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Haida Gwaii Environmental Conditions Report

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Haida Gwaii Environmental Conditions Report ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS REPORT FOR THE H AIDA G WAII / Q UEEN C HARLOTTE I SLANDS L AND U SE P LAN PREPARED BY: RACHEL F. HOLT, PH.D., R.P.BIO VERIDIAN ECOLOGICAL CONSULTING LTD. [email protected] 2005 Executive Summary II Acknowledgements This document is a compilation and summary from a large amount of work done by a large number of people in British Columbia and on Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands. The Process Technical Team initiated the project, and provided on-going support, analysis and helpful commentary. In particular Leah Malkinson (MSRM), John Broadhead (Gowgaia Institute); Alvin Cober (MWLAP, HG/ QCI); Kiku Dhanwant (Haida Forest Guardians); Lana Wilhelm (Haida Forest Guardians), Tony Hamilton (MWLAP); Peter Katinic (Haida Fisheries); Keith Moore (Moore Resource Management) and John Sunde (MSRM) provided technical input throughout. Rachel Holt was the primary author of each chapter and was aided by individual ‘domain experts’ who are listed at the beginning of each section in Chapter II – much of this work was initiated by others and many people contributed to these sections. Key contributors include: Michael Milne (M.J.Milne and Associates), John Sunde (MSRM), John Broadhead (Gowgaia), Frank Doyle (Wildlife Dynamics Consulting), Anne Harfenist, Tony Hamilton (MWLAP), Lynn Lee (Marine Toad Enterprises), and Pete Katinic (Haida Fisheries). John Sunde, Jamie Popkin and Brian Cavanagh (MSRM) provided additional technical and GIS support for the work. Timber supply modeling which provides the basis of the future predictions reported on here was undertaken by Cortex Consulting Ltd., in conjunction with Andrew Fall. Rahul Ray (MSRM) provided technical assistance with the document - making it available on the website. In addition, we also wish to thank Allen Banner (MoF), Berry Wijdeven (MWLAP), Geoff Cushon (MoF), Erica McClaren (MWLAP), Alan Burger (University of Victoria), David Lank (Simon Fraser University), Lana Wilhelm (CHN-Forest Guardians), Jim Pojar (CPAWS Whitehorse), Barb Johnston (Parks Canada), Barb Wilson, (Parks Canada), and Nancy Turner (University of Victoria) for technical insight and comments on various elements of the work. Leah Malkinson (MSRM) had the vision to initiate this work, and has had critical input into every aspect of the report. In addition, she has had the strength to hold it all together throughout the extremely short, yet extremely long process. This document is available at: http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/cr/qci/hgqci_env.htm Or from the author: [email protected] III Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS & TRENDS ........................................1-1 1.1. Indicators and Species of Management Concern..............................................................1-3 1.2. Baseline Information.................................................................................................... 1-10 1.3. Natural Disturbance and Island Ecosystems .................................................................. 1-11 1.4. References Chapter 1 .................................................................................................. 1-16 CHAPTER 2. RESULTS .........................................................................................................2-1 2.1. Old Forest Ecosystems................................................................................................ 2.1-2 2.2. Plant Species and Communities ................................................................................... 2.2-1 2.3. Watershed Condition .................................................................................................. 2.3-1 2.4. Cedar ........................................................................................................................ 2.4-1 2.5. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis laingi) ................................................................. 2.5-1 2.6. Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)........................................................... 2.6-1 2.7. Seabird Colonies......................................................................................................... 2.7-1 2.8. Haida Gwaii Black Bear (Ursus Americanus carlottae subspecies)................................... 2.8-7 2.9. Salmonids ..................................................................................................................2.9-1 2.10. Non-native/ Introduced Species................................................................................. 2.10-1 CHAPTER 3. ADDITIONAL SPECIES OF LAND USE CONCERN ...........................................................3-1 3.1. Northern saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus brooksi) ........................................................3-1 3.2. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias fannini) ......................................................................3-2 3.3. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) ............................................................................3-3 3.4. Stellars Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri carlottae) ........................................................................3-4 3.5. Hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus picoideus) ................................................................3-5 3.6. Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis tabida) .........................................................................3-5 3.7. Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus pealei).......................................................................3-6 3.8. Pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator carlottae) ..................................................................3-7 3.9. Ermine (Mustela erminea haidarum) ...............................................................................3-7 3.10. Keen’s Long-eared myotis (Myotis keenii)........................................................................3-8 3.11. Marine Mammals ...........................................................................................................3-8 3.12. Giant black stickleback (Gasterosteus sp.).......................................................................3-9 3.13. Haida Gwaii jumping-slug...............................................................................................3-9 3.14. Summary Chapter 3..................................................................................................... 3-10 CHAPTER 4. APPENDICES.....................................................................................................4-1 4.1. Ecosystems of the Islands: past, present and future. .................................................... 4.1-1 4.2. Old Forest Ecosystems................................................................................................ 4.2-1 4.3. Plant Species and Communities ................................................................................... 4.3-1 IV 4.4. Watershed Condition .................................................................................................. 4.4-1 4.5. Cedar ........................................................................................................................ 4.5-1 4.6. Northern Goshawk...................................................................................................... 4.6-1 4.7. Marbled Murrelet ........................................................................................................ 4.7-1 4.8. Seabird colonies ......................................................................................................... 4.8-1 4.9. Haida Gwaii Black Bear ............................................................................................... 4.9-1 4.10. Salmonids ................................................................................................................ 4.10-1 V OVERVIEW OF REPORT STRUCTURE Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands (HG / QCI) is currently in the process of developing a Land Use Plan (LUP). In order to provide background information to the Community Planning Forum (CPF) this Environmental Conditions Report provides an overview of the HG/ QCI environment - historically, currently, and into the future as defined by current management practices. The report is written in four parts: Chapter I: provides an overview of the rationale and context for the report, natural disturbance information for the islands, and a summary of the ecosystem mapping used in the analysis. Chapter II: provides the condition and trends analysis results for the selected indicators: old growth forests, plant species and communities, watershed condition, cedar, northern Goshawk, Marbled Murrelet, black bear, salmonids, and key introduced species. Chapter III: summarises additional species and elements of management concern, which may be relevant to land use decisions. Most of the elements in this chapter are not sufficiently well known to undertake the more detailed overview or modeling performed for indicators in Chapter II. Each indicator is presented in a separate subsection. Chapter IV: provides detailed technical information about the indicator modeling reported in Chapter II. Each Chapter has separate page numbers (identified as a section number with associated page numbers) to facilitate delivering the contents of this document to the CPF in sections. The report attempts to summarise technical information in a manner that makes it accessible to the general public, while still providing sufficient detail and technical information that the product can be reviewed. Conceptual background information is provided
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