Lakes SFM Plan Completed

April 15, 2006

An IFPA sustainable forest management (SFM) plan has been completed in the Lakes.

“I think we can say the process is re-invigorated,” said Babine Forest Products forestry supervisor Richard Vossen. “We finished up the nitty gritty of detailed planning by the end of March and we have participation from a number of different representatives from stakeholder groups.” Current representation on the IFPA’s Lakes public advisory group includes members from community groups, government agencies, small business and First Nations.

A critical component of the SFM plan will be to lay down some practical strategies to deal with the expected downfall in mid-term timber supply as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. “We are asking the question: What can be done to deal with the expected downfall in timber supply? What can licensees do on the ground?” said Vossen. One approach the plan has identified is to use a harvest priority protocol, which can best be described as a “best of the worst first” tactic. That is, stands with the largest projected beetle-related volume losses are high priority, and, within these stands, the more productive forests are a higher priority still. The intention is to salvage as much of the beetle killed wood as possible before the assumed five-year shelf life has expired, and to get the best growing sites back into production first.

The Lakes planning process has pared down the number of learning scenarios it is using in its analysis. (Scenario planning is a process of forecasting possible future forest conditions and choosing among them.) From an original list of seven learning scenarios, the Lakes TSA is now focusing on three: the base case scenario, the beetle mitigation scenario, and the FRPA ( Forest and Range Practices Act) scenario. “We’ve learned a lot from the Morice TSA planning process, where many outcomes did not change from scenario to scenario,” said Vossen. “In the Lakes we have been able to take advantage of this knowledge and streamline the process,” he added. This streamlining means that the Lakes planning process took about one quarter of the time that was required by the Morice.

Now that the plan is completed, partners in the IFPA, including Babine Forest Products, BC Timber Sales and Canfor will be seeking CSA certification in the Lakes through the IFPA planning process.

In the case of Babine , which is already certified, the new SFM plan will re-certify the company to the longer-term planning process used by the IFPA. “We avoid duplicating our efforts down the road—and have taken advantage of the IFPA’s forecasting and planning tools—by working through this planning process now,” said Vossen.