The following recommendations are not mandatory, are not to be inferred as government direction and are not intended to have application across the entire planning area. Instead, they should be considered in areas of high management priority for fishers such as the biogeoclimatic subzones of natural disturbance type (NDT) 3. Fisher populations in NDT3 are the highest in BC because of the abundance of prey, favourable climate and structurally complex forests with continuous overhead cover. Although the following recommendations have been developed for NDT3 (except for CWH, ICHdw, MSdk, MSdm and SBSmc subzones) they may also be considered in other areas determined to be of high value to fishers such as the drier interior subzones of NDT2 and more northerly subzones of NDT4. These recommendations are based on the best technical information on the species at this time and some or all of them should be considered for application in localized portions of a planning area where the planning table intends to propose a conservation objective for the species. Planning tables are expected to consider these recommendations along with other proposed timber and non-timber resource objectives. If necessary to accommodate other objectives, planning tables should consider restricting the distribution of the recommended management practices, rather than modifying the practices themselves.
Maintain stand structure and mature and old forest connectivity, particularly along riparian systems.
NOTE: These landscape unit planning requirements do not apply until they have been incorporated into approved resource management zone objectives.
There are two categories of WHAs for grizzly bears: security and foraging. The name refers to one of the primary functions of the WHA but does not limit them to these functions. Security WHAs are intended to maintain the ecological integrity of critical habitat patches and to ensure the security of the bears using these patches. Patches are defined as a single occurrence of a unique grizzly bear habitat type (see step 1 below).
Foraging WHAs attempt to compensate for habitat alienation, degradation or loss of important areas in landscape units by maintaining habitat values in other areas. They may also be established to maintain security, thermal cover or linkage among important habitats.
WHAs will be established based on grizzly bear population and habitat objectives consistent with the Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy and higher level plans approved by three ministers (MELP, MOF, MEM).
Priority for WHAs will be in the portions of the following forest districts that are within threatened Grizzly Bear Population Units: Sunshine Coast, Squamish, Lillooet, Chilcotin, Williams Lake, Chilliwack, Merritt, Penticton, Vernon, Boundary, Arrow, Kootenay Lake, Cranbrook and Quesnel and Grizzly Bear Management Areas (GBMAs) designated under the Wildlife Act.
A security WHA consists of a core area and a buffer. The core area is an entire patch of critical habitat. The buffer should generally be about 50 m but its width will vary with patch characteristics and objectives. Security WHAs will range in size from 1 to 500 ha. The majority of WHAs will be less than 10 ha. Critical habitat patches include salmon spawning areas where grizzly bears feed and herb-dominated avalanche tracks and run-out zones on southerly and westerly aspects. On the coast, critical habitats include estuaries, skunk cabbage swamps and non-forested fen/marsh complexes. In the interior, critical units include herbaceous riparian meadow/wetland complexes, post-fire stands dominated by Vaccinium species, subalpine parkland meadows and Hedysarum and glacier lily complexes.
