A summary of the steps taken in establishing a wildlife habitat area is provided in Figure 1. Steps 3-5 should be completed in 90 days. When approval takes longer than the suggested time, a letter of explanation and revised timetable will be sent to tenure holders. Ministry of Forests regions will be the administrative units used for tracking WHAs.
Proposals may be submitted by a variety of sources including public or private individuals or institutions. When submitting a proposal, use a WHA data form (sample of form in Appendix 7). Proposals must go initially to a regional rare and endangered species specialist (RES) of MELP or designate. The RESs are the primary contacts for proposed and approved WHAs. RESs will co-ordinate responsibilities within MOF regions.
After receiving a proposal, the RES informs the Regional WHA Committee, MOF district office and licensee that a WHA proposal has been made and whether the proposal is probably valid or not. The RES will ensure that forest and range agreement holders are informed of proposals. The Regional WHA Committee is a joint Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP)/Ministry of Forests (MOF)/Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) committee (see Appendix 8 for terms of reference). One committee will be established for each MOF region.
The RES makes the initial evaluation of the proposal. The proposal must meet the species-specific criteria described in part 2 of this document. Indications of occupancy by the species and presence of the habitat feature must be confirmed. Proposed sites that pass step 2 will be posted on an intranet site. For more information see page 16.
All proposals rejected for biological reasons will be reviewed and an explanation for rejection provided by a registered professional biologist or qualified individual as specified by the regional fish and wildlife manager. The proponent will be notified of the decision as will the Regional WHA Committee and MOF district office.
Once a proposed WHA has passed the initial review (step 2), the RES will prepare a draft map (see "Mapping protocol"). The RES and Regional WHA Committee will:
For each species or plant community, the WHA feature and size is described in this document (see part 2). Criteria used for selecting the site and designing the boundary will include ecological considerations from part 2, operational feasibility, windfirmness and other standard boundary criteria.
When selecting sites and drafting boundaries, every effort should be made to incorporate suitable habitat, while minimizing reductions in timber supply and impact on other resources (range, petroleum and mining). Consider opportunities to use areas or parts of areas that have already been removed from the timber supply (e.g., other WHAs, riparian reserves, wildlife tree patches, old-growth management areas, protected areas, ecological reserves, parks, economically inaccessible areas, ungulate winter ranges, and environmentally sensitive areas that have been netted out of the productive forest landbase). This will ensure that the impacts of each WHA are minimized and will allow more sites to be protected within the timber supply impact limit set by government.
For some species, landscape unit planning considerations should be noted when selecting sites and designing boundaries. GWMs that limit access or harvesting through all or part of a WHA require careful boundary placement to allow future access around the restricted area.
The Regional WHA Committee will calculate the actual timber supply impact of the proposed WHA and any interim sites. Any proposals that exceed the district planning threshold (see page 21) must be sent forward with a strategy to deal with the timber impact (i.e., de-listing an alternate WHA and/or allowing a variance of the GWM to decrease the impact. Tracking impacts from interim measures and approved WHAs by district will enable district WHA evaluations to be made in a timely manner.
Range impacts will be documented by MOF regional range staff. Petroleum and mining impacts will be documented by MEM regional staff.
Affected parties includes anyone with existing or tenured forest, range, petroleum or mining interests within the proposed WHA.
The consultation process enables affected parties and stakeholders to work with government staff and submit comments on the WHA proposal. When agreement cannot be reached during the consultation process, concerns will be documented and options developed that reflect environmental, social and economic interests. For instance, if a proposed WHA may have severe impacts on a licensee due to the size and location of the licence and WHA, then, to the fullest extent possible, all other options for the area will be considered (e.g., selecting an alternate WHA location or locating a new operating area). When no other options exist, the consequences will be made known to the statutory decision makers.
This includes, but is not limited to, all biological, operational and impact information gathered during site selection, boundary determination, impact assessment (local and cumulative), and consultation.
The suggested timeframe for this step is a maximum of 40 days.
Once the consultation process has concluded, the RES will delineate proposed WHA boundaries on hardcopy terrain resource information management (TRIM) maps according to the procedure and standards outlined in this document (Mapping Protocol). The information and comments provided by the consultations in step 3, along with the WHA data form (Appendix 7), will form the basis for the documentation.
The draft map and documentation must be both endorsed by a registered professional biologist or qualified individual as specified by the regional fish and wildlife manager, and reviewed by the Regional WHA Committee before being forwarded to the WHA Technical Committee. If agreement has been reached at the regional level, a single recommendation will go forward. If there is not agreement, concerns and options will be prepared and sent forward to the WHA Technical Committee.
The suggested timeframe for this step is a maximum of 20 days.
The WHA Technical Committee will evaluate each proposal with respect to priority of the WHA for the maintenance of populations and cumulative impact on timber supply at all levels (see Appendix 9 for terms of reference). Proposals will be forwarded with supporting technical information to the chief forester and the deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks.
The suggested timeframe for this step is a maximum of 30 days.
WHAs will be brought forward with required documentation to the deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks (or designate) and chief forester for decision. When a mining or petroleum conflict has been noted in the WHA proposal, the chief forester and deputy minister of Environment, Lands and Parks may consult with the Forest Practices Code Joint Steering Committee.
Approved WHAs will be forwarded by the WHA Technical Committee to MOF district offices and to MOF, MELP, MEM and Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) headquarters and regional offices. Regional WHA Committees will be notified of the decision and will then notify the proponent.
The actual timber supply, range, petroleum and mining impact calculated in step 3 will be added to the cumulative total in the forest district or region (MOF regional timber supply analyst, regional range representative, regional MEM representative) and WHA Technical Committee provincial and regional databases.
Approved WHAs will be digitized by MELP headquarters. The official maps will be held in Victoria. Copies will be forwarded to the Regional WHA Committee, OGC office, MEM regions and MOF districts.
All approved maps received by forest district offices will be added to the MOF district maps. Once the approved WHA is known to the tenure holder, they must incorporate it into operational plans. Maps will be incorporated into the MEM map database.
A WHA can be removed or modified as a result of new information. This may be because more appropriate sites have been located, the impact of the WHA has been determined to be significantly greater than initially predicted, or changes to the WHA boundary have been recommended by the Regional WHA Committee. These changes will require the same procedure used initially to create the WHA (steps 3-9).
