Guidelines To Support Implementation Of The Great Bear Rainforest Order With Respect To Old Forest And Listed Plant Communities

"The Great Bear Rainforest Order (GBRO), established January 2016, presents legal objectives for the protection of Old Forests and Red- and Blue-Listed Plant Communities (Listed Communities) within the timber harvesting land base of the Great Bear Rainforest. Although the direction on management and conservation of both Old Forest and Listed Communities is conceptually straightforward, practical field implementation is challenging due to the lack of explicit field assessment criteria. This guidance document provides an overview of key aspects of the GBRO with respect to Old Forest and Listed Communities, and interpretation of the text in the GBRO with reference to current ecological concepts. Additionally, the document discusses how the GBRO text relates to the B.C. Conservation Data Centre methods for assessing Red- and Blue-Listed Ecological Communities. A set of field keys is provided to facilitate consistent application of ecological concepts to meet the intent of the GBRO objectives for Old Forest and Sufficiently Established Listed Communities. The keys incorporate initial minimum criteria for certain ecological features, and an index that integrates a suite of old forest attributes (the Forest Attribute Score) based on features that reflect the complexity of these older coastal, forested ecosystems. Both keys require the field practitioner to determine stand age and occurrence of a Veteran Overstory Tree layer. To evaluate the requirement for protection of Listed Communities, the level of understory development must also be evaluated. Calculation of a Forest Attribute Score requires the assessment of six stand attributes: density of Veteran Overstory Trees, density of large snags, vertical canopy differentiation, understory shrub and herb cover, amount of coarse woody debris, and stand disturbance history."--Publisher's website

Encompassing millions of hectares of globally rare coastal rainforest, the Great Bear Rainforest in coastal British Columbia is home to ancient trees, rich runs of salmon, and abundant species, including the elusive white “spirit bear.” The area also supports small human communities, particularly First Nations. Once slated for clear-cut logging, large areas were protected in 2006 by the signing of one of the world’s most significant and innovative conservation agreements. Tracking the Great Bear traces environmentalists’ efforts to save the area from status quo industrial forestry, while at the same time respecting First Nations’ right to economic development. Adopting a novel theoretical approach from science and technology studies, the book explains environmentalists' success as a result of their deployment of a powerful actor-network within British Columbia’s land-use decision-making process. This book makes a significant contribution to social scientific analyses of natural resource management. Bridging the gap between interpretivist and social structural analyses, it demonstrates how the Great Bear Rainforest was made – or, rather, recreated – out of uncertain and contested links among an improbable assemblage of actors and elements.

This handbook is designed for staff in protected areas around the world who encounter conflicts of all kinds. It presents a framework and strategies for responding to different types of conflicts, along with case studies that describe a variety of approaches for dealing with conflict.

IUCN's Protected Areas Management Categories, which classify protected areas according to their management objectives, are today accepted as the benchmark for defining, recording, and classifying protected areas. They are recognized by international bodies such as the United Nations as well as many national governments. As a result, they are increasingly being incorporated into government legislation. These guidelines provide as much clarity as possible regarding the meaning and application of the Categories. They describe the definition of the Categories and discuss application in particular biomes and management approaches.

The vast temperate rainforests of coastal British Columbia are world renowned, but much less is known about the other rainforest located 500 kilometres inland along the western slopes of the interior mountains. The unique integration of continentality and humidity in this region favours the development of lush rainforest communities that incorporate both coastal and boreal elements. In British Columbia's Inland Rainforest, scientists bring together, for the first time, a broad spectrum of information about this distinctive ecosystem. They also consider the ecological consequences of human activities in the rainforest and present strategies for its management and conservation.

Provides managers, planners and field staff with a recommended process for meeting biodiversity objectives - both landscape and stand level - as required under the Forest Practices Code.