Foreword BC Spaces for Nature is a solutions-oriented, conservation organization created in 1990 to promote the protection of British Columbia’s rich diversity of wilderness and wildlife. BC Spaces works with individuals and organizations throughout the province to ensure that British Columbia’s wild spaces remain intact. Given this mandate, BC Spaces recognized the potential that Special Management Zones could make in safeguarding these values. Hence this Citizens’ Guide has been written to help the public ensure that the Special Management Zones will indeed achieve their potential. After over 125 years of forest development, British Columbia still contains extensive temperate forests. These wildlands contain an extraordinary range of plants and animals that are the envy of the world. Consequently, British Columbians have a global responsibility to steward the environmental values of our province. However, for many years British Columbia’s forests have been subjected to damaging logging practices and unsustainable overcutting. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, this led to increasing conflicts between the logging industry and conservationists. In places such as Carmanah Valley and Clayoquot Sound the tensions of these confrontations became intense. To help resolve these conflicts the B.C. government sponsored a series of land use planning processes to designate the landbase for the management of both economic and ecological values. The zones delineated through these public negotiation exercises included: Protected Areas, Integrated Management, Enhanced Resource Use and Special Management. In particular, the establishment of Special Management Zones to maintain and enhance values other than timber - such as environmental and social concerns - were critical to achieving success at the negotiation table. Often, the Special Management Zones were the tool that provided the means to break key deadlocks and bridge the gap between industry and conservationists. In many respects these Special Management Zones epitomize the good will and faith of those individuals who had the courage to sit down and negotiate with their adversaries. To achieve agreements on these land use plans - often in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds - people from all walks of life, in countless communities across the province devoted a tremendous effort of time and energy. This being so, it is essential that the B.C. government honour the commitments made to these citizens to ensure that the intrinsic ecological values in the Special Management Zones will endure. To date, over eight million hectares have been zoned for special management. As well, land use planning processes now underway have the potential to designate more significant areas. Given that Special Management Zones encompass some of our province’s most environmentally critical areas, BC Spaces believes heightened public awareness of their values and greater citizen involvement in their management is essential. Therefore, we have commissioned Jim Cooperman, a leading authority within the B.C. environmental movement on land use planning, to prepare this Citizens’ Guide. By so doing, it is our hope that we can provide the public with the tools and knowledge needed to ensure that the province’s Special Management Zones will always remain special. Ric Careless, Executive Director BC Spaces for Nature, April 1998 Acknowledgments We want to thank the Vancouver Foundation which provided BC Spaces for Nature with the funding support for this project. Thanks also go to the British Columbia Environmental Network Educational Foundation for their additional financial support. We are grateful to those who assisted us with the preparation of this guide. In particular, several experts authored individual portions of this book. Greg Utzig, a scientist and consultant based in Nelson, wrote the section on the Kootenay/Boundary land use plan and reviewed other portions of the guide. Dave Neads, a conservationist living in the West Chilcotin and a representative on the Regional Resource Board, contributed the section on the Cariboo/Chilcotin land use plan and the Itchas-Ilgachuz Special Management Zone case study. Syd Haskell with the Carmanah Forestry Society contributed the Walbran Periphery Special Management Zone case study; while John Nelson, a Victoria-based researcher provided the piece on the Vancouver Island land use plan. Matt Price who works with the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, wrote about Special Management in Clayoquot Sound; while Mark Haddock of West Coast Environmental Law, provided expert assistance on the Spotted Owl zones. Thanks is also due to staff in both the Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks and the Ministry of Forests who provided materials, information and advice to help make this project successful. We appreciate the work of Tim Wilson, of BC Wild and the BC Mapping Consortium, who produced some of the excellent maps for this Guide. The success of this project was due in part to all those who reviewed drafts and provided input, including Mike Fenger, Grant Furness, Paul Senez, Terje Vold, Suzanne Rautio, Wayne Sawchuk and Jim Walker. Others who provided key input included John Bergenske, Will Horter, and Trevor Jones. We also appreciate the work of Irene Watters, who prepared the artwork for the guide, and Roger Handling, who contributed the cover design. This report would not have been completed without the project guidance of Ric Careless and expert editorial assistance of Dona Reel and Kathleen Cooperman. Finally we would like to dedicate this guidebook to the environmental activists from across the province who are working hard to help ensure an ecologically sustainable future for British Columbia. Table of Contents Foreword........................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments............................................................................................ ii Executive Summary.......................................................................................... v Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 The Context..................................................................................... 1 1.2 A Brief History................................................................................. 2 1.3 The CORE Process.......................................................................... 3 1.4 The LRMP Process.......................................................................... 5 1.5 Special Management in U.S. Forests................................................ 6 Chapter 2 Ideas for Management Planning and Practices 2.1 Goals and Criteria............................................................................ 11 2.2 Planning........................................................................................... 12 2.3 Planning Products............................................................................. 14 2.4 Restoration...................................................................................... 16 2.5 Forest Practices............................................................................... 17 2.6 Summary......................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3 Existing Management Direction 3.1 Forest Practices Code...................................................................... 21 3.2 Higher Level Plans, Policy and Procedures........................................ 22 3.3 Sensitive Areas................................................................................ 25 3.4 Identified Wildlife Management Strategy............................................ 26 3.5 Biodiversity Guidebook.................................................................... 27 3.6 Landscape Unit Planning................................................................... 30 3.7 Conclusion....................................................................................... 32 Chapter 4 Current State of Management 4.1 Vancouver Island Region.................................................................. 35 4.2 Cariboo/Chilcotin Region................................................................. 41 4.3 Kootenay/Boundary/Columbia Region.............................................. 44 4.4 Special Management in Clayoquot Sound......................................... 49 4.5 Kamloops Land and Resource Management Plan............................. 53 4.6 Spotted Owl Special Management Zones......................................... 57 Chapter 5 Special Management Zone Inventory Methodology.............................. 59 Chapter 6 Case Studies 7.1 The Itcha-Ilgachuz Special Management Zone by Dave Neads..................... 63 7.2 The Walbran Periphery by Syd Haskell........................................................ 69 Chapter 7 Conclusion................................................................................................. 77 Figure I Forest management planning levels............................................................... 33 Figure II Kootenay/Boundary Protected Areas and Special Management............................................................................. 48 Appendix I A Summary of Existing Special Management Zones I.1 Vancouver Island......................................................................................... 81 I.2 Cariboo/Chilcotin........................................................................................ 85 I.3 East Kootenay...........................................................................................