1. Soil Conservation Monitoring: Forest Practices Code of British Columbia

2. n How are allowable levels of soil disturbance set for a cutblock? n How is compliance assessed?

3. Definitions Permanent vs. temporary access structures (e.g. roads, landings) n Permanent access: up to 7% of block n Temporary access: can exceed soil disturbance limits by 5%, but must be rehabilitated

4. Definitions Soil disturbance features: n unrehabilitated temporary trails n corduroyed trails n compacted areas n dispersed disturbances  can occupy up to 10% of block area, depending on site sensitivity

5. Silviculture Prescriptions SP is lowest-level plan  submitted for each cutblock by forest licensee on Crown land Must specify: n site sensitivity n seasonal or site constraints to forest practices

6. Hazard Assessment Key Guidebook: Uses site and soil information to rate site sensitivity (L, M, H, or VH) for 3 major hazards: n compaction and puddling n soil displacement n soil erosion

7. Compaction and Puddling Hazard Based on: n texture n coarse fragments n moisture regime n presence of thick forest floors or organic soils

8. Soil Displacement Hazard Based on: n slope gradient and complexity n depth to root-restricting layers or adverse chemical properties (e.g. carbonates)

9. Soil Erosion Hazard (for exposed mineral soil, not roads & ditches) Uses similar factors to USLE: n precipitation/snowmelt regime n slope gradient, length, uniformity n soil texture, structure, coarse fragments, impervious layers

10. Most limiting hazard determines: n allowable level of soil disturbance (higher hazard ratings  less allowable disturbance) n which soil disturbance features are included during assessment of compliance (i.e. certain features are only counted on more sensitive sites)

11. Seasonal Constraints: Based on local experience and/or research: n example: on sites with H or VH compaction hazard, SP could restrict harvesting to dry or frozen ground, or adequate compressible snowpack

12. Assessing Disturbance: 1. Visual inspection: is anything obviously wrong? n locations & dimensions of roads, landings n completion of TAS rehabilitation n areas of concentrated disturbance

13. Assessing Disturbance: 2. Formal compliance survey (seldom needed): n roads & landings: traverse survey with hip-chain (length & width) n soil disturbance: can be assessed for selected areas > 1 hectare; uses transect surveys which tally occurrence of features

14. Transects for small strata (< 10 ha) n parallel closely-spaced transects giving at least 500 regularly-spaced observation points per survey stratum

15. Transects for larger strata (> 10 ha) n pairs of randomly oriented 30-m transects (at 90°) from origin points arrayed in a regular grid n disturbance features recorded at 1-m intervals on transects

16. Does survey indicate compliance or non- compliance? n For both traverse and transect surveys, calculate confidence limits: n Decision rules based on LCL: non-compliance if Lower Confidence Limit of survey is above allowable levels set in Silviculture Prescription