stands of the region and to the sites described. Certain fields of research have been suggested throughout the text and these were summarised in a final recommendation. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

Net primary productivity (NPP) is a key ecological parameter that is important in estimating carbon stocks in large forested areas. NPP is estimated using models of which leaf area index (LAI) is a key input. This research computes a variety of ground-based and remote sensing LAI estimation approaches and examines the impact of these estimates on modeled NPP. A relative comparison of ground-based LAI estimates from optical and allometric techniques showed that the integrated LAI-2000 and TRAC method was preferred. Spectral mixture analysis (SMA), accounting for subpixel influences on reflectance, outperformed vegetation indices in LAI prediction from remote sensing. LAI was shown to be the most important variable in modeled NPP in the Kananaskis, Alberta region compared to soil water content (SWC) and climate inputs. The variability in LAI and NPP estimates were not proportional, from which a threshold was suggested where first LAI is limiting than water availability. / xii, 181 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

Leaf area index (LAI) provides forestry information that is important for regional scale ecological models and in studies of global change. This research examines the effects of mountainous terrain on the radiometric properties of multispectral CASI imagery in estimating ground-based optical measurements of LAI, obtained using the TRAC and LAI- 2000 systems. Field and image data were acquired summer 1998 in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. To account for the influence of terrain a new modified approach using the Li and Strahler Geometric Optical Mutual Shadowing (GOMS) model in 'multiple forward mode' (MFM) was developed. This new methodology was evaluated against four traditional radiometric corrections used in comination with spectral mixture analysis (SMA) and NDVI. The MFM approach provided the best overall predictions of LAI measured with ground-based optical instruments, followed by terrain normalized SMA, SMA without terrain normalization and NDVI. / xiv, 151 leaves : ill. (some col.), map ; 29 cm.

Accurate estimation of Net Primary Productivity (NPP), which is a key component of the terrestrial carbon cycle, is very important in studies of global climate. Ecosystem models have been used for NPP estimates. Determining how much each source of uncertainty contributes to modeled NPP is veiy important before ecosystem models can be used with confidence over larger areas and time periods. This research has systematically evaluated the boreal ecosystem productivity simulator (BEPS) carbon model in mountainous terrain, Kananaskis, Alberta. After parameterization of the model, sensitivity analysis was conducted as a controlled series of experiments involving sensitivity simulations with BEPS by changing a model input value in separate model runs. The results showed that NPP was sensitive to most model inputs measured in the study area, but that the most important input variables for BEPS were LAI and forest species. In addition, the NPP uncertainty resulting from topographic influence was approximately 3.5 %, which is equivalent to 140 kg C ha"1 yr"1. This suggested that topographic correction for the model inputs was also important for accurate NPP estimation. Using the topographically corrected data, the carbon dynamics were simulated, and average annual NPP production by forests in Kananaskis was estimated at 4.01 T ha"1 in 2003. / xix, 117 leaves : col. ill. ; 29 cm.