| Industrial activities such as timber harvesting could enhance habitat suitability for wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), and promote population recovery efforts by increasing graminoid abundance. Wood bison, a threatened species in Canada, prefer graminoid-dominated wetlands, meadows, grasslands, and open shrublands. Clearcutting, a common silvicultural practice in the mixedwood boreal forest of northern Alberta, may mimic these habitats by not only increasing graminoid abundance, but also by creating openings on the landscape similar to open habitat types preferred by wood bison. Currently, there is little information on the effects of clearcutting on boreal forest stand development, particularly understory development, and as a consequence, on the foraging habitat potential of clearcuts. In this research, changes in plant composition and forage biomass availability in 1-28 year-old deciduous/mixedwood boreal clearcuts and mature natural stands (52-91 years) were sampled and statistically tested to assess potential ecological differences in foraging habitat potential. Clearcut stands appeared to develop towards a Populus tremuloides/Rosa acicularis-Viburnum edule vegetation-type, similar to natural stands in the region. Natural and clearcut stands had less herbaceous cover and biomass than more southern boreal mixedwood stands. Young clearcuts (2-12 years old) had enhanced foraging habitat suitability and carrying capacity for wood bison due to increased availability of herbaceous biomass. The capacity for year-round foraging in clearcuts, however, was limited compared to other habitat types such as grasslands. Three management scenarios are presented as a basis for increasing forage abundance.;Keywords. Wood bison, Bison bison athabascae , boreal mixedwood forest, clearcuts, habitat, forage, stand development, northern Alberta. |
