[[File:P1340812 DDumais.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Boreal mixedwood stand in Quebec, Canada]] A '''mixedwood stand''' is a [[forest]] type in which the [[Canopy (biology)|canopy]] is made up of a mixture of [[softwood]] trees and [[hardwood]] trees, with at least 25% of the canopy being represented by both types. <ref name="nat">Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service. 1995. Silviculture terms in Canada (Terminologie de la sylviculture au Canada). NRCan, CFS, Ottawa, Ontario, 2nd edition. 109 p.</ref> The term is commonly used by [[forestry]] professionals in Canadian jurisdictions requiring [[forest management]] approaches that consider the [[Silviculture|silvicultural]] needs of both forest types.
== Ontario == Ontario has two major forest [[Biome|biomes]] that are actively managed; the [[Boreal forest of Canada|Boreal]] and [[Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands|Great Lakes - St Lawrence Lowlands]]. The southern extremes of the province include elements of the [[Carolinian forest|Carolinian]] forest, but are in small, sparse pockets that are rarely managed at a large scale. The biomes have different tree species that have different habitat needs. The boreal tree species are primarily [[Picea mariana|black spruce]], [[jack pine]], [[Betula papyrifera|white birch]] and [[Populus|poplar]]. The Great Lakes - St Lawrence Lowlands tree species include boreal species, but also add [[Pinus strobus|Eastern White Pine]], [[Tsuga canadensis|eastern hemlock]], [[Acer saccharum|maples]], [[Fagus grandifolia|beech]] and [[Quercus subg. Quercus|oaks]] to the mix. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-27 |title=Forest Management Guide to Silviculture in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence and Boreal Forests of Ontario {{!}} ontario.ca |url=http://www.ontario.ca/page/forest-management-guide-silviculture-great-lakes-st-lawrence-and-boreal-forests-ontario |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=www.ontario.ca |language=en}}</ref> Mixedwood stands are composed of broad mixtures of these species.
[[Forest management]] approaches in Ontario are largely defined by the Crown Forest Sustainability Act.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994, S.O. 1994, c. 25 |url=https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/94c25 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260318142700/https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/94c25 |archive-date=2026-03-18 |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=Ontario.ca |language=en}}</ref>
== Prairie Provinces == The white spruce–aspen mixedwood forest type is common in the Prairie Provinces. These mixedwood stands have a variety of compositions ranging from pure [[aspen]] to pure [[Picea engelmannii|white spruce]], to mixtures of both. [[Populus balsamifera|Balsam poplar]], [[Betula papyrifera|white birch]], [[Picea mariana|black spruce]], [[Abies balsamea|balsam fir]], and [[pine]]s may also occur.<ref name="rowe">Rowe, J.S 1972. Forest regions of Canada. Can. Dep. Environ., Can. For. Serv., Ottawa ON, Publ. 1300. 172 p.</ref> Silvicultural treatments have generally been aimed at promoting white spruce, primarily through plantation establishment and management. The type of stand of a given association is as much a product of successional stage and stand history <ref name="mcc">McCune, B.; Allen, T.F..H. 1985. Will similar forests develop on similar sites? Can. J. Bot. 63:367–376.</ref> as it is of site type.<ref name="lie1">Lieffers, V.J.; Beck, J.A. 1994. A semi-natural approach to mixedwood management in the prairie provinces. For. Chron. 70(3):260–264.</ref> Depending on seed source and seedbed conditions, recruitment of white spruce may begin relatively soon after disturbance or may be spread over many decades.<ref name="del">DeLong, C. 1991. Dynamics of boreal mixedwood ecosystems. p.30–31'' in'' Northern Mixedwood ‘89: Proceedings of a symposium held at Fort St. John, B.C., Sept. 1989. A. Shortreid (Ed.), For. Can., Pacific For. Centre, Victoria BC, FRDA Report 164.</ref> A major ecological factor in mixedwood management is the [[Spruce Budworm|spruce budworm]]; another is the problem of providing for sufficient spruce [[Regeneration (biology)|regeneration]].<ref name="scar">Project 07-24-0 analysis, Artificial regeneration of spruce in the spruce–fir forest type of Ontario. J.B. Scarratt, Canadian Forest Service, Ontario Region, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. E3933</ref>
Management of mixedwoods in the Prairie Provinces in the 1990s usually used [[clearcutting]]. When [[aspen]] is the main species to be regenerated, little treatment is applied to the site, but slash piles, compaction of soil, and damage to aspen root systems are minimized as much as is feasible in order to encourage suckering. In the [[Pinophyta|coniferous]] harvest, aspen that is not harvested is usually left standing to reduce suckering, as well as for the benefit of wildlife. Regeneration of white spruce is more difficult.<ref name="lie1" /> In general, plantation techniques are used, with mechanical site preparation following clearcutting. Depending on site conditions and availability of equipment, disk trenching, double disking, blading, ripper, or Marttiini plowing, Bracke spot scarification, high-speed mixing, or spot mounding are used. Plantings of white spruce have come to favour the use of large container or transplant stock. In the early years after clearcutting, site preparation and planting, [[List of tree species by shade tolerance|shade-intolerant]] vegetation, such as aspen, ''Calamagrostis canadensis'', and [[Alnus viridis|green alder]] compete strongly with the young outplants, frequently causing death.<ref name="lie1" /><ref name="lie2">Lieffers, V.J.; MacDonald, S.E.; Hogg, E.H. 1993. Ecology of and control strategies for ''Calamagrostis canadensis'' in boreal forest sites. Can. J. For. Res. 23(10):2070–2077.</ref>
==References== <references />
[[Category:Taiga and boreal forests]]