Silviculture Prescription Guidebook

April 1995

Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act
Sections: 22, 23,30, 31, 33
Sections: 35 to 43 inclusive

Operational Planning Regulation

Silviculture Planning Regulation

Table of Contents

Introduction

General objective


General requirements

Attachments
Administration

RPF signature and seal
Licensee signature
District manager approval
Prescription amendments


Tenure identification

Required information
Optional information


Management objectives and consistency with other plans

General objective
Higher-level plans
Sensitive areas and objectives
Stand structure and composition objectives
Forest health objectives
First Nations issues
Resource values objectives


Ecological and resource information

General objective
Biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification (BEC)
Critical site factors
Lakeshore and riparian management areas

Streams
Wetlands and lakes less than 5 ha in size
Lakes larger than 5 ha in size
Gully assessments

Wildlife habitat areas and features
Stratification

Site series
Standards units
Patch cutting and group selection
Mosaic of site series

Mapping


Forest health assessment and prescription

General objective


Soil conservation

General objectives
Determining the sensitivity of a site to soil disturbance
Maximum proportion of the area in permanent access structures
Maximum proportion of the area in temporary access structures
Areas where bladed or excavated trails may be constructed
Maximum soil disturbance in the net area to be reforested
Rehabilitation measures
Maximum permissible reduction in the forest floor as a result of prescribed fire
Sample calculation

Proportion of total area occupied by permanent access
Proportion of the net area to be reforested (NAR) occupied by temporary access


Actions to accommodate forest resource values

General objective
Wildlife
Fisheries
Watershed values
Recreation
Visual values

Descriptions outside identified scenic areas
Prescriptions within identified scenic areas
Sources of visual landscape information

Cultural heritage resources
Range
Other forest resource values and interests


Silvicultural system

General objective
Prescription requirements by silvicultural system

Clearcut and patch cut (including variations with reserves)
Seed tree
Group selection
Shelterwood systems (including variations with reserves)
Single tree selection
Commercial thinning

Silvicultural systems in reserve and management zones

Reserve zones
Management zones


Harvesting

General objective
Harvesting method
Harvesting constraints


Fire hazard abatement

General objective


Silviculture treatments

General objective
Site preparation
Regeneration

Use of advanced regeneration

Brushing
Spacing
Pruning
Fertilization
Post free growing treatments


Stocking standards

Stocking requirements for clearcutting, patch cutting, group selection,
group shelterwood and group seed tree silvicultural systems
(including variations with reserves)

Preferred and acceptable species
Minimum allowable horizontal distance
Target stocking standard (TSS)
Minimum stocking standard (MSSpa)
Minimum stocking standard of preferred species (MSSp)
Regeneration date
Free growing assessment period
Maximum density
Post-spacing density range
Minimum height
Crop tree to brush ratio
Other survey criteria

Stocking requirements for even-aged partial cutting systems not covered by previous section
Stocking requirements for single tree selection
Stocking requirements for commercial thinning
Stocking requirements in riparian management areas
Stocking standards for complex site units
Area summary


Mapping requirements

Scale and general mapping requirements
Map content requirements

Administrative information
Resource and ecological information
Final management units
Area summaries


Figures

1. Example of tenure section
   
2. Example of management objectives
   
3. Example for ecology and resource information
   
4. Forest health example
   
5. Example of soil conservation section
   
6. Wildlife example
   
7. Fisheries example
   
8. Watershed example
   
9. Recreation example
   
10. Visual landscape example
    
11. Cultural heritage resources example
    
12. Range example
    
13. Other forest resource values example
    
14. Example of silvicultural system – clearcut with reserves
    
15. Example of silvicultural system – uniform seed tree
    
16. Example of silvicultural system – group selection
    
17. Example of silvicultural system – strip shelterwood
    
18. Example of silvicultural system – single tree selection
    
19. Example of silvicultural system – stand and stock table for single tree selection
    
20. Example for harvesting
    
21. Fire hazard abatement example
    
22. First example of silviculture treatments
    
23. Second example of silviculture treatments
    
24. Clearcut or patch cut example of free growing stocking standards
    
25. Uneven-aged example of free growing stocking standards
    
26. Even-aged partial cut example of free growing stocking standards
    
27. Example of mapping