REGIONAL SITE RESEARCH

Abstract

Soil features, such as soil texture, mineral composition and soil moisture, and other features of land, such as topography, vary in their effect on forest growth depending upon regional climate. In Ontario, studies of land-forest relationships are conducted within the framework of site regions. Site regions are regions within which the effectivity of macroclimate is assumed to be relatively uniform since these regions are established through comparing the natural succession of vegetation on similar landforms, rather than by meteorological data. From the standpoint of forestry practice, the most pertinent feature of a site region is that it is an area in which similar responses may be expected from similar natural disturbances and forestry practices within similar combinations of landforms and forest types.Regional site research embraces, within each site region:(a) The establishment of landtypes and the description of the physiographic site types occurring within each landtype.(b) The description of the forest types coinciding with stages of succession within each physiographic site type.(c) The establishment of soil types coinciding with physiographic site types and major vegetation controls; also the establishment of variations in soil types resulting from differences in forest succession and forestry practice.(d) The evaluation of each physiographic site type for producing forest and other crops.Thus the aim of regional site research is (i) to describe the various physiographic conditions occurring in a site region so that foresters and land-use planners may recognize them, and (ii) to provide information regarding forest distribution, forest succession and the capability of these physiographic site types to produce forest and other crops, which information may aid these people in designing silvicultural experiments, in making forest management decisions, or in planning alternative uses of the land.Examples have been drawn from the site regions of Ontario to illustrate the principles and methodology of regional research.