I am a forester with the New Brunswick, Canada department of natural
resources and energy. My main interest is land classification for forestry
and conservation purposes, and as such my direct interests are the study of
climate, geology, and soils, as these affect terrestrial natural plant
community composition and distribution and forest stand growth and yield.
Fish biologists in New Brunswick manage 7.1 million hectares of watershed,
mostly (over 85%) forested.
Biodiversity was a prominent word in the announcement of the start of this
list. I'm interested in the wisdom of the group regarding the best approach
to managing the biodiversity of fresh water habitats in predominantly
forested areas.
What are the best predictors of aquatic community composition (plants,
invertebrates, vertebrates) that lend themselves to mapping? Do they
include any of the features we commonly use for land classification, such as
climate, geology, geomorphology, topography and soil?
Among peoples' favourite study topics in natural resources are tree growth
(good for the wallet), deer populations (people like hunting), and fish
populations (people like to fish). Foresters therefore grow lots of trees,
wildlife biologists grow lots of deer/ducks, and fisheries biologists grow
lots of fish, especially the ones that are fun to catch and taste good. Are
we adequately looking after biodiversity, though? Do we know much about the
factors affecting the character of freshwater habitats, and are we looking
after the variety of habitats, poor and rich? Can we name all the flora and
fauna associated with the variety of habitats we're looking after? Do we
monitor habitat quality? Are we doing more than performing "quick fixes" on
populations using technology like hatcheries and tree nurseries?
Maybe this will flush some of the professional managers out of hiding ;-)
Just wondering about these things
Vince Zelazny