The RVFD (which includes Mount Robson Provincial Park) is located in east central British Columbia and covers approximately 1.46 million hectares. It lies largely within the Rocky Mountain trench between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains to the west, and the Rocky Mountains and the Alberta provincial border to the east. To the west, RVFD borders on three provincial parks: Bowron Lake, Wells Gray and the Mitchell Lake-Niagara protected area that connects them. To the east, is the Willmore Wilderness Area, and Jasper National Park, and to the northeast is the Kakwa Recreation Area.

The two main waterways are the Fraser River, which flows north west from Mount Robson Provincial Park toward Prince George, and the Columbia River, which flows south east between the Rocky Mountains and the Monashee Ranges.

The focus area of the RV EFMPP is the Robson Valley Forest District (RVFD) area, however, the location and geophysical features of the District in relation to McGregor Model Forest, Foothills Model Forest and the adjoining provincial and national parks, lead to a great opportunity to share applications, knowledge and research on both sides of the Alberta-BC border.

The Robson Valley, being semi-remote, has led to a unique social-economic situation. The area is a self-sufficient, largely rural, lightly populated valley, with extensive domestic watershed use, extensive scenic corridors, with significant resource dependency on forestry, agriculture and ranching. This has contributed to significant community-based involvement and interest in how forest resources are managed.

The Robson Valley Round Table (RVRT) did not reach a full consensus during the Robson Valley Land and Resources Management Plan (RV LRMP) process. The RVRT’s Recommended Robson Valley Land and Resource Management Plan and Options Report was presented to government in December 1996. Cabinet has now approved the plan.

Issues and opportunities that support the Robson Valley EFMPP include:

• an AAC projected decrease of 45% over the next 50 years,
• enhanced forest productivity opportunity within the wet ICH area devastated by the western hemlock looper,
• the challenges of implementing a partial-consensus LRMP,
• the opportunity to bring community and professionals together to discuss solutions to issues,
• partnership with either, or both, McGregor Model Forest and Foothills Model Forest,
• central location of RV Forest District within the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor,
• conservation & economic transition issues leading to economic diversification opportunities,
• biodiversity conservation design opportunities that refine biodiversity objectives, and
• caribou and other wildlife habitat management opportunities.

In addition, two key unresolved questions from the partial-consensus LRMP, provide the focus of the RV EFMPP:

• How do we manage for and conserve biodiversity on the whole forest landscape?
• How do we integrate a sustainable and diversified supply of all forest resources across the RV LRMP defined resource management zones?

In consideration of the issues in the Robson Valley, the major forest licensees, communities, conservation groups and agencies within the Robson Valley Forest District are committed to delivering forest management strategies that:

• enhance forest productivity & mitigate reduction in the long term harvest level;
• provide more biological & economic resource management opportunities via innovative solutions while conserving biodiversity;
• develop certainty in resource conditions, a wide range of resource values and fibre supply;
• support economic diversification, and;
• instill public confidence in forest management.

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