GWM management objectives

Maintain blocks of old growth (as defined in the Biodiversity Guidebook) with interior forest conditions for nesting habitat.

Minimize nest predation.

General wildlife measures

These measures must be applied within a WHA approved for the species. Access Do not build roads unless the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager are satisifed there is no other practicable option and the variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager. Seasonal constraints on the use of the road may be required. Consult MELP so any seasonal constraints can be specified. Recreation Do not establish recreation sites. Silviculture Do not harvest except for salvage when a variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager. Identify WHAs on forest district fire protection maps and consider them a priority for protection from fires. Restoration and enhancement In second growth stands use silvicultural techniques to encourage old-growth characteristics.

Management considerations (not mandatory)

Consider the following during operational planning:

• Schedule timber harvesting operations adjacent to WHAs between September 15 and April 15 to minimize disturbance of nesting birds.
• If a WHA is <200 ha, no more than 50% of the WHA should be bounded by forests of young seral stages.
• If prescribed burning is required for site preparation adjacent to a WHA, it should be restricted to between September 15 and April 15 to minimize the impacts on nesting marbled murrelets. An extremely high level of fire protection during slash burning is required for burns adjacent to WHAs.

Landscape unit planning considerations (not mandatory)

Marbled murrelet nesting habitat in the Georgia Depression Ecoprovince is severely depleted. Habitat conservation within this ecoprovince is critical in order to maintain populations in this part of the marbled murrelet's range. When applying biodiversity emphasis options within the Georgia Depression, areas with sufficient suitable marbled murrelet habitat (see WHA description above) should be considered for placement of the higher biodiversity emphasis (no more than 10% of subregional planning area) and intermediate biodiversity emphasis (45% of subregional planning area).

In landscape units where 10-12% of suitable marbled murrelet habitat is not available, conflict may occur between ecosystem representation and the best distribution of marbled murrelet WHAs. In these cases, the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager must consider whether or not marbled murrelet conservation should take precedence over ecosystem representation. Exceeding the Guide to Landscape Unit Planning (In prep.) old forest retention is not an option until such time as a conservation assessment has determined that additional habitat conservation is required and the strategy is revised to include higher level plan recommendations for marbled murrelets.

Cross references

Northern goshawk, Queen Charlotte goshawk, grizzly bear

Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)

WHA planning objectives

Maintain concentrations of nest and storage trees.

Wildlife habitat area

Establish WHAs where an aggregation of nesting woodpeckers occurs. An aggregation is defined as five or more nesting pairs, each within 250 m of another. The WHA will include all the nest sites plus a 100 m buffer.

GWM management objectives

Maintain the integrity of nesting areas.

General wildlife measures

These measures must be applied within a WHA approved for the species. Access Do not construct roads unless the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager are satisifed there is no other practicable option and the variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager. Recreation Do not develop recreation trails or sites. Silviculture Do not harvest or salvage timber.