Community Watershed Guidebook

October 1996

Authority

Water Act

Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act

Operational Planning Regulation

Forest Road Regulation

Timber Harvesting Practices Regulation

Silviculture Practices Regulation

Range Practices Regulation

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the guidebook

1.2 Background to the community watershed guidelines

1.3 Organization of the guidebook

2 Classification and mapping

2.1 Classifying community watersheds


2.1.1 Grandparented community watersheds
2.1.2 Designation of non-grandparented community watersheds

2.2 Community watershed list


2.2.1 Amending the community watershed list

2.3 Mapping


2.3.1 Location of water intakes

3 Community watershed planning

3.1 Strategic planning

3.1.1 Land and resource management plans
3.1.2 Integrated watershed management plans
3.1.3 Landscape units
3.1.4 Sensitive areas

3.2 Forest development plans

3.2.1 Long-term forest development plans
3.2.2 Completing a forest development plan for a community watershed

3.3 Community watershed requirements for other operational plans

3.3.1 Logging plans
3.3.2 Silviculture prescriptions
3.3.3 Range use plans
3.3.4 Access management plans

4 Contingency planning in the case of damage to the water supply

4.1 Elements of a contingency plan

4.2 Major participants

4.3 General roles and responsibilities

4.3.1 Water purveyors and water licensees
4.3.2 Ministry of Health
4.3.3 Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks
4.3.4 Ministry of Forests
4.3.5 Ministry of Employment and Investment
4.3.6 Ministry of Attorney General
4.3.7 Resource licensees, tenure holders, resource developers and their contractors

4.4 Determination of responsibility

5 Water quality monitoring

5.1 Water quality objectives

5.2 Tiered approach to water quality monitoring

5.2.1 Reconnaissance monitoring
5.2.2 Baseline monitoring
5.2.3 Impact assessment monitoring

6 Riparian management

6.1 Objectives

6.2 Definition of a stream

6.3 Stream classification and establishment of RMA widths

6.3.1 Adjusting RMA width

6.4 Management prescriptions

6.4.1 Roads and landings
6.4.2 Timber harvesting
6.4.3 Silviculture practices
6.4.4 Range practices

7 Terrain hazard mapping and field assessment

7.1 Terrain stability mapping

7.1.1 Map areas
7.1.2 Survey intensity levels
7.1.3 Map scale
7.1.4 Mapping conventions

7.2 Field assessments

7.2.1 How to do field assessments

8 Harvest scheduling and cutblock size

8.1 Equivalent clearcut area and peak flow index

8.2 Managing rate of cut and cutblock size

8.2.1 Watershed assessment procedure
8.2.2 Equivalent clearcut limits on sub-basins
8.2.3 Equivalent clearcut limits on areas draining onto sensitive sites
8.2.4 Cutblock size
8.2.5 Selection cutting
8.2.6 Green-up
8.2.7 Concentrate cutblocks

9 Forest road engineering

9.1 Forest road planning and design

9.1.1 General planning
9.1.2 Notifying water licensees
9.1.3 Activities near the community water supply intake
9.1.4 Terrain hazard mapping and field assessment
9.1.5 Constructing roads on sensitive soils
9.1.6 Water quality
9.1.7 Estimating culvert size

9.2 Construction and modification

9.2.1 General construction guidelines
9.2.2 Guidelines for drainage structures in community watersheds
9.2.3 Acid-generating rock

9.3 Maintenance

9.4 Deactivation

9.4.1 Temporary (seasonal) deactivation
9.4.2 Semi-permanent deactivation

9.5 Monitoring water quality during road construction, maintenance or deactivation

10 Range management

10.1 Range use plans

10.2 Livestock and reductions in water quality

10.3 Livestock use of riparian areas

10.4 Range developments


10.4.1 Livestock watering
10.4.2 Roads and trails
10.4.3 Salting
10.4.4 Fencing
10.4.5 Corrals
10.4.6 Cabins
10.4.7 Stream crossings

11 Forest fire protection and suppression

11.1 Planning

11.1.1 Mapping
11.1.2 Fire control plans

11.2 Fuel management

11.2.1 Maximum contiguous disturbance area
11.2.3 Prescribed burning

11.3 Fire operations

11.3.1 Personnel
11.3.2 Fire guards and fire breaks
11.3.3 Heavy and motorized equipment
11.3.4 Chemicals
11.3.5 Fire camps

11.4 Rehabilitation

12 Forest fertilizer management

12.1 Types of fertilizers

12.1.1 Biosolids
12.1.2 Chemical fertilizers

12.2 Planning

12.3 Timing and extent of fertilizer application

12.3.1 Timing
12.3.2 Maximum treatment areas

12.4 Mapping streams

12.4.1 Flight lines

12.5 Fertilizer-free zones

12.6 Material handling

12.7 Water quality monitoring

12.7.1 Sample sites
12.7.2 Sample frequency
12.7.3 Laboratory analysis
12.7.4 Analysis of concentrations

12.8 Accidental spills

13 Pesticide management

13.1 Integrated pest management

13.2 Notification of water licensees

13.2.1 Information and record keeping

13.3 Pesticide-free zone

13.3.1 Aerial application
13.3.2 Spray drift monitoring
13.3.3 Buffer zones
13.3.4 Transporting, mixing, storing and disposing of pesticides

13.4 Emergencies

13.5 Detecting pesticides in water

14 Recreation access and activities

14.1 Recreation access and activity planning

14.2 Recreation and access guidelines


14.2.1 Watersheds smaller than 5 km²
14.2.2 Watersheds larger than 5 km²

15 Spring source areas

15.1 Definitions

15.2 Designating springs as community watersheds or sensitive areas

15.3 Mapping spring source areas

15.4 Forest practices in spring source areas


15.4.1 Water quality monitoring
15.4.2 Harvesting
15.4.3 Roads
15.4.4 Fertilizers
15.4.5 Pesticides

Appendices

1. Community watershed advertisement

Figures

1. Community watershed designation process with existing licence
2. Emergency response flow chart
3. Per cent hydrologic recovery as average stand height increases
4. Calculating the peak flow index for a 1000 ha watershed in the interior
5. Measuring the contributing source area above an unstable slope
6. ECA limitations in a community watershed
7. Identifying bankfull width
8. Stream cross-section
9. British Columbia k contours: k values for streamflow estimation
10. Sample plot of culvert unit discharge versus drainage area
11. Strategy for laying out a buffer zone to protect a stream flowing through an area proposed for fertilization
12. Strategy for laying out a 10 m buffer zone for no fertilizer application along a creek

Tables

1. Percentages of B.C. population served by various water supplies
2. Percentage of forest region in community watersheds
3. Drainage area of community watersheds in British Columbia
4. Community watershed characteristics to assess and map
5. Community watershed planning responsibilities
6. Water quality parameters for baseline monitoring
7. Stream classes and minimum riparian slope distances for riparian management areas
8. Round pipe diameter and cross-sectional area required for various discharges
9. Width of buffer zone required for various pesticide application equipment