Identified Wildlife Management Strategy

Date: 15 February, 1999

From: Cassie Doyle, Deputy Ministry - Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks Larry Pedersen, Chief Forester - Ministry of Forests

To: Regional Managers and District Managers, Ministry of Forests, Regional Directors and Designated Environment Officials, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, and Derek Thompson, Assistant Deputy Minister - Land Use Coordination Office Regional Directors and Designated Environment Officials, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks Regional Managers and District Managers, Ministry of Forests All Staff Involved in Implementing the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy Interagency Management Committees (IAMCs) Interagency Management Committee Coordinators Interagency Planning Teams (IPTs) Integrated Resource Planning Committee (IRPC)

Re: Strategic Land Use Plans and the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy

Government recently released the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy (IWMS). The goals of the IWMS include minimizing the effects of forest practices on Identified Wildlife, and maintaining their limiting habitats throughout their current ranges and, where appropriate, their historic ranges. The intent of this letter is to clarify the role of strategic land use planning tables in managing Identified Wildlife.

Volume 1 of the IWMS describes the tools to manage Identified Wildlife, which include wildlife habitat areas (WHAs) and general wildlife measures (GWMs). In most cases these tools are considered to be sufficient to manage wildlife species. However, these tools will not always address all aspects of a species' habitat requirements. Some species have large home ranges, occur at low densities, have widely and sparsely distributed limiting habitats, or are sensitive to forest-level disturbances. The habitat requirements of such species must be addressed over large areas such as regions or subregions in order to effectively manage their populations. For this reason, some species habitat requirements are best addressed through other management practices recommended by strategic land use planning tables and established as higher level plans^[1], as well as through the IWMS.

At this point, government has identified three species in the IWMS whose habitat requirements cannot be managed solely through WHAs, and are likely to exceed the one percent timber supply impact applied to the IWMS provincially. These species are called 'higher level plan species' in the IWMS, and include bull trout, fisher, and Grizzly Bear. The IWMS Volume 1 provides 'higher level plan recommendations' for these three species. These recommendations have been drafted by government staff for consideration by strategic land use planning tables and, if adopted, will help to ensure the population viability of these species.

Strategic land use planning tables which have not yet passed the scenario development stage may consider the recommendations for these 'higher level plan species', if this would not cause backtracking of the planning progress accomplished to date. In addition, they may recommend management objectives for these species that have a provincial aggregate timber supply impact greater than the one percent allocated to the IWMS. Where planning tables have passed the scenario development stage or where strategic land use plans have already been completed and approved, recommendations for 'higher level plan species' may be considered at the agreed-on times for plan review and amendment, unless otherwise directed by Cabinet.

Where a planning table wishes to consider the management of a 'higher level plan species', government members of the IPT should develop a range of management options for that species. The options may vary the amount of land to which the 'higher level plan recommendations' would be applied, and may identify different conservation risks and/or management objectives. Government staff will evaluate the environmental, social and economic impacts associated with each option before presenting this information to the full planning table.

'Higher level plan recommendations' from the IWMS are not mandatory, are not to be inferred as government direction, and are not intended to have application across the entire planning area. The recommendations are based on the best technical information on the species at this time, and some or all of them should be considered for application in localized portions of a planning area where the planning table intends to propose a conservation objective for the species. Where planning tables choose to address 'higher level plan species' they are expected to consider the 'higher level plan recommendations' along with other proposed timber and non-timber resource management objectives.

Government is not recommending any other species of Identified Wildlife be considered by planning tables at this time, and government agencies involved at planning tables will not be advocating that tables consider additional species from Volume 1 of the IWMS. This is because either their habitat requirements can be met by the strategy, or there is insufficient information currently available to indicate that management through WHAs is inadequate. Should conservation assessments indicate that one or more other Volume 1 species cannot be adequately managed through the current provisions of the IWMS or other Code mechanisms, government may amend the strategy to include 'higher level plan recommendations' for the additional species. Additional 'higher level plan recommendations' are expected in Volume 2 of the IWMS, either as a result of the conservation assessments described above or to address the needs of additional species (e.g. Mountain caribou).

Notwithstanding the above direction, it is recognized that strategic land use planning tables may choose to recommend management objectives for any wildlife species. It is possible that recommendations from planning tables may imply a timber supply impact greater than the IWMS provincial limit of one percent. Regarding planning table recommendations for any Volume 1 Identified Wildlife species that do not already have HLP recommendations, government will consider the technical recommendations of staff as to the need for additional actions. It is unlikely that recommendations for additional species from Volume 1 of the IWMS will be approved by government unless the species are clearly shown, through conservation assessments, to require management measures that are incremental to the IWMS.

During plan approval, government will ensure all resource values have been addressed and will consider those recommendations that accomplish an acceptable balance between social, economic, and environmental values. Government is committed to continuing its work to establish higher level plans for approved land use plan recommendations, where higher level plans are necessary to ensure implementation.

In summary:

1. The IWMS is now released and provides the tools (WHAs and GWMs) to manage the approved Identified Wildlife species.
2. Three species (bull trout, fisher and grizzly bear) are identified as 'higher level plan species' because their habitat requirements cannot be managed solely through WHAs, and are likely to exceed the one percent timber supply impact applied to the IWMS provincially.
3. Strategic land use planning tables which have not yet passed the scenario development stage may consider recommendations for the 'higher level plan species', but they are not required to do so.
4. Strategic land use planning tables may recommend management objectives for any wildlife species, whether recognized as Identified Wildlife or not, and these recommendations may imply a timber supply impact greater than the IWMS provincial limit of one percent.
5. Government will consider technical advice from staff as to whether additional management actions are needed for Identified Wildlife that do not have HLP recommendations. Approval of recommendations incremental to the IWMS is unlikely, unless conservation assessments clearly indicate otherwise.
6. Government will ensure all resource values are addressed and will consider those recommendations that accomplish an acceptable balance between social, economic, and environmental values. It is anticipated that approved management objectives will be established as higher level plans, where this is necessary to ensure their implementation.

Signatures available on the official printed copy

¹ For the purposes of the IWMS higher level plans are resource management zone objectives recommended by strategic land use planning tables and established as higher level plans by the three ministers responsible for the Forect Practices Code (MELP, MOF and MEM). Once higher level plans are established, forestry operations are legally bound to be consistent with them. Recommendations from planning tables that do not explicitly relate to forest resources and forest development are considered for policy status by government.