| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
This report summarizes the results of an ecosystem-based analysis of the Horsey Creek Landscape surrounding Dunster, BC. The Silva Forest Foundation conducted the analysis for the Dunster Community Association and the Fraser Headwaters Alliance. The goal of the analysis, and the purpose of this report and the accompanying full size maps, is to provide practical information to local residents and groups who wish to protect, maintain, and plan for the ecologically sustainable use of the forests and waters that occupy this part of the Fraser River Headwaters. The analysis is part of an ongoing project to develop and implement ecosystem-based mapping for the entire Robson Valley. The first phase of the project, an ecosystem-based analysis of the Raush River Watershed, was completed in 1998. The main objectives of this ecosystem-based analysis of the Horsey Creek Landscape were to: • identify important landscape and ecosystem characteristics, assess ecological sensitivity, and determine where and how these factors limit human use • assess how past and present human use has affected the ecological condition of the landscape, and • develop recommendations to guide the protection, maintenance, restoration, and sustainable use of the Horsey Creek Landscape. This analysis is preliminary—the conclusions and recommendations in this report, and the work on which it is based, are initial estimates. Terrain interpretations and landscape analyses are based largely on air photo interpretation and GIS analysis of Ministry of Forests (MoF) forest cover and Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MoELP) terrain and resource information (TRIM) topographic data, supplemented by 15 crew days of reconnaissance-level field work. We believe the landbase, terrain sensitivity, stream geometry, and other estimates are realistic, but further field assessment and data analysis are required to verify and improve the accuracy of the results and to develop operational plans. Implementing the recommendations described in this report will require community commitment and involvement, additional site-level field study, total-cost economic assessment, and long-term strategic and operational planning. The result will be a set of detailed plans to direct human use and restoration of the ecosystems in the Horsey Creek Landscape, and a framework for monitoring to evaluate and learn from the consequences of those activities. The Brainerd Foundation, Lazar Foundation, and W. Alton Jones Foundation gave generous funding for this project. Silva Forest Foundation, the Dunster Community Association, and the Fraser Headwaters Alliance are also grateful to the MoF Robson Valley District Office and to the MoELP for providing forest cover and TRIM digital data. Silva Forest Foundation, the Dunster Community Association, and the Fraser Headwaters Alliance acknowledge that the Horsey Creek Landscape lies within the territory traditionally used by the Lheidli T'enneh and Secwepemc peoples. We hope constructive partnerships can be formed between the Lheit-Lit’en and Secwepemc First Nations, the Dunster Community Association, and the Fraser Headwaters Alliance to develop and implement ecosystem-based planning throughout the Robson Valley. |
