British Columbia's provincial forests comprise about 90 per cent of the total land base of the province. As stewards of the land, the Forest Service manages the provincial forests, guided by objectives established by government. During the 1980s, a fundamental shift in the understanding of and appreciation for the natural world began to alter the assumption that forests are limitless, and that timber is the only significant value in our forests.
To secure the diverse timber and non-timber benefits of our forests for the future, the Forest Service's highest priority must be to support both the environment and sustainable forest production.
As a basis for sustainable management, the Forest Service uses an ecological classification system throughout the entire dedicated provincial forest. The Forest Service manages most of the dedicated provincial forest for a wide variety of values such as timber, watersheds, protected areas, recreation, range, water, wildlife, and botanical forest products. To ensure a sustainable timber resource, the Forest Service conducts timber supply reviews, helps protect the commercial forest from non-forest uses, grows forests for tomorrow, and protects the forest and range resource from threats such as fire, insects and disease.
Ecological systems (ecosystems) consist of all the living organisms in an area and their physical environment (soil, water, air). Ecosystem classification provides the framework for an ecological approach to resource management. The Forest Service uses a biogeoclimatic classification system to assist in the management and research of the province's great diversity of ecosystems. This hierarchical system uses climate, soil and vegetation to group ecosystems at regional and local levels.
Fourteen biogeoclimatic or ecological zones-large geographic areas sharing a similar climate-are recognized across the province. Zones are divided into sub-zones, largely on the basis of differences in regional climate. Variants are finer climatic subdivisions within sub-zones, which create more than 600 classifications.
The classification system is valuable in silviculture, for determining the type of site preparation to be done, and the species of tree to be planted on a particular site. It is also useful in wildlife habitat management, and conservation planning.
Most of the province is managed for timber and non-timber values such as watersheds, conservation, recreation and cultural values, range, and botanical forest products.
Rivers and streams that have been seriously damaged by logging practices of the past will be repaired through the watershed restoration projects funded by Forest Renewal BC to enhance the productive capacity and environmental values of forest lands.
The Forest Service and the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks have begun to do remedial work on streams and the old roads that have created much of the damage to provide community-based employment and training opportunities, and to provide a mechanism to bridge historical forest harvesting practices and new standards established by the Forest Practices Code.
The Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) is an inter-agency initiative to develop a provincial system of areas protecting conservation, recreation and cultural heritage values. The goals of the PAS are to protect viable representative areas, and special features.
The strategy provides an overall, inter-agency policy framework for protected areas that will assist land use planning, including CORE's regional planning, and sub-regional land and resource management planning. The strategy is being coordinated by the Land Use Coordination Office.
Current priorities are to:
The Forest Service has actively supported the development of the Protected Areas Strategy, and will continue to work to achieve its implementation.
The province's recreation resources, outside of its parks system, include wilderness, scenic landscapes, cultural and heritage landmarks, and developed facilities such as sites, trails and forest interpretative sites.
The Forest Service manages these wilderness and backcountry areas to balance the maintenance of natural conditions with the provision of recreational opportunities.
As steward of these recreation resources, the Forest Service-in partnership with the public and other agencies-is assisting government in developing a recreation strategy that builds on its regional land use goals developed by the CORE process. The strategy will deal with key issues such as river and trail management, and improved coordination with other agencies and organizations.
The recreation resource is discussed in more depth in the "Planned and integrated use" section of this report.
The province's range lands serve a wide variety of interests, from ranching and tourism (guides, packers and trail-ride outfitters) to wildlife and recreation.
The Forest Service manages Crown range land-80 per cent of which is also managed for the production of timber and other products-on an integrated basis to minimize conflicts, and to ensure the sustainability of all resource values.
The range resource is discussed in more depth in the "Planned and integrated use" section of this report.
Botanical forest products
Botanical forest products are non-timber products collected from our forests and range lands. More than 200 botanical products have been identified to date. These products can be grouped into eight general categories:
The Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act enables the development of licensing regulations for botanical forest products. In 1995, the Forest Service, in cooperation with other resource agencies, will introduce a licensing regulation to collect wild mushroom industry data. Also planned for 1995 is an extensive market study of all botanical forest products harvested in the province. In the short term, this study will assist the Forest Service in developing a clearer understanding of the role of these products in British Columbia's social and economic fabric. The final results of the market study will assist in program development and regulatory recommendations.
Over the next five years, information collected on botanical forest products will help to establish their value in integrated resource management, land-use planning, regional economies and community diversification. In the long term, a better understanding of this increasingly valuable resource will help the Forest Service develop sustainable harvesting practices for all commercially harvested botanical forest products.
Less than a quarter of the province is managed for timber production along with other values, and approximately 1 per cent of that area is harvested each year. As forest products account for nearly half of B.C.'s exports, it follows that one of the most important responsibilities entrusted to the Forest Service is the maintenance of a sustainable timber supply.
The government is conducting a Timber Supply Review to ensure a long-term, sustainable timber supply.
In 1992, the Forest Service began an accelerated review of the timber supply in all timber supply areas and tree farm licence areas in the province. This review examines the impacts of current forest management practices on the timber supply, economy, environment and social conditions of the local area and the province. Based on the results of this review, the chief forester may decide to adjust the allowable annual cuts (AACs) for each of these areas.
The resulting AAC decisions are key determinants of the social, economic and environmental state of British Columbia.
The Forest Act requires the chief forester to reassess the allowable annual cut for each timber supply area and tree farm licence areas at least every five years. The review process is designed to be responsive to new information, new practices, and new government policies.
The review process
Determining the allowable annual cut for timber supply areas involves these five-steps:
The review process for existing tree farm licence contracts is similar, but with less emphasis on socio-economic assessment. When tree farm licence contracts are renewed, the process will conform with the timber supply review format.
Timber supply analysis
The timber supply analysis is the detailed technical review of the timber supply for each forest management unit. Using the most recent inventory data and information about current management practices, a detailed data package on each forest management unit is prepared at the forest district and region levels. The data are then analyzed to project the potential timber harvest schedule over a 200-year horizon. Sensitivity tests for potential uncertainties are included in the analysis. Each completed timber supply analysis report is released as a public document.
Socio-economic analysis
The socio-economic analysis is based on the forecasts in the timber supply analysis. Released at the same time as the timber supply discussion paper, the socio-economic analysis lays out the economic base for communities in the region, and reviews key environmental and social issues. Particular attention is paid to the role of the forest sector in sustaining employment and community development.
The socio-economic analysis also considers non-timber environmental factors such as fish and wildlife populations and habitat, visual landscapes, and recreation opportunities.
Public discussion paper and public input
The public discussion paper is the main vehicle for soliciting public comment on a timber supply review. It informs people about the decision-making process and presents the results of the two analyses in a less-technical manner.
Chief forester's decision and rationale statement
As the final step in the Timber Supply Review process, the chief forester will review the information to determine a new AAC for each management unit. The rationale for each decision will be thoroughly documented.
Thirty timber supply analyses have now been published. Of these, 29 have also had a socio-economic analysis and a timber supply discussion paper published. Eight timber supply areas have had AACs determined by the chief forester. In addition, the chief forester has completed AAC determinations for 13 TFLs.
Preliminary results
Preliminary results indicate decreased availability of productive forest lands for harvesting. This available land base still supports an abundance of older aged forests, although over time a more balanced class distribution is forecast. Projections, based on current forest management practices, suggest an overall decrease in both short- and long-term timber supplies. Not enough AAC determinations have been made to show a specific trend.
The results also highlight uncertainties, or information gaps, that will have to be addressed to improve the accuracy of timber supply forecasts. These findings show the importance of regular updating of information to take into account continuing changes in forest management and to take advantage of opportunities to improve current practices.
To help address the decreasing availability of productive forest lands, the government has taken steps to secure the commercial forest land base from non-timber uses.
The Forest Land Reserve Act secures British Columbia's commercial forest land base, including Crown and private managed forest lands, from urban development and other non-forest uses. The reserve demonstrates the government's commitment to:
Private managed forest lands are automatically included in the Forest Land Reserve. Crown lands will also be included in the Forest Land Reserve, following the completion of local and regional planning processes. Owners of private commercial forest lands can remove their lands from the Reserve only after a public process and a decision from the independent Forest Land Commission, with advice from local governments. If exclusions are approved, owners must repay a portion of past benefits they have received from property tax reductions to encourage forestry on those lands.
Silviculture, including reforestation, stand-tending and forest health activities, makes up an important component in British Columbia's sustainable forest management program.
The province's silviculture objectives are to:
The Forest Service ensures forests for tomorrow by carrying out six fundamental activities:
Basic silviculture includes all activities that ensure continuing productivity of recently denuded areas. Activities include surveys, site preparation, planting, brushing and spacing. Basic silviculture also involves restocking of Crown forest areas recently disturbed by fire and insects.
Responsibility for funding basic silviculture activities was shifted by law in 1987 to major licensees, and to the Small Business Forest Enterprise Program. At their own expense, major licensees are required to restock areas harvested after October 1, 1987, with commercially suitable trees. They are also required by law to follow a prescription and a schedule approved by the Forest Service.
The Forest Service's role is to set and approve standards for restocking Crown and regulated private forest lands with commercially useful trees, and to monitor and audit the major licensees' performance relative to those standards.
Treatments to maintain or increase the yield and value of forest stands such as spacing, fertilizing and pruning to improve stand value, wildlife habitat, and wood flow are called incremental silviculture. These activities are used to manage forests to meet the economic, social and environmental objectives of the people of British Columbia.
Incremental activities have been funded under the Canada - B.C. Partnership Agreement on Forest Resource Development (FRDA II), and as part of the Forest Service's silviculture investment strategy.
Some forest land will receive incremental silviculture treatments funded under the South Moresby Forest Replacement initiative. This special account was established in 1988 to help offset the reduction in jobs and timber harvests resulting from the creation of the South Moresby National Park Reserve.
The table below shows activities planned for the next five years.
Site preparation, planting, brushing and spacing activities are undertaken on all of these sites.
Table 3 shows how the Forest Service is catching up with the government's obligations to reforest sites that were harvested prior to the law changing in 1987.
The forest industry now pays the cost of seed and seedlings required to meet its basic silviculture responsibilities.
Seed and nursery operations provide seed and seedlings for the government's basic silviculture on backlog sites, and on Small Business Forest Enterprise blocks.
Seed and nursery operations also provide technology transfer services for private seed orchards and nurseries. Services include testing of cones, seeds and seedlings, coordination of sowing requests, and technical support for seed orchard and nursery management.
Forest Service seed and nursery operations manage:
The remainder of the seedlings planted in the province are grown in private-sector nurseries.
All seed used for reforestation of Crown land is registered, tested and stored at the tree seed centre. Seed is collected from natural forests, and from seed orchards designed to produce genetically improved seeds. Seedlings planted on Crown land are carefully selected to ensure species, suitability and sufficient genetic diversity.
By the year 2000, orchards managed by the Forest Service and the private sector will supply seed for an estimated 30 million seedlings for the Coastal region, and 100 million seedlings for the Interior per year.
Silviculture is the means to manage forest vegetation, not only for timber production but for a variety of values. Operational studies and new techniques are constantly being developed in the areas of reforestation, habitat enhancement, forest health and incremental silviculture.
One of these is a study of alternatives to conventional clearcutting, which has been the predominant silvicultural system used in British Columbia to date. This review is entering its sixth year, with a budget of approximately $2 million a year. More than 70 ongoing projects, distributed widely across the province, are studying the biology and economics of alternative approaches to harvesting and regrowing forests. Another 20 projects have recently been completed. The information from this review will demonstrate where an alternative silvicultural system may be appropriate for a particular timber site.
Forest health activities address the threat to the province's forest and range resources from diseases and insects such as bark beetles.
To ensure that existing forest resources are protected from damaging agents, the Forest Service:
Bark beetles and other pests are still damaging forests, and noxious weeds are still spreading over large areas of the province. Control and management efforts in 1995/96 will concentrate on the spruce, Douglas-fir and mountain pine beetles, and on the western spruce budworm. Guidebooks for managing insects and diseases are being developed for the Forest Practices Code.
Root diseases are being identified as chronic site problems in many areas, and treatments are being developed or applied to establish disease-free young stands with improved growth rates and wood quality. Damage from small mammals will be controlled by integrating appropriate strategies or treatments into harvesting, reforestation and stand-tending activities.
The forest health component also provides information, technical advice and guidelines to forest managers to prevent or reduce growth loss and damage caused by insects, diseases and small mammals in young and mature forests.
Noxious weeds
Noxious weeds reduce the capacity of the land to support wildlife, livestock and recreational activities. Thousands of hectares have become infested with noxious weeds, and forages such as grasses have been displaced. The Forest Service controls noxious weeds to maintain and improve forest and range lands.
The Forest Service uses a number of methods to control noxious weeds, including manual and mechanical cutting, burning, chemical treatments and biological control agents. Biological control involves the use of natural or host-specific agents to reduce the abundance of noxious weed species.
The last aspect of managing for sustainability is the protection of the province's forest and range resources from fire.
The fire suppression program fights forest and range wildfires. Protection of human life, private property are especially important as wildfires increasingly threaten people and developments outside organized communities.
The commercial value protected by the program goes beyond the $16-billion per annum forest sector to include approximately $25 billion worth of housing and other developments outside urban areas.
Without protection from wildfires, many developments in interface areas (areas where communities or rural residents are situated adjacent to a forest area) would be lost. In addition, in parts of the province, 25 to 50 per cent of long-term timber supplies to the forest industry and associated manufacturers could also be lost.
Beginning with the 1995 fire season, wildfire protection activities will be re-aligned to streamline operations as part of the Forest Service's restructuring initiative.
Dispatch of fire crews and logistical support will take place from seven fire control centres, down from 50. This will ensure a more coordinated use of resources and will eliminate the duplication of services.
Initial attack services will be consolidated into strategically located bases closest to the fire demand. This will result in a more effective use of fire fighting resources and improve coordination of fire suppression activities.
Consolidation of air tanker management will be consolidated and will be completed this year. This will permit more efficient pre-positioning and use of expensive air tankers. The next five years will also see the introduction of new types of air tankers into the fleet. More modern and efficient aircraft will improve the flexibility and effectiveness of the air tanker program.
The new fleet will be faster and have more capacity than existing aircraft.
Looking to the future, the Forest Service expects:
Fire preparedness
The fire preparedness sub-program goes beyond preparing for the upcoming fire season to include proactive wildfire management programs including:
Wildfire prevention is critical to secure public safety and protect improvements, recreation and timber values from catastrophic fire.
Prescribed burning is based on using the positive benefits of fire in ecosystems, while reducing the negative consequences and impacts of wildfires. Fire is used under planned, prescribed conditions to meet specific land and resource management objectives such as:
Future innovations include the expanded use of a computerized resource tracking system, which will allow staff to use real-time monitoring to track the location of aircraft and vehicles.
Direct fire fighting
The direct fire fighting goals are to keep the area burned by wildfire below 35,000 hectares, the timber volume lost to wildfire below 1.4 million cubic metres annually, and to control 92 per cent of all fires within 24 hours of discovery. These goals are expected to be maintained in spite of an increasing number of fires.
In 1994, there were 4,094 fires-well above the annual average of 2,900.
