One of the resources required by the Ministry of Forests Act to be managed by the Ministry of Forests is outdoor recreation, which is defined under the Forest Act to include scenic features. Visual landscape foresters in B.C., in collaboration with specialists in other parts of the world, have developed procedures for identifying and managing visually sensitive areas. These procedures incorporate both biophysical and social factors—including visual sensitivity ratings, numbers of viewers and their perceptions, and others—and provide recommended visual quality objectives (VQOs) for visually sensitive areas.
To meet these objectives, constraints must be placed on timber harvesting, road building and other forest practices in the sensitive areas. These constraints are based on research and experience, and on public preferences and acceptance of degrees of alteration of visual landscapes. The constraints are expressed in terms of "forest cover" requirements which relate to the maximum allowable percentage of a landscape unit that can be harvested at any one time, and to "visually effective green-up", i.e. the stage at which regeneration is perceived by the public as newly established forest.
In the Fraser TSA, 28 percent of the timber harvesting land base is presently subject to forest cover requirements for visual sensitivity. In the BCFS timber supply analysis, visually effective green-up was assumed to be achieved when the average tree height reaches five meters. The proportion of each visually sensitive area that was allowed to be less than five metres in height at any time depended upon the visual sensitivity of the area, and varied from 8 to 31 percent. Both the BCFS analysis and the FTWG analysis indicated that the short-term timber supply was highly sensitive to variations in the percentage of area permitted to be "below green up".
Licensees have suggested that forest cover requirements for visual quality be relaxed, which would result in a significant increase in the timber supply in both the short and long terms. Others submit that tourism is very important to the Fraser TSA and that clear-cuts are simply not acceptable within viewscapes. I realize that the timber supply forecast is very sensitive to changes in forest cover requirements, but since the present requirements have been developed by professional landscape foresters in consistency with international procedures, it would not be reasonable for me to arbitrarily assume or impose a change in these already established forest management practices.
I have therefore assumed that the way in which visually sensitive areas have been modelled in the analysis is appropriate for use in this determination.
It must be noted, however, that current harvesting performance in visually sensitive areas is less than that modelled in the BCFS timber supply analysis. If this trend were to continue, the long-term timber supply would be adversely affected. Every effort should therefore be made to encourage licensees to harvest the permissible volumes within visually sensitive areas.
