Developing the ancestral territory of Essipit to improve resilience in the face of climate change
The First Nation of the Innu of Essipit (FNIE) has for many years demonstrated its leadership in the protection and effective management of Nitassinan (its ancestral territory), of several threatened or culturally important species, and of their habitats. To this end, a thorough understanding of the impacts of climate change and other disturbances is essential to ensure sound ecological and forest management.
It was against this backdrop that FNIE commissioned Habitat to assess the resilience of Essipit's ancestral forest territory in the face of global change . The precise portrait of the vulnerabilities of forest stands and the courses of action provided by Habitat thus contribute to supporting the First Nation in its long-term planning, in response to the main threats to its nitassinan.
Threats to the Essipit Nitassinan
Our analysis of the area has also shown that a number of global changes could adversely affect Essipit's forest ecosystems and the species they support, as well as the supply of ecosystem services.
According to climate forecasts for the region, an increase in average temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius is expected by 2070 (high emissions scenario), along with an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods and storms.
What's more, damage caused by pathogens and insect pests is set to increase between now and 2050 in the Nordic countries, which have hitherto been protected by cold winters. This poses additional threats to the trees in Essipit's forests.
Assessing stand resilience
A forest's resilience - its ability to resist or recover quickly and effectively from disturbances - is a key characteristic in dealing with current and future threats.
It is considered that the more diverse a forest is in terms of biological characteristics, or functional traits, the better it will be able to cope with the multiple disturbances that could be caused by global change.
However, the functional diversity analysis of Essipit's forest stands revealed the dominance of two major functional groups of trees, revealing low functional diversity. There is a particularly high concentration of low-diversity stands in the north-western part of the territory.
Habitat's vulnerability analysis alsoidentified stands particularly at risk from biotic and climatic threats already present or anticipated in the region. More than half of the stands analyzed are vulnerable to insect pests.
Although still far from the territory, the Asian gypsy moth is a particularly worrying future threat, since it could affect 7 of the 9 most abundant species in Essipit's forests.
As for climatic threats, drought, high winds, temperature variations and freezing rain are among the most worrying, with 88%, 71%, 50% and 38% of stands respectively considered to be particularly vulnerable, and this relatively uniformly across the region.
Where and how to act to increase regional resilience
Habitat has identified several particularly at-risk areas within the Essipit nitassinan, characterized by low functional diversity and high vulnerability to several threats.
The following recommendations, presented to the Essipit Innu First Nation Council and detailed in the full report, aim to increase the resilience of the territory and ensure the sustainability of its ecosystems:
Limit human disturbance, preserve the old-growth forest layer, encourage the establishment of more deciduous stands around its perimeter to reduce the risk of fire spreading, and restore cut stands with functionally diverse species.
Better distribution of functional groups across the territory, through targeted silvicultural interventions
Priority intervention in larger stands with low functional diversity
Choose species that are tolerant to the most pressing threats, such as insect pests, drought and windstorms.
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