Under the Forest Practices Code, species at risk includes provincially red- and blue-listed vertebrates and invertebrates, red-listed plants and plant communities as well as selected yellow-listed species (i.e., regionally important). Regionally important species are considered at risk under the Code when it has been determined that these species are not adequately addressed by coarse filter guidelines and therefore require special management attention.
Provincial status (e.g., red, blue and yellow) is determined and reviewed on a biannual basis by the Conservation Data Centre (CDC) and Wildlife Branch using the internationally accepted criteria developed by the Nature Conservancy. These criteria are provincial abundance, estimated occurrences, range, trends, protected occurrences and threats. Species and plant communities are ranked from 1-5 where 1 is critically imperiled and 5 is secure. Generally, red-listed species are ranked 1 or 2, and blue-listed species are ranked 3 or 3/4. Regionally important wildlife are species that are ranked 4 or 4/5 indicating a potential conservation concern and are "at risk" in adjacent jurisdictions. The species at risk list is approved by the deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks.
Identified Wildlife are selected from the provincially red- or blue-listed vertebrates and invertebrates; regionally important vertebrates; and red-listed plants or plant communities. An inter-agency committee (Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks and Ministry of Forests) consults with species experts to determine which of these species and plant communities should be recommended for designation as Identified Wildlife.
Species and plant communities are evaluated to determine what habitats are considered limiting for their survival. Both species experts and literature are consulted during this evaluation. For red-listed plant communities the remaining occurrences of the community are considered limiting. Plant communities and species whose known limiting habitats are not affected by forest or range management are not considered for designation as Identified Wildlife. Species and plant communities whose habitat needs are adequately addressed by the Biodiversity Guidebook and the Riparian Management Area Guidebook are also not considered.
Only species and plant communities that were not adequately addressed at the coarse filter level and were considered to need protection of limiting habitats were put forward to the chief forester and deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks for designation as Identified Wildlife.
Identified Wildlife may be de-designated by agreement of the chief forester and deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks. This is necessary when a change in species or community status occurs.
The first volume of the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy contains 36 species and subspecies and four plant communities. This is only a portion of the species and plant communities that are at risk and affected by forest and range practices. The list of species and communities reflects the efforts of the interagency committee to represent a diversity of species in a diversity of habitats, and includes species from all the forest regions. Additional species and communities will be included in the forthcoming volume 2.
Appendices 1-6 contain information on the distribution of volume 1 Identified Wildlife by ecosection and forest district.
