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Soil Conservation

The objectives of soil conservation under British Columbia's Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) are:

• to limit the extent of soil disturbance caused by harvesting and silviculture activities that negatively affect the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil.
• to conduct forest practices in a manner that addresses the inherent sensitivity of a site to soil-degrading processes to minimize detrimental soil disturbance, landslides, soil erosion, and sediment delivery to streams.
• to limit the area of productive forest land that is occupied by permanent roads, landings, pits, quarries, and trails to the minimum necessary to safely conduct forest practices.

Under FRPA, disturbance is classified into two main types:

• areas occupied by permanent access structures; and
• areas occupied by soil disturbance in the net area to be reforested.

Soil disturbance in the net area to be reforested is further categorized as the area occupied by corduroyed trails, compacted areas, areas of dispersed disturbance, and un-rehabilitated temporary access structures.

The policies contained in FRPA are still in transition from the older, more prescriptive Forest Practices Code of BC Act (FPC). However, the following FPC Guidebooks are still relevant and are valuable sources of information:

• Soil Conservation Brochures:
  • Soil Conservation I:  Introduction
  • Soil Conservation II:  Considerations for Forest and Range Operations
• Soil Disturbance Hazard Ratings for Compaction, Displacement, and Surface Soil Erosion (PDF);
• Soil Disturbance Limits (PDF);
• Soil Rehabilitation
• Soil Disturbance Measurement (PDF);
• Pre-harvest data collection and site stratification (along with forest floor displacement and mass wasting hazard keys that are recommended for harvest and site preparation planning) (PDF).

Related Links

• Soil Disturbance Field card that shows the various soil disturbance types that are "always counted" on all sites, and those that count on more sensitive sites: side 1, machine traffic disturbance, and side 2, scalps and gouges.
   
• Guidance Documents for BC Forest and Range Soils - listing of currently available, ongoing works and those in preparation

Last updated on January 8, 2010
The contact for this web page is: tim.ebata@gov.bc.ca