Project Code:	WEYDV-02-037
Program:	FRIP
Area:	Applied Research
Sponsor:	Weyerhaeuser Company Limited
Region:	Edson
Project Status:	Complete

The study was conducted in the Chip Lake burn area within Weyerhaeuser’s Edson FMA in June and July of 1998. The primary objectives of the study were to develop a basic inventory of forest songbirds and woodpeckers for portions of the Edson FMA, to quantify the use of burned areas by forest songbirds and woodpeckers immediately post burn, and to collect baseline information for the design of potential experiments on salvage logging of areas burned in the Chip Lake Fire. A total of 1,224 observations, representing 55 species, were recorded during point count surveys. The ten most common species accounted for 64% of all records which is typical of boreal forest communities. Burned and unburned areas shared some of the most common species. There was no significant difference in bird species richness or abundance, per station, between burned and unburned sites. Due to delayed mortality, it is expected that subsequent changes in the vegetation structure in these areas will lead to related changes to the bird community. This work also led to the development of guidelines for site selection for a salvage-logging experiment. The final report was submitted in January of 1999 by F.K.A. Schmiegelow, entitled “Bird Distribution in Burned Areas of the Boreal Mixedwood Forest, Immediately Following Fire”.