New research at the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge could lead to healthier forests that take more carbon out of the atmosphere, say researchers. Dr. Suzanne Simard and Dr. Dominik Roeser are leading field-based experiments looking at silviculture practices by the B.C. lumber industry in the 1960s and 1970s, and how those 60-year-old forests could now be much improved. The view back then was to grow and harvest stands of Douglas-fir, like a Saskatchewan farmer might raise fields of wheat. The result is plantations that are not as biodiverse, nor as productive as they should be, said Simard. …Selective logging and cutting-edge equipment will be used to address biodiversity and carbon deficits in industrialized conifer plantations. The project involves transitioning monoculture stands to healthier forests, with greater species diversity, and testing various retention levels and harvesting techniques.