Chairholders

Profile

Annie DesRochers

Institut de recherche sur les forêts
Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Chair title

NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Silviculture and Wood Production

Chair program

Industrial Research Chairs program

Role

Senior chairholder since 2019

Summary

Canada's boreal forest is a leading source of wood supply for world markets. Hence it is important to maintain and increase the productivity of this forest through judicious silvicultural practices and management strategies. Intensively managed tree plantations can produce large amounts of wood on limited land areas. Currently, monoculture tree plantations are much more common than tree plantations with a mixture of species or clones. But there is growing evidence that compared with monoculture tree plantations, mixed-species tree plantations offer several advantages, improving physical and chemical soil properties, producing more wood, providing better habitat for biodiversity, and improving ecosystem resilience. Extensively managed natural forests, will, however, continue to provide most of the volume of Canadian wood. In response to the increasing global demand for certified wood, management strategies inspired by natural processes (i.e. ecosystem-based management) will likely become widely applied all over the world.

The main objective of this Industrial Research Chair is to increase forest productivity by applying intensive-silviculture methods that also protect the integrity of forest ecosystems. More specifically, we will 1) assess the impact that establishing fast-growing, intensively managed plantations would have on biodiversity; 2) experiment with innovative silvicultural treatments that increase growth rates and carbon sequestration in managed forests; 3) identify processes involved in fast establishment and growth of planted trees; and 4) restore the productivity of degraded and non-productive forest sites. Because the proposed Chair’s research program has been  developed through discussions with industry and government partners, the results of its research will be used to improve planning and management of forested lands.

Dr DesRochers has over 20 years’ experience in establishing and operating intensively managed, fast-growing plantations. Through her past work with industry partners and government researchers, she has developed expertise in maximizing the growth and yield of tree plantations in northern Canada, thus providing a wood source that offers an alternative to natural forests.

The industry partners for this Chair are Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. and Norbord Inc. (both of which are forest-product manufacturers) and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (a gold mining company). All three partners will play significant roles in developing and carrying out the Chair’s research projects, which will help them ensure that forest resources are sustainably acquired and sustainably managed, and that where the establishment of infrastructure reduces forest productivity, steps are taken to restore it.

Partners

• Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.
• Norbord Inc.
• Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.

Contact information

Institut de recherche sur les forêts
Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Email: annie.desrochers@uqat.ca

Website:
https://www.uqat.ca/services/personnel/fiche.asp?Fiche=020061