Stand Establishment & Treatment

Current Fire and Pest Reforestation Activity Area Expectations

Current Fire and Pest Reforestation means activities required to establish a free growing stand on:

• productive forest areas within the timber harvesting land base deforested by fire or pests on or after October 1, 1987 and which have not been salvage harvested;
• reverted Forest Licence obligations since 1988 (i.e., where a Licensee surrenders a licence and no other licensee assumes the obligation through purchase);
• Timber Agreement Lands in the Nelson Forest Region; and
• incremental silviculture treatments such as thinning and prescribed fire to reduce wildfire threat to timber and habitat values.
• FIA LBIP Current Fire & Pest Reforestation does not fund FRPAs 108 claims

Funding priorities must be consistent with higher level plans and with reference to priority projects identified in strategic land use plans for the area. In the absence of such priorities, prioritization must consider the following:

Priority

Very High: Activities in very close proximity to communities, or in areas of visual or environmental sensitivity where a high public expectation exists for prompt treatments.

High: Brushing that is required to protect existing investments under this activity area and ensure establishment of a free growing stand;

Moderate: Areas outside but adjacent to the timber harvesting land base (THLB) which, if reforested would provide

1. access to timber inside the THLB,
2. a cost effective contribution to the provincial carbon sink, or
3. accelerated recovery of critical habitat or ecological attributes.

Low to Nil: Areas coded as inoperable, environmentally sensitive, outside the timber harvesting land base or areas deemed to be too small, too inaccessible, or too remote to ensure a positive return on investment should not be treated. However, any such area within the timber harvesting land base may warrant scheduled stocking survey assessments so that the land status can be revised to satisfactorily restocked when sufficient natural ingress occurs.

The following must also be considered in determining funding priority.

• Forest health concerns should be addressed when determining silviculture treatments for each opening.
• Aerial seeding is not generally recommended due to a history of poor results, however, it is recognized that site-specific considerations may warrant the use of aerial seeding.
• The cumulative cost of all treatments should not exceed $10/m3 - where costs are proposed to be higher than this, documentation must be provided in the project plan investment rationale submitted to the FIA Administrator.
• Biodiversity requirements should be assessed when determining actual treatments and extent and pattern of projects across the landscape.

FIA funding has been specifically targeted for reforestation of Dothistroma damaged plantations in the Kispiox and Kalum forest districts. Stand eligibility criteria along with planting and aerial reconnaissance project guidelines are available under the planting activity.

Current fire and pest reforestation must be done according to a treatment plan. Where specifications in a treatment plan vary from stocking standards approved under a forest development or forest stewardship plan, the specifications must be approved by a District Manager.

2003 Wildfire Discretionary Silviculture