MARBLE LANDSCAPE UNIT

Transcription

1 MARBLE LANDSCAPE UNIT DRAFT Summary Biodiversity Report With Proposed Legal Objectives Prepared by: John A. Deal, RPBio, RPF March 30, 2009

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. LANDSCAPE UNIT DESCRIPTION VANCOUVER ISLAND LAND USE PLAN VILUP HIGHER LEVEL PLAN OBJECTIVES FIRST NATIONS & TRADITIONAL TERRITORIES MINING TENURES OLD GROWTH MANAGEMENT AREAS MARBLED MURRELET NESTING HABITAT VILUP OBJECTIVE TIMBER HARVESTING LAND BASE IMPACT REFERENCES PROPOSED OBJECTIVES... 4 APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX

3 1. LANDSCAPE UNIT DESCRIPTION The Marble Landscape Unit encompasses Alice and Victoria Lakes and Marble River. Split between TFL 6 and TFL39 Blk 4 Total size: 55,456 ha Productive Forest: 46,013 ha Timber Harvesting Land Base: 33,147 ha (TFL 6 Management Plan 9 and TFL 39 Management Plan 8) Total Protected Areas: ha (Marble River) Biogeoclimatic Units: CWHvm1, CWHvm2 and MHmm1 Intermediate Biodiversity Emphasis Option 2. VANCOUVER ISLAND LAND USE PLAN (VILUP) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ZONE (Appendix 1) General Management Zone: Marble (7). 3. VILUP HIGHER LEVEL PLAN OBJECTIVES 4. FIRST NATIONS & TRADITIONAL TERRITORIES (Appendix 2) Quatsino Kwakiutl 5. MINING TENURES The establishment of an OGMA will not have an impact on the status of existing mineral and gas permits or tenures. Exploration and development activities are permitted in OGMAs. The preference is to proceed with exploration and development in a way that is sensitive to the old growth values of the OGMA; however, if exploration and development proceeds to the point of significantly impacting old growth values, then the OGMA will be moved. 6. OLD GROWTH MANAGEMENT AREAS (Appendix 3) CWHvm1 o old seral target: 4,302 ha o delineated OGMA: 4,170 ha o Protected Area: ha contributing to old seral representation March

4 CWHvm2 o old seral target: 1,337 ha o delineated OGMA: 1,976.3 ha MHmm1 o old seral target: 500 ha o delineated OGMA: ha. Table 1. Summary of Marble OGMAs and Protected Areas by BEC unit. OGMA OGMA PA (old) Total Old Seral Shortfall/ BEC Unit Old (ha) Recruitment 1 (ha) Area (ha) Target (ha) Surplus (ha) CWHvm1 2, , , , CWHvm2 1, , , MHmm Total 4, , , , , defined as productive forest within an OGMA that is <250 years old. 614 ha of recruitment is within previously unharvested mature forest resulting from natural disturbance events. 7. MARBLED MURRELET NESTING HABITAT Potential Marbled Murrelet nesting habitat was mapped using low-level aerial reconnaissance surveys in Total potential nesting habitat (Class 1-3): 1,538.1 ha. Nesting habitat in OGMA: 834 ha. Nesting habitat in Protected Area: 56ha. 57.8% of the 2006 Class 1-3 nesting habitat is conserved through OGMAs and Protected Areas. Table 2. Summary of potential marbled murrelet nesting habitat in conserved in Marble LU. MAMU Habitat Rank LU Total (ha) PA (ha) OGMA (ha) Percent Conserved , Total 1, , March

5 8. VILUP OBJECTIVE 10 5,381 ha of the Marble RMZ extends beyond the boundaries of the Marble Landscape Unit For the purpose of this report, the analysis will be limited to the Marble LU portion of the RMZ Table 3. Summary of OGMA area, by forest age class, for the Marble Landscape Unit portion of the Marble Resource Management Zone. Prod. Full 2/3 Old OGMA OGMA OGMA Total Forest Target Target >250 yrs yrs <225 yrs OGMA BEC (ha) 1 (ha) (ha) (ha) (ha) 2 (ha) (ha) CWHvm1 30,008 3,901 2,601 2, ,301 4,139 1 productive forest within the Marble LU portion of the Marble Resource Management Zone 2 contains old growth attributes 9. TIMBER HARVESTING LAND BASE IMPACT Total Impact: 3,245.0 ha or 9.8% of the total Timber Harvesting Land Base (THLB) Table 4. Summary of estimated THLB impact of OGMAs Estimated THLB MP9 THLB Underbudget/ BEC Unit Budget (ha) Impact (ha) Overbudget CWHvm1 1,361 2, CWHvm MHmm Total 1,361 3,245-1, REFERENCES Lewis, T and L. Kremsater Draft old growth management areas for Tree- Farm Licence 6. Report prepared for Western Forest Products Inc. 55 pp. Dietsch, M Tree Farm Licence 6 Sustainable Forest Management Plan: Management Plan 9. Western Forest Products Inc. 65pp. March

6 Kofred, P Management plan #8: Tree Farm Licence #39. Weyerhaeuser, BC Coastal Group. 69pp PROPOSED OBJECTIVES OLD GROWTH MANAGEMENT AREAS Preamble The goal of these objectives is to sustain biological diversity at the landscape level. Permissible activities are described to streamline administrative procedures and address operational safety concerns. First Nations traditional use of forest resources, treaty negotiations or settlements will not be limited by the following objectives. Legal Objectives Marble Landscape Unit Pursuant to Section 93.4 of the Land Act, the following are the landscape unit objectives for the Marble Landscape Unit. 1. Maintenance or recruitment of old growth forests Maintain or recruit old growth forests in established Old Growth Management Areas (OGMAs), located in the Marble Landscape Unit subject to section 2 below. The Marble OGMAs are shown on the attached map dated March 31, 2009 (Appendix 3). The boundaries of the established OGMAs are defined by the spatial data set contained in the provincial Land and Resources Data Warehouse (LRDW) accessible through Geo BC at 2. Minor boundary adjustments and permissible activities within OGMAs (Excludes Ungulate Winter Range and Wildlife Habitat Areas) (a) Minor OGMA boundary adjustments for operational reasons: To accommodate operational requirements for timber harvesting and road or bridge construction, the boundary of an OGMA may be adjusted, provided that: i) the boundary adjustment does not result in a net loss to the area of the OGMA of more than the greater of one hectare or 10% of the original area, ii) road, bridge or right-of-way construction is required to access resource values beyond or adjacent to the OGMA and no other practicable option for road, bridge or right-of-way location exists, March

7 iii) replacement forest is biologically suitable, of equivalent age, structure and area, and situated, in order of priority, either immediately adjacent to the existing OGMA, or in the same variant and landscape unit as the existing OGMA. In the case of ii) above, as an alternative to finding replacement area, once access through the portion of OGMA is no longer required for harvesting and silviculture obligations, roads within the OGMA will be deactivated as per section 82(1) (a), (b), and (c) of the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation. In recognition of surplus suitable old seral forest located in protected areas or required for species at risk management within the Marble Landscape Unit, the requirement under iii) above may be waived, provided the total old seral forest targets for each biogeoclimatic variant are maintained, as shown in Table A. Table A: Marble LU Old Seral Minimum Requirements. BEC Unit Old Seral Target (ha) CWHvm1 4,302 CWHvm2 1,337 MHmm1 500 Total 6,139 (b) Permissible activities within OGMAs i) Topping or pruning of trees along the boundary to improve wind firmness. ii) Timber harvesting to prevent the spread of insect infestations or diseases that pose significant threat to forested areas outside of OGMAs. Salvage within OGMAs will be done in a manner that retains as many old growth forest attributes as possible. iii) Road maintenance, deactivation, removal of danger trees, or brushing and clearing on existing roads under active tenure within the right-of-way for safety purposes. iv) Felling for guyline clearance, tailhold anchor trees, or danger trees along cutblock boundaries or within the right of way on existing and new road/bridge alignments to meet safety requirements. OGMA replacement forest is required if the activities in 2 (b) above result in a net loss to the area of the OGMA of more than the greater of one hectare or 10% of the area of the OGMA and the total area of March

8 3. Map updates mature and old seral forest maintained in OGMAs plus the contributing old seral forest area in Protected Areas is reduced below the minimum target area outlined in Table A. Replacement forest must be biologically suitable, of equivalent age, structure and area, and situated, in order of priority, either immediately adjacent to the existing OGMA, or in the same variant and landscape unit as the existing OGMA. OGMA adjustments and replacements made in accordance with Section 2 must be documented and submitted as digital spatial data to the delegated decision maker at the end of each calendar year. The spatial data set contained in the provincial Land and Resources Data Warehouse (LRDW) will be updated accordingly and the updated map will be accessible through GeoBC at March

9 APPENDIX 1 Map of VILUP Resource Management Zones within the Marble LU March

10 APPENDIX 2 Map First Nation Consultative Boundaries in the Marble Landscape Unit. March

11 APPENDIX 3: Map of Draft OGMAs and contributing old seral in Protected Area within the Marble LU March