Research was initiated by the J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI) Forest Research Advisory Committee to understand the role of planted stands under different management regimes as habitat for small mammals, beetles, songbirds, plants, mosses and lichens. There was specific focus on organisms known to require dead trees and coarse woody debris on the forest floor. This was established as a long-term monitoring study and will serve to provide information on value of planted stands from a habitat perspective which is important for JDI to assess ecological sustainability at the landscape level.

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A 1997 evaluation of the J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI) Black Brook Forest District (210,000 ha) in northern New Brunswick resulted in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification (subsequently relinquished), subject to several conditions. The certification evaluation team urged the company to establish a Forest Research Advisory Committee (FRAC) to address uncertainty with respect to management of timber and non-timber values for large forest areas over a long time horizon. The company formed the JDI FRAC in 1998, initially chaired by Dr. Gordon Baskerville, and charged the group with identifying, advocating, and conducting research that would address significant knowledge gaps defined by the certification team, and empower the manager to manage for a broad range of values (Pelletier et al. 2002). Only objective measures of non-timber values will permit the company to manage the temporally/spatially dynamic pattern of stand types and conditions to ensure that all values would be available somewhere in the forest at all times.

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Understanding forest dynamics, succession, and habitat relationships under differing levels of silviculture is the basis of forest management planning. The Acadian forest is comprised of a complex mix of forest communities, including mixedwood stands where boreal softwood and southern hardwoods commingle. This forest is ecologically unique in North America and economically important in northeast North America. The forest provides many ecological services, is biologically diverse, and is the raw material source for the forest industry - a mainstay of the Maritime economy. The succession dynamics of this ecosystem are strongly influenced by natural disturbances, and by a long history of harvest and protection from fire and insects.

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J.D. Irving, Limited’s (JDI) tree improvement program started almost 40 years ago. The tree improvement process included selection of the best individuals in the region’s forests for qualities like rapid growth, tree straightness, and freedom from insect and disease problems. Traditional methods of grafting and planting these trees for quality seed production began at the Parkindale Seed Orchard.

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Looking up for a raptor's nest or looking down for a rare plant - JDI Naturalist, Kelly Honeyman, talks about the extensive environmental training programs that the company conducts each year for over 140 foresters and contractors who work in JDI Woodlands operations.

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Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon stock changes projected over 100 years were quantified for a company managing 2.2 Mha of forest in northeast North America. From 2010 to 2015, company forest operations, sawmills, and pulp/paper mills were forecast to contribute 21, 4, and 75%, respectively, of total emissions. Forest and products were forecast to result in an increasing cumulative net GHG (sequestration minus emissions) sink to 30.7 t CO2e ha1 at year 50. Determining the GHG mitigation potential of forest products requires inclusion of wood, paper, bioenergy, and manufacturing emissions and consideration of natural disturbances, leakage, and avoided emissions.

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