70 resources found

This document outlines how participating forestry companies and BC Timber Sales intend to manage forests sustainably, aiming to balance ecological, economic, and social values. The plan incorporates a Canadian Standards Association certification process and emphasizes a landscape-level approach to forest management, considering natural disturbance patterns. Key components include establishing values, objectives, indicators, and targets developed with public and Indigenous input, along with specific strategies for timber harvesting, reforestation, road access, wildlife habitat, and engagement with First Nations and the public. The SFMP serves as a guiding document for operational planning and continuous improvement in forest management practices within the defined area.

This document provides operational management guidance for forest managers on how to integrate wildlife habitat considerations into forestry practices. It identifies ten key, broad habitat objectives relevant to many forested regions, focusing on maintaining or encouraging features like coarse woody debris, wildlife tree patches, and specific habitat needs for various species, including cavity-nesting birds and ungulates. For each objective, the report offers management guidelines and silvicultural practices, suggesting how activities like harvesting, regeneration, and stand tending can be adapted to support wildlife. The document emphasizes using these guidelines in areas with high habitat suitability, as defined within associated forest stewardship plans, and intends to complement existing provincial and regional forest management guidelines.

This document provides best management practices for improving the survival of planted Douglas-fir in the challenging Cariboo Natural Resource Region of British Columbia, where frost and drought are significant limiting factors. Recognizing the increasing climate extremes predicted for the area, the guide emphasizes careful planning, including mature tree retention for thermal protection, appropriate planting prescriptions that consider site-specific frost and drought hazards, and the strategic use of mechanical site preparation. The report outlines various planting scenarios based on differing levels of frost risk and provides actionable recommendations for silviculture practitioners to enhance the establishment and long-term resilience of Douglas-fir forests.

This report details an initiative undertaken to understand and address the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and forest management in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. The project aimed to assess ecological vulnerability using local climate projections, collaboratively learn with forest practitioners and scientists, and case study relevant concepts like vulnerability, resilience, and risk management. The report outlines the methodologies employed - including climate modeling and bioclimate envelope analysis - and the findings regarding projected climate changes, potential impacts on ecosystems, and an initial assessment of ecosystem vulnerability across different subregions. The report serves as a foundation for identifying potential adaptation options for forest management and discusses barriers, incentives, and opportunities for implementing these changes in the face of a changing climate.

This case study investigates the economic and operational feasibility of implementing variable retention harvesting in coastal British Columbia. It details a specific trial on northern Vancouver Island, comparing a clearcut and a dispersed retention compartment within the same cutblock, analyzing the productivity and costs associated with different harvesting systems and equipment. The study aims to provide information on the practical challenges of adopting new forest management principles focused on sustaining ecological values alongside economic viability, ultimately contributing to the refinement of these techniques through adaptive management.

This document explores adaptive management as a vital strategy for navigating the uncertainties inherent in managing complex forest ecosystems. It defines adaptive management as a structured process of learning by doing, where management interventions are intentionally designed as experiments to test hypotheses about ecosystem function. The document outlines the key elements of adaptive management, including defining problem boundaries, identifying questions, developing hypotheses, experimental design, monitoring, and feedback loops, and discusses practical tools for implementation like AEAM workshops and decision analysis. The document also outlines the policy, institutional, social, and organizational challenges that can hinder the widespread adoption of this approach, offering potential solutions to these barriers. Through various case studies, the document illustrates real-world applications of adaptive management across different ecological contexts, emphasizing its potential to improve forest practices and address the requirements of the Forest Practices Code by treating management actions as opportunities for valuable learning.

This newsletter aims to inform readers about the concepts, projects, and events related to adaptive management, particularly within British Columbia. A central theme is the distinction between single-loop learning, which focuses on fixing immediate problems within existing assumptions, and double-loop learning, which involves questioning the underlying assumptions and objectives. The newsletter champions adaptive management as a method for incorporating double-loop learning into organizational routines to better manage complex ecological systems. It discusses practical aspects of implementing adaptive management, including project updates and addressing barriers like the challenge of replication in experimental design, offering potential solutions and emphasizing the importance of learning and adapting management strategies based on experience.

This document explores alternatives to clearcutting in British Columbia. It details the environmental context of the Central Coast, including its physical environment, diverse biota, and natural and human-caused disturbances, emphasizing the unique characteristics of its three ecological subunits: the Hecate Lowland, the Outer Coast Mountains, and the Inner Coast Mountains. The document explores silvicultural systems, contrasting traditional methods with more ecologically sensitive approaches like variable retention, and analyzes the operational and economic implications of implementing partial cutting in this distinctive operating environment, ultimately providing strategic recommendations for sustainable forest management tailored to British Columbia's Central Coast's ecological and socioeconomic realities.

This case study details the adoption and implementation of variable retention, a new forestry approach by Weyerhaeuser's British Columbia Coastal Group. Recognizing the ecological importance of residual structures after natural disturbances, VR aims to sustain old-growth forest characteristics within harvested areas by leaving behind live and dead trees. The paper outlines the origins of VR, the establishment of different landscape zoning strategies, and the practical considerations for its application, including harvesting techniques, economic impacts, and silvicultural adjustments for regeneration, emphasizing a commitment to biodiversity conservation alongside timber production.

This case study the practical and economic implications of implementing ecosystem-based management principles in a coastal British Columbia old-growth forest. The study specifically examines a harvesting operation that incorporated retaining tree patches and individual trees to promote biodiversity and ecological function, while assessing the productivity and costs associated with the applied harvesting systems and equipment. The report aims to provide insights into the operational challenges and potential efficiencies of adopting this new paradigm of forest management compared to traditional clearcutting practices.