Overview

The Kamloops TSA SFM Plan Defined Forest Area (DFA) is approximately 2.8 million hectares made up of the Kamloops TSA (2,666,375 hectares), and TFLs 18 (74,620 hectares) and 35 (36,564 hectares).  The Kamloops TSA is just under ninety-six percent of the plan area.  The plan area follows the boundary of the Kamloops and Headwaters (Kamloops TSA portion) Forest Districts in the southern interior of British Columbia and includes Wells Gray Park.  The DFA extends from the Logan Lake area south of Kamloops north to Wells Gray Park, and is bounded by the Columbia Mountains to the east and the Cariboo/Chilcotin area to the west. 

Communities

Almost 80% of the TSA's residents live in the City of Kamloops.  Other communities include Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Savona, Chase and Logan Lake in the south, and Barriere, Blue River, Avola, Clearwater, Little Fort and Vavenby in the north.  According to the 1996 census, the population of  the Kamloops TSA was 101,730, a 14% increase from 1991.

The Secwepemc Nation, the Nlaka'pamux Nation, the St'at'imc Nation, the Okanagan Nation and the South Carrier Nation have traditional territories within the Kamloops TSA.  Currently there are ten First Nation communities within the TSA with a population of about 4,500 people.  These communities are Adams Lake, Bonaparte, Kamloops, North Thompson, Neskonlith, Skeetchestn, Whispering Pines, Little Shuswap, Ashcroft and Oregon Jack.  Additional First Nations communities are located outside of the Kamloops TSA but maintain traditional interests inside the TSA.  These include the High Bar, Spallumcheen, Lower Nicola, Upper Nicola, Xaxl'ip (Fountain), Ts'kw'aylaxw (Pavillion), Cooks Ferry, Lheidli T'enneh Nation and Canim Lake.

Employment

In 2000, direct forestry-related employment at all TSA mills amounted to approximately 2,100 positions. Harvesting and silviculture activities contribute over 500 additional positions.

Non-TSA sources of timber also generate employment in the area (e.g., Tree Farm Licence 18, held by Canadian Forest Products Ltd., and Tree Farm Licence 35, held by Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd.). Woodlot licences, private lands and Indian Reserves contribute additional non-TSA timber. Figure 2 illustrates the shares of total employment by industry sector for the Kamloops TSA.

Figure2: Employment by Industry Sector-Kamloops TSA, 1996

Environment                     
The topography of the Kamloops TSA is one of sharp contrasts, from dry, hot grasslands in the south, to wet areas and rugged mountains in the north.  The Thompson River and its tributaries wind through the heart of the area, traveling southward and westward toward the confluence with the Fraser River. In the northern portion of the TSA, the North Thompson River is bounded by the high peaks of the Monashee and Cariboo Mountains.  Wet to very wet conditions, with high snowfalls, are the norm.  In the central portion, the mountains give way to high plateaus dissected by steep valleys and dotted with lakes and rivers.  Moist conditions support mixed forests.  Further south, the landscape continues to become drier and gentler, with rolling uplands and numerous lakes.  The dense forests of the north and central areas give way to mixed pine and pine-fir forests with grasslands in the southern valleys.

The varied ecological features and unique nature of the area contribute to the high biodiversity values found in this TSA.  From the driest, hottest (summer), lowest elevation in the South, to the wettest, coldest, highest elevation in the North, the Kamloops TSA SFM Plan DFA includes the Bunchgrass (BG), Ponderosa Pine (PP), Interior Douglas-fir (IDF), Interior Cedar-Hemlock (ICH), Montane Spruce (MS), Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS), Sub-Boreal Pine Spruce (SBPS), Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir (ESSF) and Alpine Tundra (AT) Biogeoclimatic Zones.  Figure 3 shows the relative occurrence of the Biogeoclimatic Zones .

The diverse forests of the Kamloops TSA host a wide variety of wildlife species including grizzly bear, black bear, moose, mule deer, goat, California bighorn sheep and marten.  The TSA overlaps the range of a provincially important and viable herd of Mountain Caribou.  Due to winter conditions, these Mountain Caribou require sufficient canopy cover, provided by mature forests, to move between feeding areas.  Movement corridors require attention during planning of forest development activities.  The Kamloops TSA provides a migration corridor for the Mountain Caribou that inhabit Wells Gray Park.

The TSA contains more than 1,800 lakes and 40 salmon-producing steams, as well as many additional fish-supporting steams.  These water bodies support some of the finest inland fisheries in B.C.  Species of high recreational or economic value include rainbow trout, steelhead, kokanee, brook trout, white fish and Dolly Varden.  The Thompson, North Thompson, South Thompson and Adams rivers and their tributaries support a significant population of anadromous fish — steelhead and sockeye, coho, chinook and pink salmon.  The North Thompson River also contains most of the wild stocks of rainbow trout within the TSA.

Under the Kamloops LRMP, a process exists for identifying species at risk and developing specific management practices for them.  The Forest Practices Code and the Forest and Range Practices Act provide for the designation of wildlife habitat areas. 

Forest Use
The forests of the Kamloops TSA provide a wide range of forest land resources, including forest products (timber and non-timber, such as botanical forest products), recreation and tourism amenities, and significant wildlife habitat.  Parks, recreation areas and other Crown lands provide the setting for a host of activities including camping, hiking, wildlife and scenic viewing, fishing, hunting, hang-gliding, boating, river rafting, mountain-biking, four-wheel driving, ATV use, snowmobiling, and downhill, helicopter and cross country skiing.  Major highways pass through areas of exceptional natural scenery, providing easy access to national and provincial parks, such as Wells Gray Provincial Park and Jasper and Banff National Parks.

Figure 3 : Occurrence and distribution of biogeo-climatic zones in the Kamloops SFM Plan DFA
 
Figure 4  Composition of the total land base — Kamloops TSA, 2001.

Figure 5: Composition of the productive forest land base — Kamloops TSA, 2001.

The productive forest chart details the categories of forest land and shows that about 73.9% of the forest land in the Kamloops TSA is considered to be available for timber harvesting (including NSR)over time.

Figure 6 : Species distribution in the Kamloops SFM Plan DFA (hectares)
 
 
 
Forest Landbase

The forests of the Kamloops TSA are fairly diverse, reflecting the variety of topography and climate.  Within the land base currently considered available for timber harvesting, Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine are the dominant species.  Spruce, subalpine fir, cedar, hemlock and hardwoods are also present.

Figure 4 shows that about 53% of the TSA land base, excluding Wells Gray Park, is considered productive forest land managed by the B.C. Forest Service (approximately 1.409 million hectares).  Currently about 74% of this forested land base (Figure 5) is considered available for harvesting.  This represents 39% of the total TSA land base.  The significant portion of forest outside of the timber harvesting land base contributes to forest management objectives.

Figure 6 shows the current composition of the timber harvesting land base by dominant tree species.  Lodgepole pine dominates stands on 31% of the timber harvesting land base, with Douglas-fir dominating 34% of stands.  Stands prevalent in spruce and balsam cover 28% of the area, while the area of timber harvesting land base with cedar and hemlock stands is 7.0%.  Deciduous stands make up 1% of the timber harvesting land base.

Mountain Pine Beetle - Overview

Mountain pine beetle is severely impacting mature lodgepole pine stands in the southern part of the Kamloops TSA.  A summary of the current situation is described based on  excerpts from:

• Timber Supply And The Mountain Pine Beetle Infestation In British Columbia, Ministry Of Forests and Range Forest Analysis Branch October, 2003

• Oct. 30, 2003 Ministry Of Forests and Range Backgrounder; Timber Supply Analysis Mountain Pine Beetle Infestation

• Kamloops Timber Supply Area Rationale For Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) Determination Effective January 1, 2004

The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), is the most damaging insect attacking lodgepole pine forests in BC.  Mountain pine beetles exist naturally in mature lodgepole pine forests, at various population levels, depending on pine availability and weather conditions.  They play an important role in the natural succession of these forests by attacking older or weakened trees, which are then replaced by younger, healthy forests.  The beetle population levels in British Columbia’s interior have been increasing steadily since 1994 with an exponential increase seen in 2004 as a result of the 2003 beetle flight. 

Area Affected

Thirty-one percent of the area in the TSA, eighteen percent of TFL 18 and thirty-six percent of TFL 35 has lodgepole pine (Pl) as the leading species.  Beetle susceptibility models would suggest that the majority of the Pl stands in the TSA will have MPB populations within them in the next eight years.  Recently, both the rate of spread and the attack intensity have increased.  The 2004 aerial overview surveys for the Kamloops TSA resulted in classifying about 124,401 hectares as red attacked. This represented a 4.4 fold increase in area affected in the Kamloops TSA from 2003 to 2004.  In 2005, 336,705 hectares have been classified as red attack, 2.7 times the area covered in 2004.  In 2006 red attacked area increased to 394,075 hectares.  Red-attacked trees are those that were attacked and killed in the previous year.
 
Strategy and Response

Given the economic importance of lodgepole pine and the potential impact of the current beetle infestation on forest-dependent communities in BC’s interior, the forest industry and government jointly created the Mountain Pine Beetle Emergency Task Force in 1999 to manage and reduce the impact of the infestation.  The Task Force has helped to ensure that management strategies are well-planned and as effective as possible. These strategies have been aggressive and have been successful in making a difference in reducing the spread of the infestation and limiting the amount of killed timber in some areas. However, in some areas that have extremely high beetle populations, even with aggressive control measures and harvesting strategies, stands of beetle-killed timber are being left behind.

The Ministry of Forests and Range and the forest industry have been actively trying to control and manage the mountain pine beetle infestation in the TSA.  Licensees have been dedicating a significant portion of their harvest to management efforts aimed at the infestation.  In the fall of 2003 the Chief Forester of BC allocated a three million cubic meter uplift to the Kamloops TSA to help address the building problem.  In the spring of 2004 the Chief Forester allocated a portion of a two hundred thousand cubic meter uplift to address the mountain pine beetle on TFL 35.  Effective March 9, 2006, in response to the need to address the mountain pine beetle epidemic and other forest health concerns, and as a result of improved productivity estimates for TFL 18, the new AAC for TFL 18 was set at 290 000 cubic meters.  This AAC is intended to address salvage harvesting of lodgepole pine-leading stands that are, or are highly susceptible to being, attacked by the mountain pine beetle, and other stands affected by other forest health agents such as the spruce bark beetle.

During 2005 and early 2006, the active licensees were proponents and participants in the development of the Kamloops TSA Mountain Pine Beetle Strategy.  The objectives and core outcomes of this strategy are:

• The extent of current infestations has been summarized; and   future infestations have been estimated.
• Guidance has been developed to facilitate salvage planning.

• Focus is managing for forest values, meeting public expectations and expediting salvage planning and operations.

• Watershed/landscape level strategic and operational planning is emphasized.

• Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and “hydrology – water – riparian” are primary areas where guidance is provided.

• TSA stands/areas are prioritized for salvage operations considering stand susceptibility, short and long term timber supply, other resource values and current attack severity.
• Salvage capacity is being allocated to the highest priorities.
• Information developed will support TSR AAC recommendations (maintain, extend, or increase current AAC uplift)
• Strategies have been developed to address two primary areas of concern regarding overlapping and multiple tenures:

• Watershed level assessments and planning -- coordinating planning with multiple licensees.

• Operational challenges with overlapping tenures.
  

Factors Influencing the Severity of Attack

Two key factors contributing to the recent expansion of the mountain pine beetle infestation are the large amounts of older lodgepole pine on the land base and the relatively warm weather conditions experienced in recent years in the interior of the province. Both fire and insects have historically played an important role in the natural disturbance and replacement of lodgepole pine forests in much of the province’s interior.  Forest management policies, i.e. patch size and fire control  have contributed to an accumulation of old pine forest above historical levels.  Once lodgepole pine trees are mature (generally older than 80 years), they are highly susceptible to attack by the pine beetle, particularly during times of prolonged favourable weather conditions.  Experts concur that moderated climate conditions coupled with the increasing amount of susceptible, mature lodgepole forests has led to the current, unprecedented mountain pine beetle outbreak.

Environmental Impacts of Mountain Pine Beetle Infestation

Before extensive fire suppression, BC’s central interior forests naturally underwent large-scale stand replacing events brought on by wildfire and insect outbreaks.
Fires and insect outbreaks have been a part of normal ecosystem dynamics in BC, most likely for many thousands of years.  However, much more of the province is now occupied by older pine forests than historically has been the case.  With the epidemic population of mountain pine beetles and the abundance of susceptible mature pine, the rate of conversion from older to younger forested habitats will be increased, by insect attack followed by eventual blowdown, or by harvesting to control the rate of spread and salvage the attacked timber. Even with harvesting, both live and dead stands unaltered by harvesting will remain on the landscape.  Nonetheless, both the epidemic beetle population and timber harvesting, either for insect control or for salvage, will result in complex consequences for pine forests and associated wildlife habitats in BC’s interior.

Outlook

There is no indication the spread of the infestation will slow significantly without sufficiently cold weather to kill the developing beetle brood.  Temperatures need to reach -30C in the early fall or late spring when the beetles are not fully in their “over-wintering state” or have sustained winter temperatures of less than -40C to kill the brood.   If the beetle is not stopped due to climatic conditions, populations will only collapse when they encounter a shortage of acceptable, mature pine.  Additionally, 30 year and older pine plantations are starting to be impacted by MPB, specifically when adjacent to high beetle populations in the mature pine.  As the impact to the SFM plan from the MPB are better understood, further refinements to this plan may be required.