Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management (SSFM)
Part 8 of the
Resource Management Plan
for the Vancouver Forest Region
Prepared by
Pacific Region Planning Team
Canadian Forest Products
International Forest Products
Timberwest Ltd
Western Forest Products
Weyerhaeuser
October 5, 2000
Table of Contents
8 Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management 1
8.1 Pacific Region SSFM 1
8.1.1 Resource Management Planning Process and Information Sources 1
8.1.2 Sources of information 2
8.2 Key Regional SSFM Issues and Strategic Knowledge Framework 2
8.3 Knowledge Strategy Framework 4
8.4 Regional Summary of Recommendations 6
8.4.1 Project Summary Table 6
8.4.2 Recommendations for Baseline Inventories 6
8.4.2.1 Providing access to existing information 6
8.4.2.2 Priority baseline inventories 6
8.4.3 Analysis, Applications Development, and Monitoring 7
8.4.3.1 Timber 8
8.4.3.2 Non-timber 8
8.4.3.3 Environment 9
8.4.3.4 Regional strategy for Identified Species 9
8.4.3.5 Performance Indicators 9
8.4.3.6 Guidelines for Workplan Submission 9
8.4.3.7 Projected Budget 10
8.5 Provincial Priorities 11
8.6 Conclusion 11
List of Figures
1. Pacific SSFM RMP Strategic Framework 3
List of Tables
1. Priority Pacific Region SFM Issues (Top 29 of 50 Issue Statements) 4
2. Projected SSFM RMP Budget 2001-2002–Draft 9
List of Appendices
A. Planning team members. Contact list
B. Pacific SSFM RMP Schedule
C. SSFM Issues Submissions
D. SSFM Issue Groupings
Pacific SSFM RMP ii October 5, 2000
8 Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management
8.1 Pacific Region SSFM
This section outlines the recommended Pacific Region 2001-2002 Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management (SSFM), one of six Forest Renewal strategic objectives in renewing BC's forests and the forest economy. The FRBC Pacific Region covers the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Mid-Coast, and Queen Charlotte Islands.
Forest Renewal’s SSFM strategic objective is specifically focused on increasing knowledge, techniques and innovations to strategically manage forests according to principles of sustainable forest management (SFM)[1].
Well-informed decisions supporting SFM at the forest level will benefit Forest Renewal Partners through:
· Greater certainty for harvest levels and other resource uses (e.g., tourism, recreation ,botanical forest products)
· Reduction of risk which often leads to less conservative and/or more timely decisions
· Greater success of strategic-level plans which affect long-term sustainability and the effectiveness of operational plans (providing a better overall framework to reference operational decisions)
· A framework for results-based resource management on the landscape
· Increased capacity to meet certification requirements for SFM
This document provides a framework for evaluating and recommending specific projects that will create the knowledge needed to address key Regional SFM issues thereby reducing risk and uncertainty related to:
· Maintenance of environmental values and
· Sustainable timber and non-timber resource benefits from the forest
The knowledge will be directly applicable to upcoming forest-level management and decisions with an initial focus on implementation of strategic land use plans, timber supply reviews and meeting the requirements of certification.
8.1.1 Resource Management Planning Process and Information Sources
This resource management plan is a collaborative submission by the Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks, Canfor, Interfor, Timberwest, Western Forest Products, and Weyerhaeuser (see Appendix A for list of participants). The planning process involved team meetings, conference calls, and an Internet discussion forum available to constituents of planning team members so they could also monitor the process and products (see Appendix B for schedule of activities).
The RMP process evolved and changed in response to the diverse and interrelated nature of the SFM issues. The planning team tried several approaches to developing the RMP with each approach identifying an impasse because of the complexities of the issues. At the same time, each attempt shed new insights on the SFM issues leading to the approach in this document.
8.1.2 Sources of information
The seven planning team members were the main conduits of information to the planning process. Each team member consulted with their staff specialists in their organizations to identify issues, knowledge strategies, and candidate projects. In addition, the planning process drew on issues identified in various Timber Supply Reviews (TSR) and needs for conducting or implementing land use plans.
8.2 Key Regional SSFM Issues and Strategic Knowledge Framework
The initial call for issues yielded 189 issues (Appendix C). Through iterative classification of these issues into common headings and ranking, the team condensed the 189 original issues to 50 core issues (Appendix D). Through two rounds of ranking, the team agreed on 29 high priority issues for consideration in the RMP (Table 1).
Table 1. Priority Pacific Region SFM Issues (Top 29 of 50 Issue Statements)
Ref # / Issue Statement / Points /Growth and Yield
12 / Uncertainty around growth and yield of future stands affected by various silviculture systems. / 28.0
8 / Need to refine site productivity estimates applied to growth and yield of future stands. / 27.5
7 / Need to refine operational adjustment factors applied to growth and yield of future stands. / 25.0
4 / Need to establish and maintain installations in support of growth and yield of future stands. / 15.5
Identified Species (Plants and Animals) and Ecosystems
20 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for Marbled Murrelet. / 60.3
27 / Uncertainty around timber supply impacts associated with Identified Wildlife Management Strategies. / 55.5
17 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for Grizzly/Black Bear. / 44.0
18 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for Fish/Fish Habitat / 43.0
21 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for ungulates / 35.8
14 / Uncertainty around management strategies and timber supply impacts associated with maintaining rare and endangered plants and ecosystems. / 27.8
22 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for predatory birds. / 23.0
16 / Need to refine appropriate management strategies for Spotted Owl. / 21.3
Landscape and Stand Biodiversity
29 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with managing for landscape-level biodiversity. / 50.0
31 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with managing for stand-level biodiversity. / 28.5
28 / Need to refine landscape-level biodiversity monitoring programs. / 16.9
30 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with simulating natural forest conditions. / 15.5
Table 1 Continued…
39 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with managing for water quality/quantity. / 35.8
33 / Need to refine methods for addressing cultural heritage resources. / 26.5
34 / Opportunities to mitigate timber supply impacts associated with recreational features. / 24.5
35 / Opportunities to mitigate timber supply impacts associated with visual inventories. / 23.5
38 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with managing for additional karst sites. / 23.5
37 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with maintaining archaeological sites. / 18.5
Planning
47 / Uncertainty around strategies and timber supply impacts associated with ecosystem-based management. / 46.4
46 / Uncertainty around management strategies and timber supply impacts associated with various silviculture systems. / 37.0
Baseline Inventories and Tools
50 / Need to establish and improve access to baseline inventories for various planning initiatives. / 31.1
52 / Need to refine, update and standardize ecological classification for various planning initiatives. / 27.5
53 / Need to refine, update and standardize terrain classification for various planning initiatives. / 24.0
54 / Need to refine, update and standardize vegetation classification for various planning initiatives. / 22.0
55 / Need to refine/develop and improve access to planning models. / 16.0
The major issues in the Pacific Region are:
Growth and Yield Improving the information inputs to growth and yield estimates to account for new and emerging silvilculture and harvesting systems as well as improving accuracy of parameters used in growth and yield projections.
Identified Species Enhancing management strategies to conserve Identified Species and species of regional significance. These strategies require information on habitat requirements and on how species respond to alterations of habitats. In addition, information is needed on the impacts on timber supply from measures to conserve Identified Species.
Landscape and
Stand Biodiversity Creating knowledge on appropriate conservation targets, accurate ecosystem maps, effects of forestry on biodiversity, and impacts of conservation measures on timber supply to support conservation of landscape and stand biodiversity.
Other Forest Resources Understanding how timber resource use interacts with non-timber resource uses. Understanding how non-timber resource uses interact with each other. The issues revolve around having accurate and up to date information reflecting current and projected non-timber uses and having the tools to develop appropriate management strategies.
Planning Resolving uncertainty around appropriate planning, management strategies, and timber supply impacts to achieve SFM.
Baseline Inventories
and Tools Addressing strong need to complete ongoing inventory programs to collect, update, or refine baseline information on forest resources. The absence of essential baseline information hinders developing the analysis and tools to carry out or implementing land use plans.
The SFM issues are by nature interrelated and interdependent. For clarity, the planning team developed a Knowledge Strategy Framework to guide SSFM investments.
8.3 Knowledge Strategy Framework
As outlined in the introduction, the goal of this RMP is to create the regional knowledge to support sustainable forest management. To achieve this goal of improving knowledge, the RMP recommends a two-part strategy. The first part focuses on finishing key baseline inventories. These baseline inventories are the basic knowledge about the forest environment and its resources. The second part of the strategy builds on these baseline inventories through analysis, synthesis of information, and building applications for use in land use and forestry planning. This second part also includes monitoring and reporting on forest environment conditions. This analysis, applications building, and monitoring all support current and future land use planning and timber supply analyses. In addition, the information base, analysis, and monitoring provide the information base and indicators to support certification of sustainable forest management practices.
The two-part strategy and the included elements form a logical framework (Figure 1) to achieve the SSFM objective. The framework describes the strategy to create the knowledge to deal with the high priority SFM issues.
It is important to note that the partners to this RMP are currently at different places on this framework. Some are in the stages of collecting baseline inventory information while others have substantially finished the inventory component and are working on analysis and application building. Nonetheless, the framework sets out a multi-year regional strategy to guide SSFM investments. In time, each partner will carry out the relevant parts of the framework appropriate to their individual needs, issues, and staffing resources. The actual path through the framework each partner will follow will be described in the subsequent workplans to be submitted as the next step in setting out this knowledge strategy. This RMP framework will guide FRBC investment decisions in SSFM to ensure they are consistent with the long-term goal of achieving sustainable forest management.
The RMP recognizes three categories of forest resources: timber, non-timber, and environment. These three streams are reflected in the framework. In most cases, the baseline information serves two or three of these streams. For instance, Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping serves planning for timber, non-timber resources, and the environment. The framework as outlined in Figure 1 shows how most baseline inventories provide information and subsequent knowledge to address multiple SSFM issues.
Pacific SSFM RMP ii October 5, 2000
Pacific SSFM RMP ii October 5, 2000
8.4 Regional Summary of Recommendations
The planning team recommends that FRBC consider a portfolio of projects that address the needs described below. Following the strategic knowledge framework (Figure 1), the recommendations are presented in two parts below: Baseline Inventories and Analysis, Applications, and Monitoring.
8.4.1 Project Summary Table
The project summary table will be part of each partner's workplan submission.
8.4.2 Recommendations for Baseline Inventories
Baseline inventories of appropriate quality and resolution provide the fundamental basis for analysis, application development, monitoring, and ultimately for strategic planning. For the majority of partners, the 2001-2002 regional priority is to finish ongoing baseline inventories. For some, the priority is to use collected data in analysis and for building planning tools (applications). The priority baseline inventories is described below (Section 4.2).
8.4.2.1 Providing access to existing information
A key issue regarding baseline inventory information is to improve the organization and accessibility of information. The information is being collected by different parties and sometimes stored in different formats. As well, it is not well known what information has been collected. One of the first tasks of the RMP projects should be to develop a library of the available information and make it more widely available to partners and stakeholders.
8.4.2.2 Priority baseline inventories
The following are the priority baseline inventory needs.
TEM Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping provides knowledge about forest ecosystem extent and location to the site series level. It can be carried out at various intensities (degree of field truthing) appropriate to the business needs of each management unit. TEM includes terrain classification and inventories of rare and endangered ecosystems.
VRI Vegetation Resource Inventories classify the landbase according to the vegetation (or water, rock, ice, etc.) it supports and includes rigorous field sampling to ensure statistical validity of the photo-interpreted estimates. VRI is used to support timber supply analysis and planning for non-timber and environmental resources. In parts of the region, many timber supply reviews are using inaccurate or outdated forest cover information.
TSM Terrain Stability Mapping utilizes the expertise of professional geomorphologists to assess the stability of slopes and predict the probability of landslides or erosion should the slopes or vegetation on them be in any way disturbed. In some cases TSM is done using different terrain stability classification systems. For consistency across partners, a standardized classification system is needed particularly when the information is used for TSR or landuse planning.