BRITISH COLUMBIA MINISTRY OF FORESTS AND RANGE Lillooet Timber Supply Area Rationale for Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) Determination Effective May 1, 2009 Jim Snetsinger, R.P.F. Chief Forester AAC Rationale for Lillooet TSA, March 26, 2009 Table of Contents Objective of this Document..............................................................................................................1 Acknowledgement............................................................................................................................1 Description of the Lillooet Timber Supply Area..............................................................................1 History of the AAC for the Lillooet TSA.........................................................................................2 Apportionment of the AAC, and Recent Harvesting History .......................................................2 New AAC determination..................................................................................................................3 Information sources used in the AAC determination .......................................................................3 Role and limitations of the technical information used....................................................................5 Statutory framework.........................................................................................................................6 Guiding principles for AAC determinations ....................................................................................6 The role of the base case ..................................................................................................................8 Base case for the Lillooet TSA.........................................................................................................9 Consideration of Factors as Required by Section 8 of the Forest Act............................................10 Land base contributing to the timber harvest..............................................................................10 - general comments..............................................................................................................................10 - woodlot licences ................................................................................................................................11 - Probationary Community Forest Agreement.....................................................................................12 - roads, trails and landings ...................................................................................................................12 - physical operability............................................................................................................................13 - economic operability .........................................................................................................................13 - environmentally sensitive areas.........................................................................................................15 - unmerchantable forest types ..............................................................................................................15 - sites of low productivity ....................................................................................................................16 Existing forest inventory.............................................................................................................17 - status of the forest cover inventory....................................................................................................17 - volume estimates for existing, natural, unmanaged stands................................................................17 Expected rate of growth..............................................................................................................17 - volume estimates for regenerated, managed stands...........................................................................17 - site productivity estimates .................................................................................................................19 - minimum harvestable ages ................................................................................................................20 Regeneration delay .....................................................................................................................21 Not-satisfactorily-restocked areas...............................................................................................21 Silvicultural systems...................................................................................................................22 Incremental silviculture ..............................................................................................................22 Utilization standards ...................................................................................................................23 Decay, waste and breakage.........................................................................................................23 - interior log grades..............................................................................................................................24 Integrated resource management objectives ...............................................................................25 - forest cover requirements for cutblock adjacency and green-up .......................................................25 - recreation areas..................................................................................................................................26 - visually sensitive areas ......................................................................................................................27 - riparian management .........................................................................................................................27 - lakeshore management zones ............................................................................................................29 - community watersheds ......................................................................................................................30 - landscape-level biodiversity and old-forest retention........................................................................31 - stand-level biodiversity and wildlife tree retention ...........................................................................33 - wildlife habitat and identified wildlife ..............................................................................................35 - Identified Wildlife Management Strategy.....................................................................................35 - spotted owl....................................................................................................................................36 - grizzly bear ...................................................................................................................................38 Page i AAC Rationale for Lillooet TSA, March 26, 2009 - ungulates.......................................................................................................................................39 - range considerations ..........................................................................................................................41 - community fire interface....................................................................................................................42 - carbon sequestration ..........................................................................................................................42 - First Nations’ archaeological sites.....................................................................................................45 - First Nations’ cultural heritage resources and spiritual use...............................................................47 Other information .......................................................................................................................50 - strategic land use planning and protected areas.................................................................................50 - First Nations consultation process.....................................................................................................52 - pulpwood agreements........................................................................................................................59 - harvest sequencing and profile ..........................................................................................................60 - alternative harvest flows....................................................................................................................60 - community dependence on harvest level...........................................................................................61 - harvest partitioning objectives...........................................................................................................63 Economic and Social Objectives ................................................................................................65 - Minister’s letter..................................................................................................................................65 - local objectives ..................................................................................................................................65 Non-recoverable losses...............................................................................................................67