Lakes Planning Gearing Up

September 16, 2005

Planning efforts are expected to pick up in the Lakes Timber Supply Area in the coming months as IFPA partners work on a new Lakes TSA sustainable forest management (SFM) plan, slated for completion by March 2006.

“An analysis of current forest management practices in the Lakes has been completed,” said IFPA manager Jim Burbee. “This ‘base case’ analysis will provide a baseline for comparison as we look at various forest management scenarios over the coming months.”

With the impact of the mountain pine beetle epidemic driving all forest management decisions in the region, a beetle mitigation strategy is an essential component to the planning process. “The most urgent task for local resource management is to define practical strategies to lessen the impact of the mountain pine beetle on the landscape, and test the effects of these strategies,” said Burbee. “The IFPA planning process in the Lakes TSA has been redefined to address this need.” The redesign of the planning process will mean a focus on two learning scenarios, pared down from an initial suite of seven. These two learning scenarios are 1) the beetle mitigation scenario and 2) the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) scenario. Scenario planning is an innovative technique in the IFPA whereby participants visualize different possible outcomes of the forest landscape by emphasizing different resource values.

Recent work on beetle mitigation and analysis has meant that the public advisory process—a key innovation of the IFPA planning process—has been inactive in the Lakes for some time. Energizing this process will be a planning priority over the coming months.

“Public participation in the planning process—from all interested sectors —is critical and we will be striving to put together a public advisory group and scenario planning team very shortly to help define future forest management in the area,” said Burbee.

With input from the public, the planning process helps participating forest companies achieve certification. “To meet re-certification requirements through the Canadian Standards Association, we plan to have Version 2 of the Lakes TSA SFM plan prepared by March 2006,” said Babine Forest Products planning forester Richard Vossen, a member of the Lakes public advisory group.