Boreal forests subject to low fire activity are complex ecosystems in terms of structure and dynamics. They have a high ecological value as they contain important proportions of old forests that play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity and ecological functions. They also sequester important amounts of carbon at the landscape level. However, the role of time since fire in controlling the different processes and attributes of those forests is still poorly understood. The Romaine River area experiences a fire regime characterized by very rare but large fires and has recently been opened to economic development for energy and timber production. In this study, we aimed to characterize this region in terms of live aboveground biomass, merchantable volume, stand structure and composition, and to establish relations between these attributes and the time since the last fire. Mean live aboveground biomass and merchantable volume showed values similar to those of commercial boreal coniferous forests. They were both found to increase up to around 150 years after a fire before declining. However, no significant relation was found between time since fire and stand structure and composition. Instead, they seemed to mostly depend on stand productivity and non-fire disturbances. At the landscape level, this region contains large amounts of biomass and carbon stored resulting from the long fire cycles it experiences. Although in terms of merchantable volume these forests seemed profitable for the forest industry, a large proportion were old forests or presented structures of old forests. Therefore, if forest management was to be undertaken in this region, particular attention should be given to these old forests in order to protect biodiversity and ecological functions. Partial cutting with variable levels of retention would be an appropriate management strategy as it reproduces the structural complexity of old forests.

受低火活动影响的北方森林在结构和动力方面都是复杂的生态系统。它们具有很高的生态价值，因为它们包含重要比例的古老森林，这些古老森林在维护生物多样性和生态功能方面发挥着至关重要的作用。他们还在景观水平上隔离了大量的碳。然而，自火灾以来的时间在控制这些森林的不同过程和属性中的作用仍知之甚少。罗曼河地区经历了一场以罕见但大火为特征的大火，最近已向经济发展开放，用于能源和木材生产。在这项研究中，我们旨在通过地面上的活生物量，可交易量，林分结构和组成来表征该区域，并建立这些属性与自上次火灾以来的时间之间的关系。地上平均活生物量和可买卖量显示的值类似于商业性北方针叶林的值。发现它们都在火灾后增加了约150年，然后才下降。但是，自火灾以来的时间与林分结构和组成之间没有发现显着关系。相反，它们似乎主要取决于展台的生产率和非火灾干扰。在景观水平上，该区域包含大量生物量和碳，这是由于经历了漫长的火灾循环而导致的。尽管就可交易量而言，这些森林对于林业产业来说似乎是有利可图的，但很大一部分是旧森林或现存的旧森林结构。所以，如果要在该地区进行森林管理，则应特别注意这些古老的森林，以保护生物多样性和生态功能。具有不同保留水平的部分采伐将是一种适当的管理策略，因为它重现了旧森林的结构复杂性。