In this study we compared the effects of fire on understorey vegetation in the Québec southern boreal forest with effects of salvage-logging (clear-cutting after fire). All 61 400-m² sampling sites were controlled for overstorey composition (Deciduous,Mixed and Coniferous) and disturbance type, which consisted of three fire impact severity (FIS) classes (Light, Moderate and Extreme) and two harvesting techniques (Stem-only and Whole-tree Harvesting). Percent-cover data of vegetation and post-disturbance environmental characteristics were recorded in the field during the first two years after fire as well as soil texture. Ordination of fire alone demonstrated that, on Coniferous sites, fire initiates a succession whereby the understorey Coniferous sites approaches that of Deciduous-Mixed sites,due to the release of the understorey from Sphagnum spp.dominance, this pattern being a function of FIS. On Deciduous-Mixed stands, increased FIS resulted in a transition from herb to shrub dominance. Ordination of all five disturbance types showed that the impact of salvage-logging on understorey composition was within the range of fire, but marginalized to the extreme end of the FIS spectrum. Variance partitioning demonstrated that overstorey and soil texture were the most important explanatory variables of fire alone, while disturbance type explained the largest independent fraction of understorey variation when salvage-logging was introduced. Salvage-logging also results in significant reductions in understorey abundance, richness and diversity, while indicator species analysis suggests that it favours mesoxerophytic to xeric species. Results are interpreted in light of shade-tolerance dynamics, forest floor disturbance and soil moisture regimes. Implications for sustainable forest management are discussed.

Ecosystem management, by seeking to emulate natural disturbance, has been proposed by the ecological and forest management community as a means of maintaining the biodiversity and productivity of boreal forests, key components of sustainable forest management (SFM). However, it is argued that ecosystem management overlooks the paradox inherent in the concept of Nature, limiting the scope of the SFM debate by maintaining a binary opposition between Nature and Society, humans and the environment. Nature is paradoxical because humans are part of Nature, by the theory of evolution, while at the same time Nature is a social construction created by humans, and thus artificial. Recourse is made to postmodernism in order to examine the metaphysical and sociopolitical implications of the deconstruction of this paradox. Based on a review of the philosophy of Foucault and Derrida, the concept of Nature is demonstrated to be socially mediated, an entwinement of reason and power. In order to address metaphysical challenges of the Nature–Society dualism identified above, I refer to Habermas's theory of communicative action and cite results from a case study in this regard. Results from this case study prompt a critical examination of the legitimacy of a discourse ethic about Nature, making use of the negative dialectics of Adorno. As a result, at the metaphysical level, a different role for ecologists and forest managers in public participation procedures is proposed, one whereby ecologists talk through Nature to the evolutionary agents to which it is intended to refer as a means of discussing whether specific management options will contribute to sustainable development. It is argued that at the sociopolitical level SFM will necessitate improved transparency and participation in forestry, criteria that can be attained through community-based ecosystem management. Both elements require a science more actively engaged with civil society.