Eric Searle on the Forest Modelling Platform for Ontario.

Forest Modelling continues to advance at a rapid pace spurred on by the adoption of new technology that is making land management more efficient and more nuanced. Eric Searle helps us wrap our heads around what the Province of Ontario is doing on this front.

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..... The presentation covers the different levels of modelling that occur to inform forest management.....

As a part of the Emerging Conservation Technology segment at the Indigenous Lands Symposium, participants heard a presentation from Eric Searle PhD about Building an integrated forest modelling platform for Ontario. Eric is a research scientist for the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Forest Research and Monitoring Section of the Ontario Forest Research Institute, he has been mentoring PhD candidate Connor Jones from Lakehead University to work on a large landscape modelling scenario with inputs from Wahkohtowin.

The presentation covers the different levels of modelling that occur to inform forest management: Regional+, Landscape, Stand, and Tree, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each level. On their own each level has difficulties modelling complex interactions such as climate change and the impacts of various management scenarios over decades. By integrating the strengths of the different levels, further models can be used to estimate parameters and examine co-benefits of complex scenarios. This work is continuing and will be available to the public once complete.

Author: Isabelle Allen RPF, Project Forester