The British Columbia Forest Service (Ministry of Forests) is exploring how adaptive management can help to continuously improve forestry practices throughout the province. We see adaptive management as an approach that has promise for application to various issues and scales, from testing alternative silvicultural practices in forest stands, to ecosystem-based management for whole watersheds or landscape units, to evaluation of the effectiveness of Land and Resource Management Plans over sub-regional areas of several hundred thousand hectares. The active co-operation of resource managers and scientists from our agency, the forest industry, and other government agencies is crucial to any success adaptive management might have on Crown forest and range lands; as is the support of public groups and individuals.

The key practitioners of adaptive management, in our opinion, should be the local resource managers in government and industry who make decisions about managing forestry, range, recreation, wildlife and fish; and who are responsible for implementing those decisions on the ground. In order to make the broad concept of adaptive management as meaningful as possible for these people, we use a "working definition" of adaptive management that emphasises a thoughtful and organised approach:

Adaptive management is a systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs.

This basic definition is expanded upon in our definitions page.

The BC Forest Service adaptive management initiative includes several components, including educational materials for our staff and others, training programs, advice and support for various project teams, and development of a set of "pilot" or demonstration projects where adaptive management is being applied to local issues. Links to current information on these topics and others are provided on this page.