Forest Service British Columbia - Research Branch

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Zone and Subzone Descriptions

Click on a BGC zone, or a subzone/variant/phase, to view relevant information from the Land Management Handbook series of field guides on site identification and interpretation of forest ecosystems.

BGC Zone	Subsone/variant/phase	Description
AT
BAFA	un	Undifferentiated
	unp	Undifferentiated and Parkland
BG	xh1	Okanagan Very Dry Hot
	xh2	Thompson Very Dry Hot
	xh3	Fraser Very Dry Hot
	xw1	Nicola Very Dry Warm
	xw2	Alkali Very Dry Warm
BWBS	dk2	Liard Dry Cool
	mw1	Peace Moist Warm
	mw2	Fort Nelson Moist Warm
	un	Undifferentiated
	vk	Very Wet Cool
	wk1	Murray Wet Cool
	wk2	Graham Wet Cool
	wk3	Kledo Wet Cool
CDF	mm	Moist Maritime
CMA	un	Undifferentiated
	unp	Undifferentiated and Parkland
CWH	dm	Dry Maritime
	ds1	Southern Dry Submaritim
	ds2	Central Dry Submaritime
	mm1	Submontane Moist Maritime
	mm2	Montane Moist Maritime
	ms1	Southern Moist Submaritime
	ms2	Central Moist Submaritime
	un	Undifferentiated
	vh1	Southern Very Wet Hypermaritime
	vh2	Central Very Wet Hypermaritime
	vm	Very Wet Maritime
	vm1	Submontane Very Wet Maritime
	vm2	Montane Very Wet Maritime
	vm3	Central Very Wet Maritime
	wh1	Submontane Wet Hypermaritime
	wh2	Montane Wet Hypermaritime
	wm	Wet Maritime
	ws1	Submontane Wet Submaritime
	ws2	Montane Wet Submaritime
	xm1	Eastern Very Dry Maritime
	xm2	Western Very Dry Maritime
ESSF	dc1	Okanagan Dry Cold
	dc2	South Thompson Dry Cold
	dc3	North Thompson Dry Cold
	dcp	Dry Cold Parkland
	dcw	Dry Cold Woodland
	dk1	Kootenay Dry Cool
	dk2	Spillimacheen Dry Cool
	dkp	Dry Cool Parkland
	dku	Dry Cool Woodland and Parkland
	dkw	Dry Cool Woodland
	dm	Dry Mild
	dmp	Dry Mild Parkland
	dmw	Dry Mild Woodland
	dv	Dry Very Cold
	dv d	Dry Very Cold – Dry phase
	dvp	Dry Very Cold Parkland
	dvw	Dry Very Cold Woodland
	mc	Moist Cold
	mcp	Moist Cold Parkland
	mk	Moist Cool
	mkp	Moist Cool Parkland
	mm1	Raush Moist Mild
	mm2	Robson Moist Mild
	mmp	Moist Mild Parkland
	mmw	Moist Mild Woodland
	mv1	Nechako Moist Very Cold
	mv2	Bullmoose Moist Very Cold
	mv3	Omineca Moist Very Cold
	mv4	Graham Moist Very Cold
	mvp	Moist Very Cold Parkland
	mw	Moist Warm
	mw1	Cascade Moist Warm
	mw2	Stein Moist Warm
	mwp	Moist Warm Parkland
	mww	Moist Warm Woodland
	vc	Very Wet Cold
	vcp	Very Wet Cold Parkland
	vcw	Very Wet Cold Woodland
	vv	Very Wet Very Cold
	vvp	Very Wet Very Cold Parkland
	wc1	Columbia Wet Cold
	wc2	Northern Monashee Wet Cold
	wc2w	Northern Monashee Wet Cold – Warm phase
	wc3	Cariboo Wet Cold
	wc4	Selkirk Wet Cold
	wc5	Salmo Wet Cold
	wc6	Ymir Wet Cold
	wcp	Wet Cold Parkland
	wcw	Wet Cold Woodland
	wk1	Cariboo Wet Cool
	wk2	Misinchinka Wet Cool
	wkp	Wet Cool Parkland
	wm	Wet Mild
	wmp	Wet Mild Parkland
	wmu	Wet Mild Woodland and Parkland
	wmw	Wet Mild Woodland
	wv	Wet Very Cold
	wvp	Wet Very Cold Parkland
	xc	Very Dry Cold
	xc1	Okanagan Very Dry Cold
	xc2	Thompson Very Dry Cold
	xc3	Pavillion Very Dry Cold
	xcp	Very Dry Cold Parkland
	xcw	Very Dry Cold Woodland
xv1	West Chilcotin Very Dry Very Cold
xv2	Big Creek Very Dry Very Cold
xvp	Very Dry Very Cold Parkland
xvw	Very Dry Very Cold Woodland
ICH	dk	Dry Cool
	dm	Dry Mild
	dw1	West Kootenay Dry Warm
	dw2	Boundary Dry Warm
	dw3	North Thompson Dry Warm
	mc1	Nass Moist Cold
	mc1a	Nass Moist Cold – Amabilis fir phase
	mc2	Hazelton Moist Cold
	mk1	Kootenay Moist Cool
	mk2	Thompson Moist Cool
	mk3	Horsefly Moist Cool
	mm	Moist Mild
	mw1	Golden Moist Warm
	mw2	Shuswap Moist Warm
	mw3	Thompson Moist Warm
	mw4	Ymir Moist Warm
	vc	Very Wet Cold
	vk1	Mica Very Wet Cool
	vk1c	Mica Very Wet Cool – Cold Air phase
	vk2	Slim Very Wet Cool
	wc	Wet Cold
	wk1	Wells Gray Wet Cool
	wk1c	Wells Gray Wet Cool – Cold Air phase
	wk2	Quesnel Wet Cool
	wk3	Goat Wet Cool
	wk4	Cariboo Wet Cool
	xw	Very Dry Warm
IDF	dc	Dry Cold
	dk1	Thompson Dry Cool
	dk1a	Thompson Dry Cool – Grassland phase
	dk1b	Thompson Dry Cool – Steep South phase
	dk2	Cascade Dry Cool
	dk2a	Cascade Dry Cool – Grassland phase
	dk2b	Cascade Dry Cool – Steep South phase
	dk3	Fraser Dry Cool
	dk4	Chilcotin Dry Cool
	dm1	Kettle Dry Mild
	dm2	Kootenay Dry Mild
	dm2a	Kootenay Dry Mild – Moist phase
	dm2n	Kootenay Dry Mild – Northern phase
	dw	Dry Warm
	mw1	Shuswap Moist Warm
	mw2	Thompson Moist Warm
	mw2b	Thompson Moist Warm – Steep South phase
	un	Undifferentiated
	ww	Wet Warm
	ww1	Stein Wet Warm
	xc	Very Dry Cold
	xh1	Okanagan Very Dry Hot
	xh1a	Okanagan Very Dry Hot – Grassland phase
	xh2	Thompson Very Dry Hot
	xh2a	Thompson Very Dry Hot – Grassland phase
	xh4	Boundary Very Dry Hot
	xk	Very Dry Cool
	xm	Very Dry Mild
	xw	Very Dry Warm
IMA	un	Undifferentiated
	unp	Undifferentiated and Parkland
MH	mm1	Windward Moist Maritime
	mm2	Leeward Moist Maritime
	mmp	Moist Maritime Parkland
	un	Undifferentiated
	wh1	Windward Wet Hypermaritime
	wh2	Leeward Wet Hypermaritime
	whp	Wet Hypermaritime Parkland
MS	dc1	Bridge Dry Cold
	dc1d	Bridge Dry Cold – Dry phase
	dc2	Tatlayoko Dry Cold
	dk	Dry Cool
	dm1	Okanagan Dry Mild
	dm1a	Okanagan Dry Mild – Redcedar phase
	dm2	South Thompson Dry Mild
	dm3	North Thompson Dry Mild
	dm3w	North Thompson Dry Mild – Warm phase
	dv	Dry Very Cold
	mw1	Cascade Moist Warm
	mw2	Stein Moist Warm
	un	Undifferentiated
	xk	Very Dry Cool
	xk1	Similkameen Very Dry Cool
	xk2	South Thompson Very Dry Cool
	xk3	Pavillion Very Dry Cool
	xv	Very Dry Very Cold
PP	dh1	Kettle Dry Hot
	dh2	Kootenay Dry Hot
	xh1	Okanagan Very Dry Hot
	xh1a	Okanagan Very Dry Hot – Grassland phase
	xh2	Thompson Very Dry Hot
	xh2a	Thompson Very Dry Hot – Grassland phase
SBPS	dc	Dry Cold
	mc	Moist Cold
	mk	Moist Cool
	xc	Very Dry Cold
SBS	dh1	McLennan Dry Hot
	dh2	Robson Dry Hot
	dk	Dry Cool
	dw1	Horsefly Dry Warm
	dw2	Blackwater Dry Warm
	dw3	Stuart Dry Warm
	mc1	Moffat Moist Cold
	mc2	Babine Moist Cold
	mc3	Kluskus Moist Cold
	mh	Moist Hot
	mk1	Mossvale Moist Cool
	mk2	Williston Moist Cool
	mm	Moist Mild
	mw	Moist Warm
	un	Undifferentiated
	vk	Very Wet Cool
	wk1	Willow Wet Cool
	wk2	Finlay-Peace Wet Cool
	wk3	Takla Wet Cool
	wk3a	Takla Wet Cool – Douglas-fir phase
SWB	dk	Dry Cool
	dks	Dry Cool Scrub
	mk	Moist Cool
	mks	Moist Cool Scrub
	un	Undifferentiated
	vk	Very Wet Cool
	vks	Very Wet Cool Scrub
		Updated June 2007