Defined Forest Area

 

The Defined Forest Area (DFA) for Tolko’s Okanagan Regional Woodlands is located in the Okanagan Shuswap and Arrow Boundary Forest Districts.  For Gorman Bros., BCTS-Okanagan Columbia Business Area and WFN, the DFA is located within the Okanagan Shuswap Forest District.  The boundary of the DFA is specified in the licencees’ geographic information system (GIS) inventory.

 

 

The DFA includes Tolko’s traditional operating areas in the Okanagan and Arrow TSA's including: TFL 49, FL’s A18632, A18667, A18672, A20191, and A74912, Timber Licence T0816 and FLTC A76247.  Tolko manages FL A18632 on behalf of the licencee, Selkirk Timber Company.  A portion of Bell Pole Company Ltd’s FL A18666, which is also managed by Tolko, is included in the DFA.  The DFA within Gorman Bros. traditional operating area in the Okanagan TSA includes FL A18671.  The DFA for WFN includes their Community Forest Agreement K1P and their Woodlot Licence W0346.  These replaceable licenses give the licencees the authority to harvest trees and construct roads along with the responsibility for forest planning, reforestation and road maintenance.  The DFA also includes approximately 25 BCTS operating areas scattered across the DFA, ranging in size from a few hundred hectares to several thousand hectares.

 

In addition to the listed licences, there may be other licences that operate within the DFA through such mechanisms as Non-Replaceable Forest Licences or through harvest transfers facilitated under Section 18  of the Forest Act.  Activity on these licences may occur inside the Licencees primary operating areas or outside the primary areas.  Annual reporting will occur for these licences where they are under the control of the Licencees or where the Ministry of Forests and Range has included the requirement for reporting in the licence document.  Reporting data for blocks outside the primary operating area will be cutblock specific. 

 

The Table below illustrates the distribution of land classes within the DFA.  Approximately 30 percent of the DFA (including parks, inoperable areas, and non-productive areas) is not available for harvesting.  However, these areas are included in the DFA as they play a role in biodiversity and landscape level ecosystem functions.

 

<><> <><> <><> <><>DFA Allocation for Tolko, Gorman Bros., BCTS and WFN (areas in hectares) Land Classification Westbank Tolko Gorman Bros. BCTS Total Area Percent of Total Area Parks/protected areas & Old Growth Management Areas (approved study areas / areas of interest) 6,173 58,548 18,108 22,133 104,962 8 Streams, wetlands, lakes 473 11,435 1,245 5,115 18,268 1 Non-contributing forest (deciduous, problem forest type, ESAs, inoperable, NP, NPBR) 6,996 78,935 35,466 22,651 144,060 11 Non Forest Land (alpine, rock, open range) 2,187 46,157 16,285 18,340 82,969 7 Timber Harvesting Land Base 30,710 595,178 94,862 195,281 916,612 72 Total Defined Forest Area 46,539 790,253 165,966 263,520 1,266,871 100