Can Hybrid Poplar Plantations Reduce the Cost of Achieving Caribou Conservation Goals?

Abstract

This study investigates the role hybrid poplar may play in reducing the cost of achieving self-sustaining status in herds of boreal caribou, an ecotype of woodland caribou, Rangifer tarandus caribou found in northeast Alberta. Boreal caribou are currently listed as threatened both provincially in Alberta and federally in Canada. As hybrid poplar has a short-rotation and high yields, incorporating their use as a form of intensive forest management might reduce the pressure to harvest in the extensively managed forest which contains caribou habitat. A timber supply optimization model is developed which incorporates both timber values and the rate of change in caribou populations. As regulations exist which would restrict the use of hybrid poplar on public land, several alternative policy scenarios that relax these regulations are developed. The timber supply model is used to analyze the impact that each alternative policy will have on the net present value of a forestry firm, rates of caribou population change, and the cost of increasing the those rates to a sustained level. The results could contribute to policy discussion surrounding the use of hybrid poplar in Alberta.