Restoring off‐highway vehicle trails in flood‐prone and riparian forests using balsam poplar cuttings

Recreational off‐highway vehicle (OHV) use can cause significant disturbance to natural areas. The use of local balsam poplar ( Populus balsamifera L.) cuttings may be a solution to supply native plant material for the restoration of flood‐prone and riparian environments. This study investigated the restoration of OHV trails in a recreation area in Alberta, Canada, assessing plant community composition and the use of balsam poplar cuttings, with the goal of restoring plant community structure. Restoration focused on decommissioned OHV trails originally used by the oil and gas industry. We sampled plant community composition and evaluated the performance of three pre‐planting cutting treatments: rooted, unrooted, and direct plant. The plant community composition showed patterns of lower vascular plant and higher non‐native species cover on restored trails, higher diversity of species on the edges and greater cover of native species in the edges and forests. Rooted cuttings showed the highest survival rates and greater growth throughout the three growing seasons, while unrooted cuttings were intermediate; direct plant cuttings showed the poorest performance. The initial diameter of cuttings was positively related to survival and growth in the first growing season. Even after enhancement activities, vegetation on degraded trails may take years to resemble undisturbed areas. In this context, active restoration can speed the establishment of woody and native species on disturbed sites. This study increased our understanding of the factors that influence the survival and growth of balsam poplar cuttings planted in restored OHV trails.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Restoration Ecology

• Publication date

  2025-11-19

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/rec.70247
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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