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Forest Stewardship is
the management of Crown (public) forest
land on behalf of the people of British
Columbia. This requires balancing
the many resources and values of public
forests. These resources include,
but are not limited to; timber, water,
wildlife, fisheries, recreation,
botanical forest products, forage and
biodiversity. The Forest
Stewardship section of the South Island
Forest District (SIFD) works in
co-operation with forest companies and
other government agencies to ensure that
provincial government’s objectives for
the management, protection and
conservation of forest resources are
met.
Two categories of management units are
used in the Province to manage Crown
forest land. These are tree farm
licenses (TFL) and timber supply areas
(TSA). Tree farm licenses may
include some private forest land and are
managed by a single forest company who
holds the license. Whereas several
forest companies and British Columbia
Timber Sales Program may operate within
a timber supply area.
The forest company who holds a tree farm
license (TFL) is required to prepare and
submit a management plan which includes
a timber supply analysis. The
Forest Stewardship section reviews and
comments on these plans and assists the
Forest Analysis Branch with
recommendations to the Deputy Chief
Forester when the allowable annual cut
(AAC) determination is made.
The allowable annual cut (AAC) is the
amount of timber (number of trees) that
the Chief Forester, or in the case of
tree farm licenses, the Deputy Chief
Forester, determines can be harvested
from the management unit each year.
As part of this determination the Chief
Forester must consider a number of
factors and follows a set of guiding
principles that encourage a sustainable
rate of harvest be reached as soon as
possible with a minimal social and
economic impact.
Changes to forestry legislation will
bring about the creation of Defined
Forest Area Management (DFAM)
agreements. DFAMs will be made up
of a co-operative of forest companies
who have timber harvesting interests
within a timber supply area. The
companies within DFAM will work together
to develop a timber supply analysis that
will assist the Chief Forester in making
the allowable annual cut (AAC)
determination. The Forest
Stewardship section will review the
timber supply analysis and make
recommendations to the Chief Forester
regarding the allowable annual cut (AAC)
calculation.
Whenever a management plan and timber
supply analysis are put forward for
consideration, local first nations
groups are consulted. The forest
companies primarily carry out this
consultation. The Forest Stewardship
section oversees this consultation to
ensure that the first nation
consultation obligations have been met.
In addition the Forest Stewardship
section reviews proposals from the
Ministry of Water, Land and Air
Protection (WLAP) and the Ministry of
Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM)
for the conservation of wildlife and
biodiversity. Whenever other
government agencies such as; Lands and
Water BC, the Ministry of Energy and
Mines and local governments wish to make
plans or propose projects designed to
carry out their respective mandates
referrals are sent to the Ministry of
Forests. The Forest Stewardship
section reviews these proposals to
ensure that no conflicts occur with
Ministry of Forests objectives.
The Forest Stewardship section’s primary
focus is on forest management at the
strategic level. One such
strategic level plan is the Vancouver
Island Land Use Plan. This plan
was approved by the provincial
government in 1995 and contains broad
higher level objectives for the
management of forest resources.
This higher level plan also designated
several new parks and special management
areas that are intended to ensure the
protection and conservation of
non-timber forest resources.
If you would like to know more about the
role of the Forest Stewardship section
in the South Island Forest District you
can contact,
Dan Biggs, Stewardship Officer, at
250-731-3000.
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