Forest Practices Board Releases Annual Report

By 250 News

The Forest Practices Board's 2006/2007 annual report  has been released.   The annual report details the board's key findings during the past fiscal year, and provides a picture of the diversity of forest and range issues examined by the board on a yearly basis.

The board's primary role is to assess how well forest and range licensees, and government agencies, are complying with legislation.

Highlights of work carried out during this fiscal year include studies of:

*  The effect of mountain pine beetle attack and consequent salvage harvesting on stream flows, and how this impacts seasonal flooding; 

 That report  focused on the watershed of Baker Creek near Quesnel where 75 per cent of the pine trees have suffered from mountain pine beetle infestation. The board used a well-established computer model, customized by UBC researchers to examine the pine beetle effect, for the report. Using a 40-year record of streamflows in Baker Creek, the model simulates expected changes in stream flow following the beetle attack and salvage harvesting.

The model indicates the MPB epidemic will increase stream flow by 60 per cent; clearcut salvage logging of beetle-infested trees could result in as much as a 92 per cent increase in stream flow, depending on the extent of the cut. According to the model projections, flood events that used to occur at 20-year intervals are now likely to take place every three to five years.

There were also  studies  done in the past fiscal year on  replanting in  Mountain Pine Beetle attacked areas. 

Reforestation in the districts of Quesnel and  Vanderhoof   were compared with  non -MPB affected forest districts in the interior.  The report foun the reforestation of MPB areas to be  as prompt, por evern quicker than in areas with little  or no MPB attack.  A Special  Report on Lodgepole Pine Stand Structure 25 years After Mountain Pine Beetle Attack .  That report looked at an area which was ravaged by the beetle in  the late 70's and  provides a  glimpse of what  future forests may look like where no salvage logging had taken place. After the forest canopy was removed, understory trees, fir, spruce and young pine that survived, started growing faster than they had been growing before the attack.  The mixed stands may  be a source of mid term timber supply.

Other  studies  looked at:

*  Forest fuel (dry shrub and forest undergrowth) management and its impact on wildfires; and
*  The control of invasive plants (plants not native to British Columbia) on Crown land.

Over the  '06 - '07 fiscal year,  there were 49 concerns raised, and 13 complaints that were investigated.

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