This bulletin is the fourth in a series of Forest Practices Board bulletins describing new aspects of forest legislation, practices and trends, and their implications for forest stewardship. These bulletins are intended to foster discussion and to improve understanding of forest practices. This bulletin summarizes key findings from the 2003 Board audit season. It identifies some of the major issues the Board will be examining in the 2004 audit season, which will be the first audits conducted under the new Forest and Range Practices Act.
Bulletin 004 – Summary of Findings from the 2003 Audit Season (2004)
BC’s Mountain Caribou: Last Chance for Conservation?
All mountain caribou in Canada are nationally designated as ‘threatened’. Threatened status means that action is required to improve caribou survival in order to avoid extinction . In 1996, British Columbia signed the National Accord for Protection of Species at Risk. That agreement obliged the province to act to protect species at risk and their habitats, and to develop recovery plans for nationally designated species.
Nevertheless, the number of mountain caribou in the province declined by 17 percent between the years 1996 and 2002. Experts anticipate further declines and local extinctions over time. Clearly, the survival of mountain caribou in BC is an issue of significant public interest.
BC’s Mountain Caribou: Last Chance for Conservation?
Integrating Non-Timber Forest Products into Forest Planning and Practices in British Columbia
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are an important forest resource in British Columbia, with the potential to make a significant economic contribution to small, resource-based communities. Non-timber forest products, also known as non-wood forest products and botanical forest products, include all the human-exploited uses of plant and fungal species of the forest, other than timber, pulpwood, shakes or other wood products. Rough estimates from 1997 placed the value of this resource at $680 million in provincial revenues and the sector has likely grown since then.
The harvest of NTFPs is currently unregulated in BC and this creates a whole range of issues, from lack of government revenue, to potential over-harvesting of the resource, to infringement of aboriginal rights and First Nations’ traditional use of NTFPs.
Integrating Non-Timber Forest Products into Forest Planning and Practices in British Columbia
Implementation of Biodiversity Measures under the Forest Practices Code – Implications for the Transition to the Forest and Range Practices Act
This special report provides the public with a picture of the British Columbia government’s progress in planning and implementation for biodiversity in provincial forests since the Forest Practices Code (the Code) came into effect in 1995.
Biological diversity or ‘biodiversity’ is a concept that has become a key issue in the management of British Columbia’s forests in the last two decades. Internationally, Canada has made commitments to conserve biodiversity under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Conservation of biodiversity on British Columbia’s forested landbase occurs at several levels. At the highest level, the Crown forest landbase is divided into protected areas, inoperable forest, areas where timber harvesting is constrained, such as riparian reserves, and the timber harvesting landbase. Protected areas alone are not enough to conserve biodiversity across the landscape, so the Forest Practices Code applied measures to conserve biodiversity to the remaining forest landbase.
Implementation of Biodiversity Measures under the Forest Practices Code – Implications for the Transition to FRPA
Bulletin 003 – Opportunity for Public Consultation under FRPA (2003)
This bulletin is the third in a series of Forest Practices Board bulletins describing new aspects of forest legislation, practices and trends, and their implications for forest stewardship. These bulletins are intended to foster discussion and to improve understanding of forest practices. This bulletin addresses the public’s opportunity to review and comment on proposed forestry developments under the Forest and Range Practices Act.
