An Ecosystem Based Landscape Plan for The
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SILVA FOREST FOUNDATION The forest sustains us, we do not sustain the forest AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED LANDSCAPE PLAN FOR THE SLOCAN RIVER WATERSHED Part I - REPORT OF FINDINGS June 1996 Working to protect, maintain, and restore forests P.O. Box 9, Slocan Park, British Columbia, Canada V0G 2E0 Phone 604-226-7222 Fax 604-226-7446 Canadian Charitable Registration No. 0902676-52 Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed Page ii ______________________________________________________________________________________ AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED LANDSCAPE PLAN FOR THE SLOCAN RIVER WATERSHED PROJECT CONTRIBUTORS The maps and report for the Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan Valley were completed by a team of professionals affiliated with the Silva Forest Foundation: Project Design and Development: Herb Hammond, Tom Bradley, Susan Hammond Air Photo Interpretation: Colin Mackintosh, Tom Bradley Map Analysis, Design and Production: Jason Kubian, Herb Hammond, Tom Bradley Data Analysis and Interpretations: Tom Bradley and Herb Hammond Research and Report Writing: Herb and Susan Hammond, Tom Bradley Herb Hammond is a Registered Professional Forester with a M Sc in forest ecology and silviculture. Herb has more than 25 years of experience as a forest consultant, researcher, instructor, and field forester. He has been developing ecosystem-based planning over the past 15 years. Herb is the author of the award-winning book, Seeing the Forest Among the Trees: the Case for Wholistic Forest Use. He is invited to speak and give workshops throughout Canada and in other parts of the world on ecosystem-based planning. Tom Bradley is a forest technician and computer expert with more than 15 years of experience in field forestry, analysis of forest ecosystems, and air photo interpretation. He has participated in the development of ecosystem-based planning for the past 8 years and has designed computer databases and models that interface with the mapping information contained within geographic information systems (GIS). Jason Kubian has a B Sc in geography and environmental studies. He is proficient in GIS map analysis and design and has developed clear, concise maps that portray the highly complex map information available in ecosystem-based planning. Colin Mackintosh is a forest technician who has worked with the SFF staff on a project basis for many years. Susan Hammond has a BA in literature and has worked as an administrator and writer/researcher on forest use issues for the past 10 years. She is the co-author, along with Herb Hammond, of Community Guide to the Forest: Ecology, Planning and Use. Ecosystem-based Philosophy: The Silva Forest Foundation’s work is based on an ecosystem- based philosophy, meaning that: Earth, from microbe to globe, is a whole system, interconnected and interdependent. Earth functions to sustain the whole in an equilibrium that is dynamic yet stable (in human timeframes). All ecosystem structures have a function. If the structure is lost, the function is lost. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Silva Forest Foundation June 1996 Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed Page iii ______________________________________________________________________________________ People are part of Earth. What we do to Earth, we do to each other. Human plans must encompass ecosystem timeframes of centuries and millennia, not short-term development timetables of one to five years. Ecosystem-based planning is realistic and socially desirable. Putting it off means ruination of regions like the Slocan Valley. J. Stan Rowe, professor emeritus of ecology, author of Home Place, June 12, 1996. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Silva Forest Foundation June 1996 Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed Page iv ______________________________________________________________________________________ AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED LANDSCAPE PLAN FOR THE SLOCAN RIVER WATERSHED TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF APPENDICES iv LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF TABLES vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1-1 2. AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH TO FOREST PROTECTION AND USE: DEFINITION AND SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE ............................................. 2-1 2.1 The Forest Landscape ...................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 Forest Stands/Forest Patches .......................................................................... 2-2 2.3 Human Needs—Human Impacts .................................................................... 2-3 2.4 Current Timber Management Approaches and Ecologically Responsible Timber Management: A Comparison ........................................................................ 2-4 2.4.1 Sustained yield forestry ................................................................................. 2-4 2.4.2 Multiple use ................................................................................................... 2-5 2.4.3 Integrated forest management ...................................................................... 2-5 2.4.4 Ecosystem management ................................................................................ 2-6 2.5 Common Conventional Timber Management Concepts .............................. 2-6 2.5.1 Rotation ages ................................................................................................. 2-6 2.5.2 Annual allowable cut (AAC) ......................................................................... 2-7 2.5.3 Decadence ...................................................................................................... 2-7 2.6 Why Is an Ecosystem-based Approach Necessary? ...................................... 2-8 2.6.1 Forest landscape examples ......................................................................... 2-12 ______________________________________________________________________________________ Silva Forest Foundation June 1996 Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed Page v ______________________________________________________________________________________ 2.6.2 Stand level examples ................................................................................... 2-13 2.6.3 Human Examples: The benefits of an Ecosystem-based Approach ......... 2-13 2.7 The Guiding Principles of an Ecosystem-Based Approach ........................ 2-15 2.8 Scientific Rationale ........................................................................................ 2-19 2.8.1 Scientific Panel for Clayoquot Sound ........................................................ 2-19 2.8.2 Landscape Ecology and Conservation Biology .......................................... 2-20 2.8.3 Silviculture Systems .................................................................................... 2-22 2.8.4 Ecological Economics ................................................................................. 2-22 2.8.5 Ecosystem-based Approach: the Foundation for Sustainability .............. 2-22 2.9 Literature Cited .............................................................................................. 2-23 3. SLOCAN RIVER WATERSHED—AN ECOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION ....... 3-1 3.1 General Biology and Physical Characteristics .............................................. 3-1 3.2 Ministry of Forests Ecological Classification ................................................ 3-4 3.3 Resource Exploitation as a Determinant of Ecosystem Types ..................... 3-4 3.4 The Ecological Limits ...................................................................................... 3-5 3.5 Scale—A Medium Sized Landscape ............................................................... 3-8 3.6 Scale—Highly Variable Ecosystem Types ..................................................... 3-8 3.7 Literature Cited ................................................................................................ 3-9 4. METHODOLOGY AND DECISIONS ON IMPORTANT ISSUES—A SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 4-1 4.1 Overall Process—Ecosystem-Based Planning ............................................... 4-1 4.1.1 Landscape Analysis and Zoning ................................................................... 4-1 4.1.2 Economic Analysis ........................................................................................ 4-3 4.1.2.1 Ecologically responsible timber cutting ......................................................................... 4-3 4.1.2.2 Tourism.......................................................................................................................... 4-4 4.1.2.3 Small business ............................................................................................................... 4-4 4.1.2.4 Mining ........................................................................................................................... 4-4 4.1.3 Community Consultation .............................................................................. 4-4 ______________________________________________________________________________________ Silva Forest Foundation June 1996 Ecosystem-based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed Page vi ______________________________________________________________________________________