Forest renewal and health
In this section
Forest health in the NWT
Forest health conditions across the Northwest Territories (NWT) are monitored to ensure the forest has the capacity for renewal after a wide range of disturbances, and for retention of its ecological resiliency while meeting current and future needs of NWT residents.
What's being monitored?
The focus of forest health activities has been on monitoring insect and disease impacts in the NWT forests.
Since 2015, the Government of the Northwest Territories has also been recording abiotic disturbances to address the uncertainty of forest ecosystem response to a changing climate.
Examples of abiotic disturbances recorded during monitoring surveys include: drought symptoms (reddening of foliage, sun scalding scars, stunted and gnarled foliage), flooding, wind and snow damage, land slumps, and permafrost related disturbance (“drunken forest” phenomenon).
