Application of the Community Watershed Guidebook from a Range Management Perspective – April 8, 1997

Table of Contents

• General Comments
• Key Points
• Section 1 Introduction
• Section 2 Classification and Mapping
• Section 3 Community watershed planning
  • 3.1.2 Integrated watershed management plans
  • 3.1.4 Sensitive areas
  • 3.2.2 Completing a forest development plan for a community watershed
  • 3.3.3 Range use plans
• Section 4 Contingency planning
• Section 5 Water quality monitoring
• Section 10 Range management
• Target conditions
• 10.3 Livestock use of riparian areas
• 10.4 Range developments
• Remedial measures
• APPENDIX 1 An Index to Legislation
• APPENDIX 2 A Summary of Guidebook Sections of Most Interest to Range

General Comments

Range staff and range agreement holders can expect to face challenges to their management in community watersheds. While livestock grazing is an accepted use of these watersheds in British Columbia, that does not mean status quo management is acceptable. If livestock use causes long-term changes to background water quality, quantity and timing of flow, there will be pressure to have range use phased-out. We believe that there are reasonable management alternatives which will allow livestock grazing to continue in almost all cases.

Not everyone will be happy with the contents of the guidebook, and some will feel that range management objectives have been compromised. Those who have been involved in community watersheds know that water quality and public safety are emotional issues, where scientific fact is often lost in the discussions. This guidebook does not provide cookbook solutions to livestock related problems in community watersheds because there are as many different solutions as there are situations.

Although the guidebook applies only to community watersheds, Range Section is commited to the principle that livestock grazing under Range Act agreements should not degrade the water quality of any licenced water user. The alternative - exclusion of cattle from all community watersheds or the fencing of all riparian zones - is unacceptable.

The Community Watershed Guidebook (CWSGB) is a large document and consequently there may be a tendency for the reader to give it only a cursory review. That is understandable, but the reader risks missing some important elements and taking some statements and recommendations out of context. In this review we have attempted to distill the guidebook's contents down to the basics for range purposes. Refer also to the booklet, Range Management and the Forest Practices Code for further information on livestock grazing in community watersheds.

The CWSGB is designed, for the convenience of the reader, to include some direct quotations from the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and some Regulations. Note, however, that not all regulations relating peripherally to community watersheds are referenced.

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Key Points

• Appendix 1 of this summary lists the sections from the Code Act and related regulations dealing with community watersheds and range use.
• Appendix 2 of this summary lists the sections of the guidebook which are most relevant to range staff and range agreement holders.
• Throughout the document terms such as "operable forest", "forest use" and "forest practices" should be interpreted broadly to include "operable or grazeable range", "range use" and "range practices".
• Although the watershed assessment procedure (WAP) does not look specifically at range use, it may make recommendations which influence some range practices, and this information should be considered when the range use plan is being developed.
• Range developments are defined broadly in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act to include structures, excavations, constructed trails and practices (including herding and salting), but trails created by normal livstock movement are not considered range developments.
• The community watershed home page (address on page 8 of the guidebook) might be useful to some of you. It can be used to access information such as numbers of community watersheds, hectares, water licensees, etc., by region, district, or trim map sheet.

Several sections of the guidebook are very important to range managers. Following is a summary (and in some cases clarification) of these sections.

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Section 1 Introduction

The purpose of the guidebook is important enough that it bears repeating: "to explain resources development practices that are intended to prevent long-term changes to background water quality, quantity and timing of flow. Short-term changes may occur within the natural variability of the water supply."

Another point that is significant enough to bear repeating is: "Small watersheds generally have intakes close to potential contaminants, stream response times are short and opportunities for dilution and settling are small. These watersheds are therefore sensitive (in a generic sense)." This has implications on livestock use within community watersheds.

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Section 2 Classification and Mapping

Section 2.1.2 of the guidebook explains how an area may be designated a community watershed. Alternatively, it is possible to provide protection to areas having domestic water licences that are not within community watersheds through the establishment of landscape units and objectives, or in the case of springs, through sensitive areas and objectives.

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Section 3 Community watershed planning

Section 3.1.2 Integrated watershed management plans

Although ten Integrated watershed management plans (IWMPs) exist and another twelve are under development, this is not the preferred option. The Strategic Forest Planning Section recommends that IWMPs be integrated as part of landscape units and objectives rather than being declared as higher level plans.

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Section 3.1.4 Sensitive areas

Sensitive area designations may be appropriate for areas under 1,000 ha in size, where community water supplies depend on a spring and the spring's source area. However, the Strategic Forest Planning Section advises that a Sensitive Area designation is not the preferred option. Wherever possible, it is recommended that spring source areas be incorporated with landscape units and objectives.

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Section 3.2.2 Completing a forest development plan for a community watershed

Don't be misled by the title of this section, a more appropriate title may be "the seven steps in planning for community watersheds". Range staff and range agreement holders have key roles to play in this process. Pay particular attention to the sub-sections on "Forming a round table", "Determining watershed restoration requirements", "Contingency planning" (expanded upon in Section 4) and "Summary of responsibilities".

Note that the round table is responsible for making recommendations to the district manager, determining watershed restoration measures and developing a monitoring strategy. While this is not the place for lobbying, range staff and range agreement holders have an opportunity to provide technical input on recommendations to the district manager.

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Section 3.3.3 Range use plans

This section reiterates much of what is in the Range Management Guidebook. Following are some points of clarification:

• Range developments by definition include structures and practices (placement of saltblocks, oilers, water troughs, etc.)
• The first 4 bullets in this section apply to all range use plans, not just range use plans in community watersheds
• On page 28, it would be more correct to state that range use plans "should" prescribe proposed levels of use for key plant species and soil parameters. The Operational Planning Regulation (OPR) requires "proposed levels of use" in a generic sense only.

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Section 4 Contingency planning

Range staff should pay particular attention to this section because it spells out the roles and responsibilities of water licensees and purveyors, government agencies, and agreements holders and their contractors (subsection 4.3) and the determination of responsibility when a problem with water quality occurs (subsection 4.4). These subsections link to Section 7 of the Range Practices Regulation (RPR).

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Section 5 Water quality monitoring

The attributes in the target conditions table on page 37 refer to changes above the baseline level which has been established through several years of monitoring. Our goal in range is that livestock use should not cause the target condition(s) to be exceeded.

Water quality objectives (WQOs) are established by the Water Quality Branch, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks for individual streams. WQOs are a collection of criteria or threshold levels which are designed to protect water quality for the most sensitive use. (WQOs may establish safe levels for fecal coliforms, turbidity, suspended solids, nitrates, nitrites, 12 metals, algae, pesticides, temperature, and streamflows or water levels. Note that for some of these, the acceptable level is 0 ppm). To date there are approximately 40 watersheds having these objectives, but the program is expanding with FRBC funding for water quality monitoring.

Before WQOs can be set, a minimum of three years of background monitoring is required. The guidebook recommends that baseline monitoring be established before "forest activities" occur, or above the zone of activity (i.e. the harvesting or roadbuilding). This creates problems for range since most range agreement areas have been grazed for many years and in many cases use by livestock is occurring to the top of the drainage. Furthermore, fecal coliforms are contributed by all warm blooded creatures and it is impossible to differentiate between fecal coliforms contributed by cattle and other warm-blooded species.

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Section 10 Range management

Target conditions

Reference is made to the use of qualitative assessments. Both the CWS and Riparian Area Management working groups endorsed an approach of taking qualitative measurements rather than intensive sampling. The Range Resources Assessment Procedures (RRAP) checklists and extensive monitoring forms were designed for conducting assessments at the reconnaissance and extensive levels. The RRAP is found as an appendix to the revised Monitoring chapter in the Range Manual. A training course in the use of the procedures has been developed and will be available to field staff by this summer. We recommend that range staff use this methodology.

Page 83. Bullet 3. should say "in sensitive sites, forage use should not exceed 30 per cent of the current annual growth

Section 10.3 Livestock use of riparian areas

Range staff and range agreement holders may feel that the recommendations in this section are overly restrictive. The following points are intended to provide clarification and explain context.

1. The term range developments has a broad meaning and includes structures and practices such as salting.
2. Sensitive is used here in a relative sense and does not mean "sensitive area" as defined in the Code Act. The CWS working group has been asked to develop objective criteria for determining site sensitivity. In the interim, consider the following when determining the risk of livestock contaminating a water supply through overland flow or percolation.

Existence of:

• steep topography close to streams
• soils which are coarse textured or shallow to bedrock
• sparsely vegetated sites
• water intakes in close proximity
• concentrated use by livestock near streams
• long season of use with minimal management
• high runoff during the time of livestock use
• developments or management which encourage livestock to remain in the riparian zone

When setting up grazing systems within community watersheds the possibility of livestock contaminating water supplies through direct defecating in the water and through overland flow should be minimized. Research from Oregon demonstrates that water supplies are at the greatest risk to contamination by livestock when they are allowed to defecate within 1 m of the stream's edge.

The guidebook recommends that a 30 m riparian strip be managed for "light occasional use", meaning that practices and developments should not encourage cattle to remain within this buffer strip. This does not mean that livestock must be excluded, but it does mean that they must be managed to prevent an accumulation of feces, trampling of soils and severe and continuous defoliation of forage and shrubs within the riparian buffer (sound range management recommendations). Fencing the buffer is an option, but it should be considered as a last resort.

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Section 10.4 Range developments

Livestock watering facilities include things like off-stream watering troughs.

The roads and trails referred to in this section are not trails created by livestock use, they are "man-made" or constructed.

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Remedial measures

Range Section is currently developing a training module in designing remedial measures where range use has caused riparian and upland areas not to achieve proper functioning conditions. These remedies will also be applicable to community watersheds where livestock use has caused water quality problems. The module should be ready for delivery by early summer of 1997. In the interim here are some possible options:

1. herd and salt to keep cattle away from the riparian zone
2. create separate riparian pastures
3. utilize off-stream watering
4. temporary rest of damaged riparian communities to allow shrubs and forage plants time to recover
5. eliminate seasonlong grazing and institute grazing schemes which allow return of animals based on plant growth, not calendar days
6. no fall grazing of the riparian willow/sedge community
7. delay spring grazing in riparian areas until forage reaches 15 cm (6").
8. no grazing during times of peak flow or when soils are saturated.

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APPENDIX 1: An Index to Legislation

Legislation relating to community watersheds and range use

Statute: FPC Act
Section: 1
Content: definitions

Statute: FPC Act
Section: 4
Content: landscape units and objectives (may include community watershed values)

Statute: FPC Act
Section: 5
Content: sensitive areas and objectives (may include springs )

Statute: FPC Act
Section: 41(8)-(13)
Content: community watersheds (definition, designation, etc.)

Statute: OPR
Section: 53(2)(a)(ii)
Content: location of community watershed required in plans

Statute: OPR
Section: 53(2)(g)(ii)
Content: sensitive areas

Statute: OPR
Section: 53(2)(g)(i) and 53(2)(j)
Content: strategies for wetlands and riparian areas

Statute: OPR
Section: 53(2)(l)
Content: banks, soil erosion, fecal contamination

Statute: OPR
Section: 53(2)(m)
Content: known water quality objectives in community watershed

Statute: OPR
Section: 65 & 66
Content: community watershed designation

Statute: RPR
Section: 3
Content: developments in community watersheds

Statute: RPR
Section: 7
Content: livestock in community watersheds

Statute: SFPLR
Section: 2(1)
Content: security may be required for an agreement holders obligations under a plan

Statute: SPR
Section: 4, 5, 6
Content: landscape units and objectives

Statute: SPR
Section: 7
Content: sensitive areas and objectives

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APPENDIX 2: A Summary of Guidebook Sections of Most Interest to Range

Section: 1
Page(s): 1-4
Content: Introduction. Provides important background information.

Section: 3.1.4
Page(s): 16
Content: Sensitive areas. These are areas less than 1000 ha in size, which have been designated through a formal approval process. They are distinct from sensitive sites as discussed in section 10.

Section: 3.3.3
Page(s): 27-28
Content: Community watershed requirements for range use plans

Section: 4
Page(s): 30-35
Content: Contingency planning in the case of damage to the water supply

Section: 4.3.4
Page(s): 33-34
Content: Roles and responsibilities Ministry of Forests

Section: 4.3.7
Page(s): 34-35
Content: Roles and responsibilities tenure holders and contractors

Section: 4.4
Page(s): 35
Content: Determination of responsibility

Section: 5
Page(s): 36-41
Content: Water quality monitoring

Section: 5.1
Page(s): 37
Content: Water quality objectives

Section: 5.2.2
Page(s): 40
Content: Description of water quality parameters

Section: 6.1
Page(s): 42
Content: Riparian management objectives

Section: 10
Page(s): 82-87
Content: Range management

Section: 10
Page(s): 82-83
Content: Context, requirements, target conditions and attributes

Section: 10.1
Page(s): 84
Content: Range use plans contents

Section: 10.2
Page(s): 85
Content: Livestock reductions in water quality

Section: 10.3
Page(s): 85-86
Content: Livestock use of riparian areas

Section: 10.4
Page(s): 86-87
Content: Range developments

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Last updated on October 18, 2005
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