Fort Nelson Forest District

Stewardship - Higher Level Plans (HLPs)

Higher Level Plans

Higher level plans are "land use" plans that guide many activities on the land base. Previous to the new Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) legislation higher level plans provided guidance to FDP's (Forest Development Plans).

As of January 31, 2004, the new FRPA (Results Based) legislation came into effect. The new legislation originally required that new Forest Stewardship Plans (FSP's) are in place by December 31, 2005. This requirement was extended to March 31, 2007. Higher level plans are also used to provide guidance in the development of FSP's.

For the Fort Nelson Forest District there are two (2) higher level plans that provide this guidance. One higher level plan is the Fort Nelson LRMP which is bounded by the district boundaries. The other is the Muskwa-Kechika Management Plan (M-KMP) that provides guidance for the Fort Nelson side of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-KMA). Sixty percent of the M-KMA overlaps the Fort Nelson Forest District.

Both Canfor and BCTS started the development of their FSP's using these higher level plans.

Please note that the Fort Nelson LRMP has been accepted by the BC government. But it has not been proclaimed. Meaning that it is a NON-Legal higher level plan. In contrast, the M-KMP has been accepted and proclaimed by government and therefore is considered a "legal" higher level plan.

The higher level plans relevant to the Fort Nelson area are:

• Fort Nelson LRMP
• Appendices for the Fort Nelson LRMP
• Muskwa-Kechika Management Plan

Forest Certification

There are a number of forest certification systems that individuals, companies and government agencies can endeavour to obtain for their woodland operations.

At this time, there is one commonly used certification standard for which forestry operations on the ground are measured to:

• International Organization for Standardization - ISO 14001

Worldwide there are currently (December 2006) five commonly used certification standards that assure timber is logged from sustainably managed forests:

• Canadian Standards Association - CSA Z809
• Forest Stewardship Council - FSC standard
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative - SFI standard
• Pan-European Forest Certification - PEFC standard
• Malaysian Timber Certification Council - MTCC standard

As of February 2005 Canfor's Fort Nelson's operations have successfully met the certification requirements under the CSA for a certified Sustainable Forest Management program. The certification meets the CAN/CSA-Z809 standard.

Also, Canfor has possessed the ISO 14001 certification since July 2001. Recently, in July 2004 they were re-registered as certified under the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.

BC Timber Sales, Peace-Liard Business Area operating in the Fort Nelson TSA has also obtained both their ISO 14001 and CSA certifications. Their ISO 14001 certificate is current as of March 2005. They obtained their CSA-Z809 certification in April 2005.

Sustainable Forest Management Plans (SFMP)

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Canada utilizes criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests at the national level. To assist with this goal, the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM) have produced a science-based framework, the Canadian Criteria and Indicators Framework. This is "used to define and measure Canada’s progress in sustainable forest management".

The BC Forest Management Certification website states that

[s]ustainable forest management in BC involves the full protection of many forest lands, and ecologically sensitive and socially beneficial management of lands allocated for integrated resource use.

The current situation in BC does not require companies operating on the forest land base to have SFMP's in place. Most do so on a voluntary basis. But many BC companies (including Canfor) and government agencies (for example, BC Timber Sales) must develop a Sustainable Forest Management Plan as part of their application for forest certification with one of the recognized forest certification systems listed above.

The CSA certifcation that Canfor's Fort Nelson's operations possesses indicates that their Sustainable Forest Management Plan has successfully met the requirements for forest certification under the CAN/CSA-Z809 standard. Information regarding their certification can be found at Canfor's website.