| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
The government of British Columbia has taken the initiative to manage for select species of wildlife under the new Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA). There are several different types of species designations under FRPA. One species designation is termed Identified Wildlife and is managed by the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy. This strategy provides direction, policy, procedures and guidelines to manage Identified Wildlife. In the Omineca Region, there are eighteen species and ecosystems designated under the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy. One of the ways to manage Identified Wildlife is to create Wildlife Habitat Areas to preserve critical habitat or habitat features required by these species. General Wildlife Measures describe the level of management that is acceptable within the designated Wildlife Habitat Area. The provincial government has developed companion documents to be used to create Wildlife Habitat Areas and their respective General Wildlife Measures for Identified Wildlife in the province. Another species designation is Regionally Important Wildlife. The Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection designates these species as regionally important. Generally, these species are native and regularly occurring taxa that are currently not considered provincially at risk, but are affected by forest or range practices. These species require specific habitat management prescriptions in order to maintain regional populations. Currently there are ten species proposed for Regionally Important Wildlife designation. The Forest and Range Practices Act enables Wildlife Habitat Areas and General Wildlife Measures to also be used to manage and protect key habitat features of designated Regionally Important Wildlife species. Provincially created species accounts for all Identified Wildlife in the province are in the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy: Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004 DRAFT document. This document summarizes the status, life history, distribution and habitats for each Identified Wildlife species. Its companion document, Identified Wildlife Management Strategy: Procedures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004, DRAFT describes the procedures for establishing, modifying, and rescinding a Wildlife Habitat Area, and for implementing strategic and landscape level planning recommendations. This report was based upon the latest version of the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy: Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004 DRAFT document available at the time of writing. This document has changed substantially since then – most notably, three species included in this FORREX report are no longer included in the final strategy. This document is meant to be a regionalized, condensed version of the aforementioned companion documents, and should be used in conjunction with them. It provides information on how to complete step one (the proposal) of the Wildlife Habitat Area establishment process as well as regional species information for seven Identified Wildlife or Regionally Important Wildlife species. The Identified Wildlife species in this manual include: bull trout, great blue heron, sandhill crane, fisher and mountain caribou. Arctic grayling and Dolly Varden are two Regionally Important Wildlife species in this manual. The regional species summaries have essentially been developed using the existing species accounts (with the exception of Dolly Varden and Arctic grayling) from the IWMS: Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004, DRAFT. Quantitative regional information has been added to make them applicable and relevant to the Omineca Region and allow for ease of development of Wildlife Habitat Areas for a particular species. The regional information presented for each species includes: species information such as description and distribution, important habitats and habitat features, management procedures such as Wildlife Habitat Area design and General Wildlife Measures, and any additional information such as relevant regional studies, models and recovery plans. Three example Wildlife Habitat Area proposals have been included to provide context for the information. One is for a mountain caribou mineral lick and two are for bull trout spawning areas. Blank forms for both single and multiple Wildlife Habitat Area proposals have also been included in Appendix I, that outlines the seven-step process for proposing Wildlife Habitat Areas. It must be emphasized that the information in this report has been compiled from a variety of sources. Authors should cite original sources when making references to information and recommendations herein. Specifically, please refer to: • Identified Wildlife Management Strategy: Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004 DRAFT*; and • Identified Wildlife Management Strategy: Procedures for Managing Identified Wildlife; Version Feb. 2004, DRAFT*. |
