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Forest Health Information Management

Forest Health Performance Measures

July 2007

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Published Performance Indicators (PPI)

The Ministry of Forests and Range establishes its goals and objectives each year in the annual Service Plan.  The Service Plan also reports on the performance of the Ministry in the last fiscal year through an indicator known as the  Published Performance Indicator (PPI) (see http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2007/sp/for/ ).  Forest health, under the MFR's broad objective of "detecting, managing and preventing wildfires and pests", has one PPI:

• % of Mountain Pine Beetle Management Units (suppression BMUs & Special MUs) that achieve treatment targets (reported by Forest Practices Branch)
  Data to collect and summarize by BMU: Number of MPB management units achieving treatment targets by the end of the fiscal year vs. the total number of units identified requiring treatments (all funding sources combined).

This measure indicates what proportion of Beetle Management Units for Mountain Pine Beetle suppression and spread control that were identified at the beginning of the fiscal year were successfully treated by the end of the fiscal year.  Treatment includes all means of brood destruction (i.e., harvesting, fall and burn, prescribed fire, etc.).  Targets may not be met for several reasons that include lack of funding, shortage of harvesting and other resources, unexpected increases in populations, etc .

How is the PPI calculated?

Districts involved in mountain pine beetle management are tracking their achievements over the course of the fiscal year by individual "beetle management units" (an area of land usually described as a landscape unit).  Activities that are tracked include aerial and ground detection followed by treatments.  The ultimate measure is a comparision of the number of infestations that are treated before the next bark beetle flight vs. the number of infestations found or estimated to occur following the aerial detection phase in each beetle management unit.  The target in suppression BMUs is 80-100% of the known infestations while the Special Management Units (SMZs) have variable targets depending on the desired results which range in intensity from suppression to slowing spread eastward into Alberta.  

Tracking the total number of infestation sites treated by all means (including fall and burn, prescribed burns, small patch harvesting and conventional clear cut harvesting) is a task that requires close communication with all members of the Timber Supply Area who must regularly report on their progress at addressing known infestations in their areas of responsibility. 

The provincial level PPI is a summary of information that is generated by districts for their internal reporting of performance (corporate performance measure and internal performance measures).  Forest Practices Branch consolidates this district information and presents the PPI by the end of the fiscal year.  More detailed information on internal corporate performance measures is available to MFR staff through the Forest Practices Branch intranet site. 

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Last updated on July 17, 2007
The contact for this web page is: tim.ebata@gov.bc.ca