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Inside This Issue

• Poplar in Abitibi-Témiscamingue
• Member Survey
• Herbicide Working Group Update
• New Research on Hybrid Poplar
• Poplar Pruning
• Establishing Walker Poplar Plantations

Poplar in Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Jim Richardson, Technical Director, Poplar Council of Canada

Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue Region is relatively little-known to most Canadians, and even to a lot of Quebecers. Located in the northwest part of Quebec, it is in the Boreal Forest Region and the natural forest cover is mostly boreal mixedwood. The central part of the region lies on the Clay Belt, which extends into the Timmins-Kirkland Lake area of northeast Ontario, and this area has significant agricultural development. The primary economic resource of Abitibi-Témiscamingue has long been its mineral wealth which has supported an intensive mining industry. In more recent years, forest industries have also become important.

The Poplar Council of Canada held its annual meeting in September 2003 in Rouyn-Noranda, the most important city of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Three different one-day field study tours were offered during the meeting. The present article provides some information about one of those tours that included management of natural aspen stands and establishment of experimental hybrid poplar plantations in the Harricana Forest, and a visit to the Trécesson Nursery. All sites visited were in the Amos area of the region.

The Harricana Teaching and Research Forest of 3020 ha provides sites for training forest workers at the Harricana School Commission. The Commission manages the forest, favouring practices best suited to the needs of periurban forestry. Since the forest is actively used for recreation as well as harvesting of wood, multi-resource land management strategies are developed and tested to meet the needs of the local population. Specifically, the forest is important habitat for moose and ruffed grouse, key wildlife species in the area, and hunting these animals is a very significant economic activity.

On clearcut areas in the Harricana Forest, experimental plantations have been established following site preparation by disc scarification. The plantations include different proportions of hybrid poplar and white spruce or Norway spruce. The intention is to create a situation of mixed plantation management. The plantations visited on the tour had only been established a few months previously.

An arboretum at the Trécesson Nursery is one of a series of 19 arboreta and two populeta established by the Service de la génétique, de la reproduction et de l’écologie of the Ministère des Ressources naturelles, de la Faune et des Parcs of Quebec. The objective of these arboreta is to bring together on specific sites several forest genetic improvement trials, to obtain information on adaptation and productivity of certain species under different ecological conditions, and to create a genetic resource which could be used in tree improvement work. The Trécesson arboretum occupies 79 ha of sandy loam and clay soils in the fir-white birch forest type. The climate is very cold, continental and relatively dry, with 90 frost-free days, annual precipitation of 865 mm, mean summer temperature of 15.4°C and absolute minimum temperature of -52.8°C. Since 1969, 35 experimental plots have been established with 34 different softwood and hardwood species, primarily exotics. Over the years, several exotic species have shown poor growth and high mortality due to lack of adaptation to the local growing conditions. However, other species, or at least some provenances, have shown significant adaptation.

Clonal tests of hybrid poplars at Trécesson have allowed the evaluation of the performance of a large number of clones and the selection of those best adapted to the rather severe bioclimatic conditions of the western fir-white birch forest type. The hybrids Populus x jackii, P. maximowiczii x P. balsamifera and P. x berolinensis are among the best adapted. Average height of the 10 best clones after 10 years (including a thinning after 5 years) was 9.7 m, with the maximum height being 11.1 m.. In a clonal trial of 72 clones of Leuce Section poplars and 31 hybrid clones from the Tacamahaca Section (P. balsamifera) including P. x berolinensis, the Leuce clones were removed after 5 years growth and after 10 years the average height of the 10 best Tacamahaca clones was 10.1 m with the best height being 14.2 m for P. x berolinensis. Other hybrids of P. maximowiczii are also being evaluated at Trécesson.

Other field study tours offered visits to partial cutting in aspen and white spruce, cohort management and clonal structure of aspen stands, and young plantations of hybrid poplar, as well as to the LVL poplar plant of Temlam at Ville-Marie and the OSB poplar plant of Norbord at La Sarre. Grateful appreciation is expressed to the organizers of all three field study tours for extremely relevant, interesting and well-arranged visits illustrating the challenges and successes of poplar management and research in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Region.

Member Survey

The Executive Committee and Working Groups of the Poplar Council of Canada (PCC) have been discussing the possibility of PCC making efforts to become more visible and taking a more proactive role on issues relating to poplar growing and management. This could mean the PCC becoming more of an advocacy group than at present. Some current issues include:

* Forest 2020 in relation to intensive poplar management
* Land taxation and intensive (short-rotation) poplar management
* Herbicide registration for intensive poplar management
* Access to breeding stock

To solicit members’ input and guidance on the future direction of the PCC, which is after all your organization, we are sending out a survey questionnaire to all members. This is intended to help members tell the Executive Committee how they feel about the kind of activities in which PCC presently engages and some other possibilities that we might consider in future. There is also space for members to enter their own ideas on other possible future PCC activities.

Our intent is to present the preliminary results of this survey at this year's annual meeting in Vancouver (August 8-11). After further analysis and review by the Executive and Working Groups, we would plan a more in-depth discussion with the membership at the 2005 annual meeting, at which we hope to develop a strategy for a strong and effective Poplar Council of Canada.

Update: PCC Herbicide Working Group

Lee Charleson, Poplar Council of Canada

The Herbicide Working Group was established in 2001 following the Poplar Council of Canada’s Annual Meeting and workshop in Regina. During the workshop the Herbicide Working Group (HWG) was formed and mandated to look at the range of herbicides currently available that were appropriate for use on poplars but not currently registered and to determine the process involved in obtaining registration. The work of this committee has become very timely and relevant given the current Forest 2020/ Greencover Plantation Demonstration Project and its focus on fast growing plantations.

Presently the HWG consists of volunteers from industry, government and consultants. In the last year the committee has narrowed down a list of 8 potential herbicides of interest to two products, Goal 2XL (Oxyfluorfen - PCP#24913) and Lontrel 360 (Clopyralid - PCP#23545). In August 2003 the HWG made a request that the Poplar Council act as sponsor for a User Requested Minor Use Label Expansion (URMULE) application to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). With approval of the PCC the group has been working to gather the needed information to prepare a submission to PMRA.

Both herbicides are products of DOW Agrosciences so the HWG arranged to meet with DOW representatives on February 10, 2004. It was a good morning of sharing information about the cropping of poplar and to learn from DOW’s experiences on the URMULE process. Since that meeting, the HWG has formulated a strategy to submit a formal request to register Lontrel 360 as an herbicide for use on SRIC (short rotation intensive culture) poplar. It is now preparing a risk assessment by reviewing existing data on poplar crop tolerance and weed efficiency. This work is being completed with the assistance of a consultant from outside of the PCC volunteers.

As a result of the preliminary discussions with PMRA about the proposal we have been asked for more information on SRIC poplar plantations. The HWG is now preparing to make a presentation about it and to provide support of the Lontrel 360 URMULE application.

For more information about this working group, visit the Herbicide Working Group page on this website.

New research on hybrid poplar with Domtar in Quebec - a 5-year program

M. S. Burgess, McGill University, Montreal

A new hybrid poplar research project has been launched in southern Quebec by a group of researchers from three Quebec universities and collaborators from the Domtar pulp and paper mill in Windsor QC. The research team includes professors Jim Fyles and Benoît Côté (McGill University), Claude Camiré (Université Laval), and Christian Messier (Université du Québec à Montréal, UQAM), postdoctoral fellows Magdalena Burgess (project coordinator; McGill) and Lluis Coll (UQAM), doctoral student Wilgens René (Laval), and several undergraduate assistants. Domtar staff, especially Denis Gingras, Pierre Shink and Éric Lapointe of the hybrid poplar program, have been actively involved in all phases of project planning and continue to work closely with the university researcher in project implementation and in ensuring coordinated integration of operational activities with research needs. Pierre Périnet of Quebec's Ministry of Natural Resources (Ministère des Ressources naturelles, de la Faune et des Parcs, MRNFP) was also actively involved in conceiving the project. The Quebec Ligniculture Network (Réseau Ligniculture Québec, RLQ) was instrumental in bringing together the group involved in the project and supporting development of the original proposal, and RLQ staff person Patrick Filiatrault provided help in setting up the first studies. We will be recruiting more graduate students in future; interested candidates are invited to contact us (see address below).

The first hybrid poplar plantations established by Domtar's Windsor mill (1997) were on agricultural sites, but suitable farmland has become increasingly unaffordable. In 2001 Domtar's focus shifted to forest sites, and the company currently plants hundreds of hectares annually on previously logged land deemed suitable for hybrid poplar production. Domtar's site preparation for hybrid poplar on forest sites in southern Quebec (Beauce and Estrie/Eastern Townships regions) involves brush cutting and disking (modified forestry disk-harrow) a year before planting. The trees are planted out as rooted stecklings 1 to 2 m tall to minimize deer damage, at 3 m x 3 m spacing. A range of clones (about 15 different clones each year) are planted, in patches of < 4 ha per clone per cut-block.

In defining research objectives, the team was struck by the almost total lack of information regarding hybrid poplar production on forest sites, a practice increasingly common in Quebec but rare elsewhere. The young trees in Domtar plantations are growing well, but many questions remain unanswered concerning optimal site and clone selection, yield prediction, nutrient needs, impacts of soil pH and liming on different clones, and weed control.

Our studies focus on soil fertility management, site-growth relations and related issues, for hybrid poplar plantations on both forest and farmland sites. Specific objectives include:

* Evaluation of lime and fertilizer effects on hybrid poplar growth and nutrition on acidic forest soils, and on related parameters such as soil pH, soil nutrients, deer damage and weeds;

* Comparison of soil nutrient availability in plantations (limed and unlimed) versus young forest left "as is", using ion-exchange membranes (PRSTM probes);

* Development of diagnostic tools with which to assess plantation nutrient status and fertilizer needs, for different hybrid types (P. nigra x maximowiczii, P. x canadensis (=euramericana) x maximowiczii, and P. maximowiczii x balsamifera);

* Evaluating and understanding impacts of weeds and weed control on hybrid poplar growth and related factors (tree physiology, soil conditions);

* Growth modeling (ecophysiological models) and yield predictions;

* Identifying factors correlated with hybrid poplar performance (site-growth relations) for our clones and growing conditions.

The research is supported primarily by cash and in-kind contributions from Domtar matched by NSERC in the form of a Collaborative Research and Development Grant, with additional support provided by the Quebec Ligniculture Network and the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources. The total 5-year budget exceeds one million dollars.

We feel that the ongoing sharing of ideas among researchers and practitioners is a valuable feature of our research work, helping us to develop a program that should provide results of both practical and scientific interest. We hope that follow-up activities can continue beyond our initial 5-year funding period, so that treatment effects, site-growth relationships, yield and nutrient data can be evaluated and validated on a long-term basis.

For more information about our work, you may contact Dr. Jim Fyles (fylesj@nrs.mcgill.ca), Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Montreal, Quebec, H9X 3V9.

Poplar Pruning

Cees van Oosten, SilviConsult Inc.

The following article was modified from a response prepared for a Turkish colleague who had approached the PCC for information about poplar pruning.

Poplar pruning is a standard practice in many places in Europe for the production of peeler wood for the veneer market. Veneer is used for a variety of products, ranging from plywood to boxes for the fruit and vegetable industry. Pruning consists of 2 to 3 lifts to produce a knot-free log suitable for the veneer industry; the log length varies, but is usually a multiple of peeler block lengths. The Europeans aim at a knot-free shell around a knotty core with a diameter of 10 to 12 cm, with a circumference of about 38 cm.

Pruning of hybrid poplar has not been a common practice in North America, where most poplar is grown for industrial uses, such as pulp & paper or OSB. There is a growing interest in Canada to establish and manage hybrid poplar and aspen plantations for more than just industrial fibre. It would therefore make sense for landowners to select a plantation density that provides the flexibility to extract maximum value from their new crop; pruning may be one cultural practice to help achieve that.

Some owners have platforms mounted on a 100-hp tractor to prune from about 5 meters and up (picture 1) and they can handle 2 rows at a time. The platform is raised to a height of 5 meters and two workers, standing on either side of it, use pneumatic shears to clip off the branches. A 3-men crew, 1 driver and 2 pruners, can prune 500 trees per day (6 hour field day in Italy!).

In Oregon, Potlatch Corporation uses a different approach. Plantations are drip-fertigated (irrigation with fertilizer solution) and are planted with very short dormant, unrooted cuttings flush with the ground. Planting densities vary from 600 to 800 trees per hectare on a 12-year rotation. The company produces veneer logs, saw logs and chips. Because of the excellent climate and the fertigation, poplars grow 3 to 5 meters in the first year and continue 3 to 4 meters of growth for the next two years. Potlatch carries out four annual lifts at the beginning of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth growing seasons, usually from March to May, to minimize development of epicormic branches. The first lift is to 1.5 meters, using hand pruning shears. The second lift to is to 2.4-2.7 meters with long-handled pruning shears or loppers. The third and fourth lifts go to 5 and 8 meters respectively, using a pole pruning saw. The worker lifts the saw to its maximum height for that year (e.g. 5 meters) and then moves the saw down the stem while cutting the branches. This way the weight of the saw can be supported by the still uncut branches below. Labour productivity of the first lift is about the same as for the last one. Work is done by contract on a per hectare or per tree rate basis.

The labour component is still high at one person per machine. A major setback is that the machine cannot prune a second, third or fourth lift without having to start from the very bottom of the stem; it travels and thereby prunes portions of the stem already pruned. For a pruning system that requires several lifts, this machine is not the answer.

For more information, contact Cees van Oosten at silviconsult@telus.net.

Establishing Walker Poplar Plantations: The Saskatchewan Experience

Ken Van Rees, University of Saskatchewan

In the early 1900’s, the Forestry Branch of the Department of the Interior, as it was then known, was responsible for planting trees in shelterbelts and plantations. Much of the early work by Norman Ross, who was chief of the Tree Planting Division in Indian Head SK, was in establishing plantations of cottonwoods, Russian Poplar, Scots pine, Siberian larch, elm and maple as a potential source for fuel and income for new settlers. It is interesting to read the chronicles of their activities from 1904 through the 20’s in the Department of the Interior Annual Reports and the success and failures they experienced with establishing plantations across the Prairies.

Today, we are trying to build on those past experiences by developing fast growing plantations as a source of fibre for the forest industry, added diversification to farmer income, biomass production for fuel and the potential to sequester carbon to meet Canada’s commitment for Kyoto. In 2002, a group in the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan, working with the University of British Columbia, Mistik Management Ltd. in Meadow Lake, AAFC-PFRA Shelterbelt Centre in Indian Head and PRT Nurseries in Prince Albert, SK began a study to understand how cultural practices affect the establishment and growth of Walker poplar plantations.

The study, funded by NSERC, is looking at the performance of three stock types: cuttings, rooted cuttings and rooted plugs, the effects of pruning and fertilization on growth, how weeds compete with poplar for nitrogen, initial nutrient budgets for projecting long term sustainability and how these plantations accumulate carbon above- and below-ground. These studies are carried out on two sites with different farm management histories: cropping and pasture.

We started planting our trees in the spring of 2002 which happened to be one of the driest years on record and it resulted in about 30-50% survival for the cuttings, and about 85-97% survival for the rooted cuttings and plugs. We realized that even in the harshest of growing conditions, seedlings with established root systems performed better than those without roots suggesting that cuttings are a higher risk in drier years. Survival dropped again in the second year to 14% for the cuttings and about 75% for the rooted cuttings and plugs which was a combination of the drought, poor hardening off in the previous fall and a spring frost. It’s interesting to note that foresters observed these same problems with poplars planted on the prairies a 100 years ago.

Weeds have been our greatest problem, which reinforces the need to conduct proper weed management prior to planting the stock. We have also focused on how competitive dandelion and quackgrass are for soil nitrogen with poplar using pot and field studies and we will be modeling this nutrient competition in the future. Our other growing concern is the heavy moose browsing that has occurred in our plantations the last two years and how this might impact plantation growth.

Our preliminary results on below ground carbon using video cameras in tubes installed in the ground show Walker root production values of 3.5-5.0 Mg ha-1 yr-1 and that life-spans for fine roots range between 30-200 days. Understanding the importance of fine roots is essential when considering nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration at the plantation level. The project will be completed in 2006.

For further information please contact Ken Van Rees at vanrees@sask.usask.ca.

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Last edit: 2005-04-21