Growing up on Lake Superior’s north shore and surrounded by boreal forest, I developed a deep fascination with the intricate relationship between forests and aquatic ecosystems. As my undergraduate studies progressed, I discovered that nutrient regimes in soils were only a piece of a larger mosaic of nutrient cycles within forested landscapes. As global water cycles have been under the public eye with increasing attention due to impacts of climate and land use change, I wanted to better understand the effects of forest harvesting on streams and rivers. My supervisor at the University of New Brunswick highlighted that there was a gap in long-term studies of nutrient regimes in managed forested watersheds and suggested that secondary successional forests deplete stream nutrients through rapid growth and nutrient uptake. Using tree nutrient prediction equations, I created mean annual uptake estimates across diverse forest types and age classes, exemplified through the Upsalquitch River Watershed.

Navigating my first major research project seemed daunting initially, but with the support of mentors and forestry experts, I was able to overcome barriers like inconsistent forest inventory reporting and navigating large datasets. I hope that my project may act as a foundational framework for larger research initiatives to produce better predictive models for forested watershed nutrient budgets.