About FFIP

The effects of forestry practices on watershed processes and fish populations have been a major concern to managers and scientists for over 35 years in British Columbia. So far, six studies have been carried out in the province to document fish-forestry interaction.

Results of the projects fall into one or more of three broad, interrelated categories of forestry-related effects on fish and aquatic habitats: physical habitat-structure alterations, water temperature– related shifts, and trophic responses.

This Web site provides an overview of the Fish-Forestry Interaction Program (FFIP) conducted in British Columbia. The individual projects are summarized here with links to more detailed descriptions.  Although these projects are presented separately, their overall influence, taken together, is greater than the sum of the parts.

Fish-Forestry Interaction Programs in British Columbia

Issues arising from the interaction between fish and forest resource values have been a major concern to managers and scientists for over 35 years in British Columbia (B.C.). This web site is intended to provide an overview of the Fish-Forestry Interaction Programs (FFIPs) conducted since 1968. The individual projects are summarized here, and links to more detailed descriptions are provided. Although these individual projects are presented separately, their overall influence, taken together, is greater than the sum of the parts.

The first FFIP in British Columbia was initiated in Genesee Creek, a salmon-rich stream flowing into Owikeno Lake near Rivers Inlet, in 1968 by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Toews and Hetherington 2004). Wood et al. (1970) collected all of the physical and biological information available for the sockeye salmon spawning areas of Rivers Inlet. The study was designed to detail environmental conditions before and after logging and was to continue for 5–10 years (Wood et al. 1970). The project was discontinued prematurely due to the expense of working in remote locations and the impracticality of logging much of the upland watershed; no final reports were published (Toews and Hetherington 2004).

The Carnation Creek FFIP, on the west coast of British Columbia, began in 1970 and continues to this day. It is an important project, the results of which have made major contributions to the stream and watershed sections of the British Columbia Coastal Fisheries/Forestry Guidelines and the British Columbia Forest Practices Code that followed in the 1980s and 1990s. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Forest Service initiated the project in co-operation with MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. and the B.C. Forest Service.  The latter partner became the primary co-ordinator of the project when the federal agencies shifted their focus to interior areas in the 1990s.

At the same time as the FFIP was beginning on the coast, another FFIP was being started in the interior, east of Prince George. The Slim-Tumuch project was initiated by the provincial Fish and Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment and the DFO (Toews and Hetherington 2004). This project was relatively short in duration (1971–1975) and was based on a synoptic design (logged streams compared to nearby unlogged streams), so there were no pre-logging studies. The study objective was to evaluate the effects of logging on water quality and on fish habitat and populations.  Brownlee et al. (1988) reported that logging-related sediment that entered the stream and degraded water quality was derived from a single source, and the problem could have been avoided with a road location that avoided lacustrine sediments (Toews and Hetherington 2004).

Concerns continued to be raised, province-wide, about the size and effectiveness of riparian buffers to protect fish habitat, particularly along small streams (class S4 streams, which are less than 1.5 m wide). A novel approach was developed and implemented experimentally  in the Prince George Forest District; referred to as the Small Stream Riparian Study. This 5-year project  tested whether the district policy, which required a minimum retention of 10–12 overstorey trees per 100 m of stream length and 50–75% of natural shade levels after harvesting, was effective in supporting the ecological attributes necessary for healthy fish habitat in S4 streams. 

The project was designed:

• to increase understanding of natural functions of small streams in different forest types in sub-boreal forests;
• to assess the current district riparian management practices;
• to identify critical components of small streams and the adjacent riparian areas in sub-boreal forests that maintain stream productivity and protect other stream values;
• to contribute to the identification of key indicators of sustainable riparian forest management;
• to identify specific knowledge gaps in the management of small streams; and
• to assess new best management practices by using innovative prescriptions on the streams that are monitored.

Preliminary findings indicate that the prescription was successful in maintaining channel bank stability, short-term supply of large woody debris, and background nutrient levels. It was not successful in maintaining background riparian air and stream water temperature levels. The increases in stream water temperature levels were still below thermal maxima for local  fish species.  Benthic productivity did not increase with increased solar radiation. As such, it cannot supplement the loss of litterfall to the stream from the harvested riparian zone. This may lead to decreased stream productivity downstream of the treatment sites. A 5-year synthesis report summarizing the study findings, highlighting management considerations, and recommending further studies under the adaptive management process will be drafted in 2007.

In the late 1970s, fish-forestry interaction issues were becoming increasingly tense in steep terrain where hillslope stability was a problem. These issues were initially addressed on the Queen Charlotte Islands (QCI), starting in 1978. The QCI FFIP was based on a synoptic design that included over 30 watersheds with different logging histories. The main advantage of this design is that several different geographic zones can be considered instead of just a single area (as is the case in studies such as Carnation Creek). Major conclusions were derived concerning managing landslide-prone terrain, the episodic nature of natural disturbance events, and most importantly, the processes that operate at a watershed scale that link upslope/upstream and downslope/downstream areas.

When the DFO ceased to participate in the Carnation Creek project they turned their scientific attention to three small streams in the headwaters of the Fraser River. The Stuart-Takla FFIP began in 1991 and focused on issues important to the northern interior. Three watersheds were intensively monitored for 10 years before logging was planned for two of the watersheds, leaving the third as an experimental control.  This project was terminated in 2001 due to an inability to reconcile logging plans and First Nations rights conflicts. There is interest in returning to these sites if logging does proceed. 

A recently initiated but short-lived FFIP began on the south coast to consider the influence of selected variable retention strategies associated with riparian zone management. This project involved three case studies: two on Vancouver Island (streams near Tofino and Campbell River), and one south of Powell River. The project was discontinued due to funding difficulties.

Acknowledgements:

Concept and content for the MFR-FFIP web pages were developed by Dan Hogan, Dave Maloney, John Rex, and Peter Tschaplinski. Webpage design and coordination of quarterly updates are conducted by the respective FFIP researchers (see contacts).

Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated March 2008