2001/2002 Resource Management Plan for the Vancouver Forest Region
PART 1.0
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN: OVERALL SUMMARY
1.1 STRATEGY AT A GLANCE
Overview:
The Resource Management Plan (RMP) addresses land-based activities from the perspective of biological needs and forest resource management priorities. The plan forms a compendium of priorities determined by BC Ministry of Forests (MOF), BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP), major licensees, woodlot licensees, and other stakeholders. The RMP is designed to provide guidance to all agencies within the forest sector in British Columbia to determine the best activities for investment, regardless of the funding source or the agency actually completing the work.
The 2001/2001 RMP expands and improves upon previous Resource Management Plans. Over the course of Forest Renewal BC’s existence
Funding for various activities and programs has changed. Much of what was previously eligible for Forest Renewal BC funding is now not. This RMP presents priority opportunities regardless of funding source or eligibility and as such demonstrates a direct funding need for those programs and activities that are not eligible for Forest Renewal BC funding. Should funding not be provided for the Forest Renewal BC ineligible program, those works will, in all likelihood, not occur.
General Strategy:
The Resource Management Plan for the Vancouver Forest Region examines land-based resource needs and priorities in terms of:
· Commitments, recommendations, and links to other land and resource management plans.
· The long-term resource implications of current investments.
· The value, risks, and benefits of the various activities and treatments.
· The necessary timelines to meet defined resource management objectives.
· Delivery recommendations, viable options, and consequences of not carrying out the activity.
· Consistency within programs and between delivery centres.
· Providing resource investment recommendations consistent with Forest Renewal BC investment principles and ground rules.
A. Forest Renewal BC eligible programs:
These programs for the three land-based programs that contain activities considered eligible for funding under Forest Renewal BC’s eligibility guidelines.
a) Sustainable Harvest
(1) Objectives:
· Increase the volume, economic value, and health of second-growth forests
· Increase the amount of land available for commercial timber production; and
· Support more informed silviculture investment decisions.
(2) Strategies:
· Develop a prioritised list of incremental silviculture opportunities in the region.
· Recommend a strategy to implement activities that would yield the highest possible returns per dollar invested on the forested land base.
(3) Activities:
The eligible activities under SH are:
· Backlog:
Backlog activities are designed to bring stands that were harvested, damaged, or destroyed prior to October 1, 1987 and are presently insufficiently stocked back into production.
· Impeded:
Activities on impeded areas are designed to bring stands that were harvested, damaged, or destroyed prior to October 1, 1987 and are presently sufficiently stocked to the free growing stage.
· Enhanced Forestry:
Enhanced forestry activities treat free growing stands to enhance their value, volume, biodiversity, habitat supply, and/or health.
(4) Management units:
All
b) Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management
(1) Objectives:
· Indefinitely satisfy needs for timber fibre, and non-timber forest products.
· Ensure conservation of soil and water.
· Sustain the resilience and renewal capacity of forests.
· Support the food security and livelihood needs of forest-dependant communities.
· Conserve biological diversity.
· Provide a more equitable sharing of the benefits from forest uses.
(2) Strategy:
Direct investments to knowledge areas that will strengthen the existing strategic level decisions and plans used to meet the principles of sustainable forest management.
(3) Information Gaps
Knowledge gaps were identified in the areas of growth & yield, silviculture strategies, and harvesting systems, as well as water management, cultural heritage, recreational features, non-traditional forest products, rare and endangered ecosystems, habitat, biodiversity, and identified species.
(4) Management Units:
The seven planning team members were the main conduits of information to the planning process. However, the SSFM component encompasses all planning units.
c) Enhancing Environmental Values
(1) Objective
To speed the recovery of fish habitat and water quality in priority key watersheds that have been damaged or are seriously threatened by forest development activities.
(2) Strategies
· Focus on the resource values of water quality and fish habitat
· Identify priority key watersheds to guide program expenditures
· Maintain an integrated approach towards restoration (i.e. deal collectively with hill slope, riparian and in-stream components)
· Encourage cost sharing with other agencies in order to maximise investment and ensure co-ordination
· Increase accountability and improve monitoring and effectiveness evaluation.
(3) Watersheds
The Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks identified 543 watersheds within the Pacific Region. Of this total, there are currently 130 watersheds that have been identified as being eligible for Forest Renewal BC investment.
B. Ministry Components:
These programs contain activities which, at the time this RMP was assembled, do not qualify for Forest Renewal BC funding under Forest Renewal BC’s eligibility guidelines and therefore require funding from other agencies to proceed. Should funding not be forthcoming these programs, in all likelihood, will not proceed.
d) Current Reforestation
(1) Objective
The objective of the Current Reforestation program is to ensure that all areas deforested through fire, pest, trespass, reverted Forest Licenses since 1988, and Timber Agreement lands are reforested and brought to free growing.
(2) Activities
Activities included under Current Reforestation include planning & prescriptions, site preparation, planting, brushing, maximum density spacing, studies, seedling purchases and other activities directly related to achieving free growing status on qualified blocks.
(3) Management Units
All Timber Supply Areas
e) Forest Health Maintenance
(1) Objectives
The objectives of the Forest Health Maintenance program are:
- Where economically beneficial:
· Ensure existing forest resources are protected from damaging agents; and
· Ensure damaging agents do not impede silviculture obligations or investments.
- Where required to meet stewardship obligations:
· Monitor forest health and the occurrence of damaging agents that impact forest health; and
· Provide guidelines for establishment and management of regenerated areas that minimises potential pest impacts.
(2) Activities
Activities included under Current Reforestation are those that protect existing timber primarily from insects, and supply basic forest health information to operational planners.
(3) Management Units
All Timber Supply Areas
f) Non-Status Road Rehabilitation & Deactivation
(1) Objective
· To identify and prioritise watershed restoration projects that do not meet the current funding priorities under Forest Renewal BC’s enhancing environmental values (watershed restoration) program, but which could be implemented should a source of funding become available.
· To reduce the future costs of mitigating impacts and to minimize current risks from pre-Code harvesting operations
(2) Activities
· Deactivate and stabilize former logging roads remaining from pre-Code harvesting operations on Crown land that present a safety and environmental hazard .
· Carry out hill slope stabilization and rehabilitation on sites impacted by the above roads.
(3) Management Units
All Timber Supply Areas
g) Forest Service Road Management Program
(1) Objective
To provide a planning mechanism that assists the ministry in identifying Forest Service Road maintenance and bridge replacement priorities in accordance with legislative requirements and government policy.
(2) Activities
· Access planning and acquisition
· Maintenance, modification, and deactivation of roads
· Inspection, repair, and replacement of bridges and major culverts
(3) Management Units
All Timber Supply Areas
h) Forest Resources Inventories
(1) Objective:
To identify and assess priorities for inventory information needed to improve the information required for conducting ministries core business through:
· Co-ordinating inventory planning,
· Ensuring that inventory needs are identified based upon business requirements, and
· Identifying Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Environment Lands and Parks, Ministry of Energy and Mines, and BC Fisheries inventory priorities.
(2) Activities
The activities included in the Forest Resources Inventories component are those inventories that are a resource management need but do not meet the present Forest Renewal BC eligibility requirements.
(3) Management Units:
All Timber Supply Areas.
i) Recreation Site and Trail Maintenance
j) Research
(1) Objectives:
· have all research funding relate directly to Forest Renewal BC’s strategic objectives,
· actively communicate research results to various audiences,
· base research investment decisions on priorities established in a collaborative manner, and
· link funded research projects to nationally and internationally recognised principles.
(2) Activities:
To achieve these objectives, a four-stage investment (stand alone for this fiscal year) planning process has been developed. The process engages resource and research practitioners at an early stage and will result in the targeted delivery of Forest Renewal BC’s research dollars.
Stage 1: Data collection and knowledge gap identification
May - August
Stage 2:Analysis and priority-setting August
Stage 3:Call for proposals September - December
Stage 4:Review and award January - March
(3) Management units:
All
1.2 INTRODUCTION:
This Resource Management Plan consists of 10 key components:
· Sustainable Harvest
· Current Reforestation
· Forest Health Maintenance
· Enhancing Environmental Values
· Non-Status Road Rehabilitation & Deactivation
· Forest Service Road Management
· Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management
· Forest Resources Inventories
· Recreation Site & Trail Maintenance
· Research.
Each of these components represents a forest resource management program administered by the BC Ministry of Forests, BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks or both. The activities and projects within these components are delivered by various agencies or licensees and thus these agencies and licensees have been integral participants in the compilation of this RMP.
The Vancouver Forest Region consists of 22 management units:
Eight Timber Supply Areas:
· Fraser
· Soo
· Strathcona
· Arrowsmith
· Kingcome
· Sunshine Coast
· Mid-Coast
· Queen Charlotte Islands
and 14 Tree Farm Licenses:
· TFL 26 - Mission
· TFL 19 – Western Forest Products
· TFL 25 – Western Forest Products
· TFL 39 - Weyerhaeuser
· TFL 45 – International Forest Products
· TFL 47 – TFL Forests Limited
· TFL 6 – Western Forest Products
· TFL 10 – International Forest Products
· TFL 44 - Weyerhaeuser
· TFL 46 – TFL Forests Limited
· TFL 54 – International Forest Products
· TFL 57 - Weyerhaeuser
· TFL 38 – International Forest Products
· TFL 37 – Canadian Forest Products
It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Forests, under the terms of the Services Agreement jointly signed by MOF and Forest Renewal BC, to co-ordinate and produce the RMP. In doing so, the MOF compiled the Guidelines for the Development of Resource Management Plans for 2001 – 2002. These guidelines clarified the requirements of the RMP, what was to be included in the submissions, and what the process and timelines were to bring the RMP together. MOF district offices were responsible for compiling the required data and text for the various TSAs and the licensees were required to compile the data for their respective management units. All licensee submissions were then forwarded to the MOF district offices that administer their license. The district offices reviewed the licensees’ data with respect to the licensees stated management strategies contained within the licensees’ Management and Working Plans. Once reviewed, both the TSA and licensee data and text was forwarded to the MOF Vancouver Forest Region regional office where it was compiled to produce this final document.
The RMP includes management issues and data from all agencies, licensees, and management units managing or occupying crown forest land within the Vancouver Forest Region.
1.3 OVERVIEW OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ISSUES:
The Timber Supply Review process within the Vancouver Forest Region has resulted in significant reductions in the annual allowable cut in many of the Timber Supply Areas (TSAs). In addition, the presence of “at risk” wildlife species that require special management or no work zones, such as the marbled murrelet, spotted owl, and Vancouver Island marmot, has further eroded the forest land base from which timber may be extracted by conventional means. Combined with the falldown effect now affecting many TSAs, the region is faced with some serious potential wood fibre shortages, both in terms of volume and quality. To alleviate this the Sustainable Harvest portion of this RMP concentrates efforts on bringing backlog areas to free growing and enhancing the rate and quality of fibre production through the application of activities such as juvenile spacing, pruning, and fertilisation
Research efforts with this region, while covering a wide array of potential subjects, concentrate on investigating and assessing methods and treatments having potential to aid in addressing the issues stated above.
Within the Enhancing Environmental Values (EEV) program, Vancouver Forest Region is the only region in the province given a second year (2001/2002) to complete works in transitional watersheds. These watersheds are ones that have ongoing works in watersheds that no longer qualify as eligible under Forest Renewal BC’ s newer eligibility rules. To this end, licensees are allowed to budget up to 30% of their EEV allocation towards completing works within these transitional watersheds within the next fiscal year.
1.4 REGIONAL SUMMARIES of the RMP Component Data:
1.4.1 Sustainable Harvest Component:
1.4.1.1 Regional Rollup Enhanced Forestry Table
Section 1.4.1 Vancouver Forest Region Total (TFLs and TSAs Combined)Enhanced Forestry Table
For the 2001/02 Fiscal Year
Activities / Treatment Area Goals (ha) / Plan 2001/02
2001/ / 2002/ / 2003/ / 2004/ / 2005/ / Unit Cost / Funding / Priority
Stand Tending / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / ($/ha) / ($)
Surveys / 29171 / 29205 / 27960 / 27330 / 26530 / 39.33 / 1147425
Spacing / 5834 / 5906 / 5891 / 6006 / 5746 / 1709.56 / 9973600
Pruning / 3530 / 2998 / 2848 / 3028 / 2650 / 2132.76 / 7528650
Fertilizing / 20481 / 18960 / 17680 / 17080 / 16030 / 335.58 / 6872976
Other / 98 / 98 / 98 / 148 / 148 / 2551.02 / 250,000
Totals hectares / 59114 / 57167 / 54477 / 53592 / 51104 / 435.98 / 25,772,651
Planning and prescriptions / 571,000
Total dollars / 26,343,651
Forest Health Enhancement
Spacing / 60 / 110 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 6,000.00 / 360000
Pruning / 230 / 280 / 280 / 230 / 230 / 991.30 / 228000
Other treatments / 690 / 740 / 740 / 740 / 740 / 173.91 / 120000
Totals hectares / 980 / 1130 / 1120 / 1070 / 1070 / 722.45 / 708,000
Habitat Supply and Biodiversity Enhancement
Riparian treatments / 100 / 85 / 85 / 85 / 85 / 2,320.00 / 232000
Non-riparian treatments / 134 / 130 / 230 / 380 / 380 / 2,082.13 / 279005
Totals hectares / 234 / 215 / 315 / 465 / 465 / 2,183.78 / 511,005
Domestic Range
Treatments / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0.00 / 0
Enhanced Forestry Activities - Management Unit Total
Surveys / 29171 / 29205 / 27960 / 27330 / 26530 / 39.33 / 1,147,425
Spacing / 5894 / 6016 / 5991 / 6106 / 5846 / 1,753.24 / 10,333,600
Pruning / 3760 / 3278 / 3128 / 3258 / 2880 / 2,062.94 / 7,756,650
Fertilizing / 20481 / 18,960 / 17,680 / 17,080 / 16,030 / 335.58 / 6,872,976
Other stand tending activities / 1022 / 1053 / 1153 / 1353 / 1353 / 862.04 / 881005
Totals hectares / 60328 / 57459 / 54759 / 53774 / 51286 / 447.42 / 26,991,656
Planning and prescriptions / 571,000
Studies funding / 577000
Total dollars / 28,139,656
1.4.1.2 Regional Rollup Backlog Program Table