Dr Rock Ouimet

From

Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife, and Parks, Forest Research Branch - CA

In residence at

INRAE - UR Ecosystèmes Forestiers (EFNO), Nogent sur Vernisson - FR

Host scientist

Dr Nathalie Korboulewsky

BIOGRAPHY

Rock Ouimet got his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Forestry, Geography, and Geomatics at Laval University in 2015, with the speciality in forest soils and tree health. He has been working for the Quebec government at the Forest Research Branch for 32 years. He is associated professor at the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences at Laval University since 1996. Rock Ouimet has been involved in forest soil related research including critical loads of acid deposition for forests, forest decline and dieback, forest health monitoring, forest ecosystem carbon accumulation and cycle, and long-term effects of biomass harvesting in the boreal forest in Eastern Canada.

PROJECT

Application of the critical biomass harvesting concept for improving the diagnosis of soil sensitivity to forest biomass harvesting in the Centre-Val de Loire region

The use of residual biomass from forest harvesting for energy production is viewed increasingly as a means to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and mitigate climate warming. However, the impact of wood energy harvesting on soil and future site productivity remains a major concern.

In France, a diagnostic key at the national scale has been set up to predict soil sensitivity to tree biomass harvesting. According to this key, the majority of the Centre-Val de Loire region is considered highly sensitive to forest biomass harvesting. However, this sensitive forest area warrants further investigation.

A more precise approach at the local scale needs to be developed in order to (1) classify with more confidence sensitive soils in this region, (2) have a budget approach taking into account input and output from the system. In the present project, we will test the so-called “critical biomass harvesting” concept to improve the diagnosis of soil sensitivity to biomass harvesting at the local scale in the Centre-Val de Loire region. This budget approach has been used in several countries, and it will be tested for the first time in the context of biomass harvesting in France.