Adaptive Management Projects
Project Summary: Lake Forest District Timber Supply Area Forest Monitoring Program
Monitoring Forest Resource Extraction by Volume Classes
Contacts:
Boyd Brown (Planning and Inventory Officer, MoF, Smithers)
Dr. Robin Quenet RPF (FORGIS Resource Consultants, Victoria)
Background:
This changes monitoring program was made operational in the Lakes FD in 1987. In 1992 a TSA reanalysis was done. If the monitoring failed, the reanalysis would show exaggerated wood supply problems. The Forest Service has agreed to monitor harvesting by volume classes and annually publish documents showing each licensee's performance. It is essential that the system be fair and equitable.
Objective:
To utilize periodic forest monitoring reports in order to provide the public with the facts necessary to make informed decisions about sustainable development.
To utilize annual monitoring to measure changes in the TSA and base adjustments of AAC etc.. according to the findings in the change reports.
Experimental Design:
Follows a passive AM approach. No deliberate different experimentation is used. Instead, annual monitoring is used to measure changes in the TSA and base adjustments of AAC etc.. according to the findings in the change reports.
Three steps are necessary in order to create a Change Reporting System (CRS):
- identify which environmental factors to monitor in a Monitoring Plan,
- track those changes over a specified period using a Change Reporting System and
- report changes in a Periodic forest Monitoring Report.
The change reporting system coupled with normal GIS functionality provides extensive capability to check some of the following: allowable cut tracking, inventory depletion analysis, operator performance, volume distribution, inventory quality, silviculture performance, rate of cut, ecological change, etc.
Forest inventories have been used for 20 years or more and are stored digitally (or soon will be) for every 20m x 20m area of the province.
- Change method of reporting
- Observe changes
- Observe trends
A major advantage of this approach is that the on-the-ground experts will be able to concentrate on the challenges in their District and their expertise will focus data collection and data presentation activities. Improvement of data over time will become an imperative.
The next step is to consolidate the vast amount of data available into a periodic forest monitoring report for public distribution. A periodic forest monitoring report is the next logical step in the Forest Services "value neutral" strategy.
The intent of the report is to treat the public as if they are stockholders in a large corporation. The truth is that they are stakeholders: owners of over 85% of the lands of this province held on their behalf by the Crown. The report will contain:
1.) a periodic, comprehensive, understandable publication,
2.) standardized reporting relationships,
3.) all relevant details presented at the appropriate level to foster understanding without overwhelming the reader,
4.) verifiable results that the management agree represent the best available data so that all statements can be audited, reports are comparable between periods,
5.) the purpose is to instill confidence in the reader that good management has been practiced or corrective actions have been carried out.
By December 31 each year the Forest Service will publish the following volume class profiles (VCPs):
- harvesting by licensee
- total wood harvested or destroyed but unsalvaged
- volumes remaining in each licensee's area
- total wood remaining in the TSA
- a TSA target harvest profile for the years remaining to reanalysis
Licensees will not be expected to change harvesting patterns overnight. A historic Volume Class Profile (VCP) (1981 to 1986) will show harvesting performance since the 1981 TSA analysis. Licensees have agreed to shift their operations as new cutting permits are granted and as development plans are revised.
The target VCP is probably not achievable in the first five years, but will form the basis for discussion in the TSA Steering Committee as we get closer to reanalysis in 1992.
The decision to increase the timber AAC for the lakes TSA by utilizing small diameter trees and stands of lower volume has been agreed to by the members of the TSA steering committee. This monitoring process has been designed to ensure that those lower volume stands are utilized equitably by the various licensees and Small Business Program.
In the Lakes FD the CRS has verified that the AAC is on track relative to the assumptions in the 1987 RMP.
Monitoring:
In 1986 a five year monitor plan was initiated to track all depletion's from the forest inventory. After labouring for most of 1989, the changes that have occurred in the first period are now available. Changes in forest cover between August 1986 and September 1988 were tracked using satellite images and depleted from the forest inventory. A report will be presented in terms of the volume of timber removed by each operator by volume per hectare class. A standardized forest monitoring report has not been completed.
Monitoring Plan for Lakes FD: The focus of change monitoring is on the volume of timber per hectare. The new software required for the change reporting system was written by FORGIS Resource Consulting.
Time Frame:
Continuous change monitoring (updating with GIS)
Current Status:
Operational in Lakes FD
References:
Brown and Quenet. 1988. Forest Monitoring - DRAFT
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