Appendix 1.

Checklist of silvicultural prescription requirements and recommended supporting information

The process of choosing a silvicultural system for a particular stand and site, as outlined in the last sections of this guidebook, includes the assessment of higher-level plans, forest resource objectives, stand-level resource objectives, stand structural objectives, site-specific soil, terrain and stand factors, and eventually identifying one silvicultural system from the possible options. Better documentation of this prescriptive process improves public and professional confidence in the final prescription, and helps in the long-term evaluation of our management practices.

Statutory requirements for documentation of silvicultural prescriptions are summarized in the Silviculture Prescription Guidebook. These satisfy the requirements of the Forest Practices Code. However, in many situations a case can be made for collection and documentation of related supporting information, to complement these basic requirements and to better justify various silvicultural options. This approach also provides detailed long-term feedback on the results of various silvicultural systems in a given locality.

The following example checklist includes a preliminary summary of statutory requirements and suggests recommended supporting information for different silvicultural systems. Because statutory documentation requirements and recommended supporting information vary by system, this information is summarized across the range of common silvicultural systems, including silvicultural systems with reserves. The checklist is divided into eight categories:

• silvicultural system description
• system rationale
• windthrow issues
• pre-harvest stand condition
• leave-trees (>12.5 cm dbh)
• regeneration
• harvest planning
• stand-level reserves.

Example checklist of silvicultural prescription (SP) content requirements and recommended supporting information for different silvicultural systems.

Example checklist (continued)