Timber

Timber Access Targets

In recognition of the above, the following access targets were derived for the area encompassed by the SC Plan (see Appendix V).

Subunit	SC Planning Area
	EEA
South Chilcotin	16.30
Gaspard	12.31 (Please see Section 4.4: Biodiversity)

Equivalent Excluded Area (EEA) calculations for the SC planning area are the result of access netdowns due to non-timber management strategies developed by the Table and are presented as management assumptions modeled in SC Appendix V Scenario 5 Final dated February 9th, 1999.

As indicated in the CCLUP, there is joint sign-off of Forest Development Plans – to the extent they apply to SRDZ areas within the SC planning area – by the Statutory Decision Maker (SDM) of the MOF and MELP. Consistent with their authority, the SDMs have indicated that they accept Section 4 of the Integration Report, as approved by the RRB and IAMC, as appropriate advice and direction for achieving the overall objectives of the CCLUP. SDM direction as it pertains to the Integration Report and timber access targets may be found in the Statutory Decision Maker Direction to Operational Plan Proponents document dated April 30,1998.

Although Section 4 of the Integration Report provides appropriate advice and direction for achieving the overall objectives of the CCLUP, the Integration document also provides valuable guidance as it relates to the development of a timber access impact model for the SC planning unit. That is:

1. Non-timber impacts on timber access shall be based on management prescriptions developed by the SC planning group.
2. Each non-timber strategy shall be analyzed and the prescription shall be translated into an implied rotation age. If a strategy requires that stands be retained beyond the base rotation age, a resultant impact to timber access shall be calculated via an EEA. In simple terms, the longer the strategy rotation ages the greater the impact on timber access.
3. EEA impacts shall be considered incremental to current silvicultural systems in practice. For the purposes of this analysis, the following prescriptions are assumed to be normal forest management practices: even-aged management for all conifer species excluding Douglas fir; and, uneven-aged management for Douglas fir leading stands.
4. Silvicultural Systems (SS) that have the potential of being implemented within the SC planning area include:
   1. Single Tree Selection: a silvicultural system (SS) in which age classes are created or maintained through the removal of individual stems of all diametre classes uniformly throughout the stand.
   2. Group Selection: an uneven-aged SS that removes trees to create openings within the stand that are less than or equal to twice the height of representative mature stems.
   3. Shelterwood: a SS where trees are removed in a series of cuts designed to achieve a new even-aged stand under the shelter of remaining trees.
   4. Patch Cutting: a SS that creates openings less than one hectare in size. Each opening is intended to be managed as a distinct even-aged unit.
   5. Clearcut: an even-aged SS that removes the entire stand of trees during a single harvesting operation. Openings are one hectare or greater and at least two tree heights in width.
   6. Partial Cutting: a SS in which only selected trees are harvested. Seed Tree, Shelterwood, Single Tree and Group Selection, and Clearcutting with reserves are examples of a Partial Cutting system.
5. The current species distribution is assumed to remain constant over time (i.e. stand conversion is not assumed to occur within the planning area).
6. Where draft Landscape Units are partially located within Protected Areas, the productive forest land base within the protected area is assumed to contribute to Old Seral requirements within that unit.

Further to the above and within the area of the plan, the following assumptions are made as they pertain to EEA calculations:

1. They apply to the productive forest land base of the applicable CCLUP subunit. The productive forest land base equates to the total area of Crown forest within the SC plan area determined by subtracting the following:
   1. All non-Crown land;
   2. All Crown land committed to non-timber use through a Land Act designation;
   3. All non-forest Crown land; and,
   4. All forest area classified as brush or non-commercial cover in the forest inventory.
2. They include all impacts associated with the application of management prescriptions developed by the Table.
3. They include all impacts associated with management constraints detailed in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act (FPC); and
4. They are consistent with those detailed in the CCLUP as modified by the Integration Report, and ultimately by the SC analysis process.

It is assumed by the Table that the ‘Implementation and Monitoring Committee’, when established by the IAMC and RRB, will examine Forest Practices Code impacts to ensure that legislative constraints are not incremental to EEA targets developed for the SC planning area. Further to this and in the context of operational planning, the Table also assumes that the ‘Implementation and Monitoring Committee’ will document instances where developmental activity is constrained beyond those levels prescribed and predicted by the Table: those instances where operational realities are not accurately reflected by SC Plan modeling assumptions. Where either of these situations exist, it is expected that the ‘Implementation and Monitoring Committee’ will produce and supply appropriate resolution recommendations to the IAMC/RRB.