Restoration & Rehabilitation

Riparian Activity Area Expectations

All restoration activities should be integrated within a watershed, and should be linked to strategic plans, sustainable forest management plans, and the Land Base Investment Rationale.

Expectations for this Activity Area include:

• the integration of aquatic habitat needs and values with terrestrial habitat needs and values, in consideration of timber objectives;
• inspections (monitoring) and maintenance of existing moderate and high risk structures or treatments completed under the FRBC WRP or FIA; and
• the implementation of new restoration projects as developed under Watershed Based Fish Sustainability Plan or Watershed Restoration Plans, or as noted in the Strategic Ecosystem Restoration Assessment (SERA) Reports, and or Silviculture Strategies.

Areas of specific concern include:

• effectively conducting treatments, where possible with other adjacent terrestrial treatments, for priority areas identified in planning processes;
• replacing lost channel-structuring elements within streams and off-channel habitat areas. Projects should increase the integrity of riparian areas, improve conditions for fish passage, accelerate the recovery of biological function within the flood plain, riparian areas and stream channels, and increase the amount and quality of fish habitat;
• maintaining or improving forage and security for riparian wildlife species;
• recruiting coarse woody debris;
• managing invasive/alien species that are negatively impacting threatened/endangered species/ecosystems and their habitats;
• restoring riparian ecosystem functions; and
• conducting treatment effectiveness evaluations in support of adaptive management, especially in partnership with MOE.