Criterion 3: Protecting and Conserving Ontario`s Forest Soil and

Criterion 3: Protecting and Conserving Ontario`s Forest Soil and

Criterion 3: Protecting and Conserving Ontario’s Forest
Soil and Water Resources
The soil and water conservation criterion refers to measures that maintain the quantity and quality of soil
and water within, and flowing from, forested ecosystems.
The primary focus for soil conservation is maintaining the living substrate for forest ecosystems. From a
forestry perspective, the soil environment is the productive soil zone that physically sustains forest growth.
Roots can penetrate the zone to anchor a tree and collect or store nutrients. Soil is fundamental for tree
development and should be monitored to ensure that forest productivity and sustainability are conserved.
Water conservation centers on producing potable water for human and wildlife use, and suitable aquatic
environments for fish, plants and other animals. Forests are particularly important in the regulation of
surface and ground water flow. Nutrient levels and water flows in forest streams can increase following
storms and other natural forest disturbances. Storms increase runoff and water flow in the short-term, for a
few hours to a few days, while fire can have relatively long-term effects, lasting one or more decades. The
effects of harvesting and silvicultural activities are also long-term and, similar to fire, can have relatively
minor or major consequences for forest water balances.
This criterion is examined through two elements: minimizing effects of forest management practices on
forest soil resources, and minimizing effects of forest management practices on water resources. All
indicators in this criterion are indirect or proxy indicators because effective monitoring methods are too
intensive and costly for operational-level monitoring. Forest compliance information is used to support the
soil indicator, and is also used for two of the water indicators. One other water indicator uses spatial
analysis to evaluate the potential landscape-scale hydrologic effects of forest management.
Overall, the effects of forest management practices on soil and water resources are being minimized. There
was however some limitations with the quality of the data used to evaluate the indicators.
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