A Field Guide for Site Identification and Interpretation for the Nelson Forest Region Land Management Handbook NUMBER 20 Part 2 May 1992 1996 Reprinted with corrections 2002 Reprinted with update Ministry of Forests Forest Science Program UPDATE FOR 2002 REPRINT OF LMH 20 Revised mapping of biogeoclimatic units has resulted in several new subzones/variants being recognized. These units are not described herein. It is hoped that provisional site unit descriptions will be available by the fall of with provincially correlated site units available for the more significant units in the following years. Current biogeoclimatic mapping is available at the B.C. Ministry of Forests website at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/research/ becmaps/becmaps.htm. Please contact the Research Ecologist, Southern Interior Region, Kamloops, for further details and available materials. The newly recognized units and their general location and previous classification follow. • ESSFdm – southeastern portion of Kootenay Lake and western portion of Cranbrook districts – formerly ESSFwm primarily • ESSFdm – western Invermere and Golden TSAs – formerly ESSFwm primarily • ESSFwc – southern Selkirks (Nelson and Bonnington ranges) – formerly ESSFwc • ESSFwc – southern Selkirks (Nelson and Bonnington ranges) – formerly ESSFwc • ESSFwcu – lower portion of parkland above ESSFwc • ESSFwcu – found above ESSFwc – formerly lower portion of parkland above ESSFwc • ESSFdku – lower portion of parkland above ESSFdk • ESSFwmu – lower portion of parkland above ESSFwm • ESSFdmu – found above ESSFdm, formerly ESSFwmp primarily • ESSFdmu – found above ESSFdm, formerly ESSFwmp primarily • ICHdm - southeastern portion of Kootenay Lake and wherever ICHmw was mapped in Cranbrook District – formerly ICHmw • IDFdma – south of Bull River to Caithness Creek, along base of Rocky Mountains in Cranbrook Forest District – formerly IDFdm This guide was produced before the development of the B.C. Forest Practices Code (fpc). Therefore, reference to previous legislation and requirements is superseded by the fpc. Readers are advised to reference the most current version of the fpc documents at the B.C. Ministry of Forests website at <http://www.gov.bc.ca/for/>. References to the “Silviculture Prescription Data Collection handbook” by Mitchell et al. should be updated to the new Land Management Handbook , which serves as a “best management practices” guide for pre- harvest data collection and prescription considerations. The new citation is: update – Curran, M., I. Davis, and B. Mitchell. Silviculture prescription data collection field handbook: interpretive guide for data collection, site stratification, and sensitivity evaluation for silviculture prescriptions. B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C. Land Manage. Handb. No. Includes forms fsa and b. http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/lmh/lmh47.htm Reference to the Nelson “Armillaria treatment guidelines” or “Standard Operating Procedures, Armillaria,” should now refer to those by Norris et al. , or new materials that may follow in the future. The present citation is: Norris, D., J. McLaughlin, and M. Curran. Armillaria root disease management guidelines for the Nelson Forest Region. B.C. Min. For., Nelson Forest Region, Nelson, B.C. Resource Manage. Tech. Rep. TR-. http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/nelson/research/reports/index.htm Regarding growth-limiting factors and the consideration of site prepara- tion options, the “Fire Effects Expert System” computer model (Curran et al. ) was superseded by the syteprep expert system, which is currently being updated for both the Nelson and Kamloops regions in collaboration with Suzanne Simard, Research Silviculturist, in Kamloops. Interested parties may contact either Suzanne, or Mike Curran, Research Pedologist, in Nelson. If users wish a different texture key, they may consider the one in Land Management Handbook (Curran et al. , citation above), which includes fine sandy loam, an important distinction for various soil distur- bance hazard keys referred to in the fpc. Appendix has been removed as it is out of date. It has been superseded by the Establishment to Free Growing guidebook. Version .. (Nelson Forest Region. For. Practices Br., B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C., Forest Practices Code of British Columbia guidebook.) http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/fpc/fpcguide/guidetoc.htm For copies of this guidebook, contact: Government Publications PO Box Stn. Prov. Govt. Victoria, BC v8w 9v7 Telephone: --- (outside Victoria) () - (within Victoria) Fax: () - ‒ update A Field Guide for Site Identification and Interpretation for the Nelson Forest Region Compiled and Edited by T.F. Braumandl and M.P. Curran May 1992 1996 Reprinted with corrections 2002 Reprinted with update Ministry of Forests Forest Science Program AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS Tom Braumandl, Regional Ecologist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Mike Curran, Regional Pedologist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Gerry Davis, Assistant Pedologist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Debbie DeLong, Assistant Research Silviculturalist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Mike Fenger, Wildlife Habitat Forester, Integrated Management Branch, B.C. Ministry of Environment, 810 Blanshard Street, Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X5 Maureen Ketcheson, Consulting Ecologist, JMJ Holdings Inc., Box 784, Nelson, B.C. V1L 5P9 Don Norris, Regional Forest Pathologist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Bernie Peschke, Silviculture Planning Forester, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Harry Quesnel, Assistant Ecologist, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Christoph Steeger, Consulting Wildlife Biologist, Pandion Ecological Research Ltd., Box 26, Ymir, B.C. V0G 2K0 Rick Stewart, Forest Health Officer, Nelson Forest Region, B.C. Ministry of Forests, 518 Lake Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4C6 Guy Woods, Wildlife Biologist, Kootenay Region, B.C. Ministry of Environment, 617 Vernon Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 4E9 National Library of Canada Cataloguing in © 1992 Province of British Columbia Publication Data © 1996 Reprinted with corrections Braumandl, T. F. © 2002 Reprinted with update A field guide for site identification and interpretation Published by the for the Nelson Forest Region Research Branch Ministry of Forests (Land management handbook, 0229-1622 ; no. 20) PO Box 9519, Stn Prov Govt Victoria, B.C. V8W 9C2 “May 1992, 1996 reprinted with corrections, 2002 reprinted with update.” Includes bibliographical references: p. ISBN 0-7726-4771-2 1. Bioclimatology - British Columbia - Nelson Region. 2. Biogeography - British Columbia - Nelson Region. 3. Forest ecology - British Columbia - Nelson Region. Copies of this and other Ministry 4. Forest management - British Columbia - Nelson of Forests titles are available from: Region. 5. Nelson Forest Region (B.C.). I. Curran, Crown Publications Michael Patrick, 1959- . II. British Columbia. Ministry 521 Fort Street of Forests. Research Branch. Victoria, BC V8W 1E7 (250) 386-4636 QH541.5.F6B72 2002 581.7’37’097116 C2002-960096-0 www.crownpub.bc.ca ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have been involved in the development of this classification system over the years. It is difficult to acknowledge all contributors. This guidebook is based largely on the extensive sampling program undertaken by the Ecology and Pedology programs in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. This program was coordinated during this period by Greg Utzig and Gerry Still. Many people worked on various aspects of the initial field sampling and data analysis, including: Diane Ailman, Tom Braumandl, Anne Comeau, Phil Comeau, Dave Crampton, Gerry Davis, Sharon Hope, Joan Huiberts, Maureen Ketcheson, Donna Macdonald, Dale Martin, Teresa Newsome, Harry Quesnel, Jody Schlatter, Allison Warner, Bill Wells, and Terry Woods. Follow-up sampling for this new guide was carried out by Tom Braumandl, Mike Curran, Emilee Fanjoy, Andy MacKinnon, Del Meidinger, and Terry Wood. This field guide is based on a new correlated classification of the ecological plot data that was made possible by the Correlation Program coordinated by Del Meidinger. Shirley Mah, Tracy Fleming, and Carol Jones are thanked for data analysis during the correlation project. The final classification analysis was done with the aid of the following consultants: Alex Inselberg, Alex Inselberg and Associates; Maureen Ketcheson and Evan MacKenzie, JMJ Holdings; Glen Porter, Madrone Consultants; and Carol Thompson and Graeme Hope, Eco-concepts Consultants. In addition, site index data were analyzed by Don McLennan, Oikos Ecological Consultants. Allen Banner and Craig DeLong provided prototype versions of Chapters 1 and 2 and parts of Chapters 3 and 4 under the correlation project. The most extensive correlation exercise was with the Kamloops Forest Region and the comments of Dennis Lloyd, Del Meidinger, and Graeme Hope were most stimulating. Compiling and checking of all the tables and text was made much more pleasant with the help of all the cheery people in “Santa’s Workshop” in the Nelson Regional Office, namely: Alan Davidson, Gerry Davis, Deb DeLong, Emilee Fanjoy, Kristina Johnson, Debbie McLennan, and Harry Quesnel. The assistance of the Regional Office steno pool, and particularly