Forest research at the Turkey Lakes Watershed

The 10.5 km(2) Turkey Lakes Watershed, located on the Precambrian Shield ap proximately 60 km north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is occupied by a typi cal Great Lakes-St. Lawrence sugar maple-yellow birch forest. Since late 19 79, the watershed has been the site of an interdisciplinary study on impact s of long-range transported air pollutants on the biology of forests, lakes and streams, and the recovery of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in res ponse to reduced pollutant deposition. A knowledge base on forest growth, s oils and hydrology, with detailed climate and precipitation chemistry recor ds dating back nearly twenty years has been developed. This history, plus a n available infrastructure, makes the watershed an ideal site to study proc esses across the terrestrial-aquatic interface. A harvesting impacts projec t, for example, was started in 1997. This project is built around a field e xperiment comparing clear-felling, shelterwood, and single-tree selection v ersus uncut control, for appropriateness of application and for impacts on long-term soil productivity, stand function, diversity of plant and animal life, and hydrological and other on- and off-site impacts. The watershed is also a site for the ECOLEAP Project, which is attempting to improve overal l understanding of mechanisms controlling forest productivity, and a site t o test terrain and climate models to model temperature, moisture, energy an d nutrients and the relationship of these to species distribution, abundanc e and productivity at different scales up to the watershed level.