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Guidelines to Support Implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Order with
Respect to Old Forest and Listed Plant Communities |
| Author(s) or contact(s): Allen Banner, Del Meidinger,
Bob Green, and Sari Saunders |
| Source: Ministry
of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development |
| Subject: Ecosystem-based
Management; Great Bear Rainforest; Old Forest; Forest Attribute Score; Listed
Plant Communities |
| Series: Land Management Handbook |
| Other details: Published 2019 |
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Abstract
The Great Bear Rainforest Order (GBRO), established January 2016, presents legal
objectives for the protection of Old Forests and Red- and Blue-Listed Plant
Communities (Listed Communities) within the timber harvesting land base of the
Great Bear Rainforest. Although the direction on management and conservation of
both Old Forest and Listed Communities is conceptually straightforward,
practical field implementation is challenging due to the lack of explicit field
assessment criteria.
This guidance document provides an overview of key
aspects of the GBRO with respect to Old Forest and Listed Communities, and
interpretation of the text in the GBRO with reference to current ecological
concepts. Additionally, the document discusses how the GBRO text relates to the
B.C. Conservation Data Centre methods for assessing Red- and Blue-Listed
Ecological Communities.
A set of field keys is provided to facilitate
consistent application of ecological concepts to meet the intent of the GBRO
objectives for Old Forest and Sufficiently Established Listed Communities. The
keys incorporate initial minimum criteria for certain ecological features, and
an index that integrates a suite of old forest attributes (the Forest Attribute
Score) based on features that reflect the complexity of these older coastal,
forested ecosystems. Both keys require the field practitioner to determine stand
age and occurrence of a Veteran Overstory Tree layer. To evaluate the
requirement for protection of Listed Communities, the level of understory
development must also be evaluated. Calculation of a Forest Attribute Score
requires the assessment of six stand attributes: density of Veteran Overstory
Trees, density of large snags, vertical canopy differentiation, understory shrub
and herb cover, amount of coarse woody debris, and stand disturbance history.
Download Land Management Handbook 72 (PDF 10 MB)
Map of Great Bear Rainforest –
Land Use Order Boundary (PDF 5 MB)
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Updated August 08, 2019
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