Ice storm damage and early recovery in an old-growth forest

We quantified the damage caused by a major ice storm to individual trees in two 1-ha permanent plots located at Mont St. Hilaire in southwestern Quebe c, Canada. The storm, which occurred in January 1998, is the worst on recor d in eastern North America; glaze ice on the order of 80-100 mm accumulated at our study site. All but 3% of the trees (DBH greater than or equal to 1 0 cm) lost at least some crown branches. and 35% lost more than half their crown. Damage to trees increased in the order: Tsuga canadensis, Betula all eghaniensis, Ostrya virginiana, Acer saccharum, Fagus grandifolia, Quercus rubra, Betula papyrifera, Acer rubrum, Tilia americana, and Fraxinus americ ana. Only 22% of the saplings and small trees (4 cm < DBH < 10 cm) escaped being broken or pinned to the ground by falling material. Levels of damage generally were greater in an exposed ridge top forest than in a cove protec ted from wind. By August 1999 only 53% of the trees had new shoots developi ng from the trunk or broken branches; among the more dominant canopy trees, Fagus grandifolio had the least sprouting and Acer sarcharum and Quercus r ubra the most. We anticipate and will monitor both significant turnover in the tree community and some shift in composition of the canopy dominants.