scholarly journals Forest harvesting is associated with increased landslide activity during an extreme rainstorm on Vancouver Island, Canada

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 5525-5574 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Goetz ◽  
R. H. Guthrie ◽  
A. Brenning
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Forest Practices

Abstract. Safe operations of forest practices in mountainous regions require effective development planning to mitigate hazards posed by landslides. British Columbia, Canada, has for the past two decades implemented landslide risk management policies aimed at reducing the impacts of the forest industry on landslides; it is required that timber harvesting sites are evaluated for their potential or existing impacts on terrain stability. Statistical landslide susceptibility modelling can enhance this evaluation by geographically highlighting potential hazardous areas. In addition, these statistical models can also improve our understanding of regional landslide controlling factors. The purpose of this research was to explore the regional effects of forest harvesting activities, topography, precipitation and geology on landslides initiated during an extreme rainfall event in November 2006 on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. These effects were analysed with a nonparametric statistical method, the generalized additive model (GAM). Although topography was the strongest predictor of landslide initiation, low density forest interpreted as regrowth areas and proximity to forest service roads were jointly associated with a six- to nine-fold increase in the odds of landslide initiation, while accounting for other environmental cofounders. This result highlights the importance of continuing proper landslide risk management to control the effects of forest practices on landslide initiation.

scholarly journals Forest harvesting is associated with increased landslide activity during an extreme rainstorm on Vancouver Island, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1311-1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Goetz ◽  
R. H. Guthrie ◽  
A. Brenning
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Forest Practices

Abstract. Safe operations of forest practices in mountainous regions require effective development planning to mitigate hazards posed by landslides. British Columbia, Canada, has for the past 2 decades implemented landslide risk management policies aimed at reducing the impacts of the forestry industry on landslides. Consequently, it is required that timber harvesting sites be evaluated for their potential or existing impacts on terrain stability. Statistical landslide susceptibility modelling can enhance this evaluation by geographically highlighting potential hazardous areas. In addition, these statistical models can also improve our understanding of regional landslide controlling factors. The purpose of this research was to explore the regional effects of forest harvesting activities, topography, precipitation and geology on landslides initiated during an extreme rainfall event in November 2006 on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. These effects were analyzed with a nonparametric statistical method, the generalized additive model (GAM). Although topography was the strongest predictor of landslide initiation, low density forest interpreted as regrowth areas and proximity to forest service roads were jointly associated with a 6- to 9-fold increase in the odds of landslide initiation, while accounting for other environmental confounders. This result highlights the importance of continuing proper landslide risk management to control the effects of forest practices on landslide initiation.

Cultural Forests in Cross Section: Clear-Cuts Reveal 1,100 Years of Bark Harvesting on Vancouver Island, British Columbia

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob K. Earnshaw
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Growth Ring ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Contact Period ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Ancient Forest ◽  
Post Impact ◽  
Bark Peeling

Culturally modified trees (CMTs) provide tangible evidence of long-term forest use by Indigenous peoples. In Northwest Coast cedar forests, this record rarely spans beyond the last three centuries because older bark-harvest scars have been obscured through taphonomic processes such as natural healing and decay. Thus, archaeological visibility and identification are hindered. Here, I recover chronologies of ancient forest harvesting using a post-impact assessment methodology of targeting old-growth clear-cuts in southern Nuu-chah-nulth territories on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Bark-peeling scars are identified and dated in cross section by growth-ring patterns of recently logged trees. Approximately half of all bark-peeling scars are “embedded” inside healing lobes, suggesting at least half of all such CMTs are effectively invisible in standing forests. Features in these post-impact surveys predated those discovered in conventional archaeological impact assessments by a mean of almost a century. Additionally, one of the oldest continually used cultural forests ever recorded, dating to AD 908, is found in the Toquaht Nation traditional territory. These findings uncover measurable frequencies of cedar-bark harvesting generations prior to the contact period and reveal the inadequacy of heritage protections for old-growth cedar stands.

scholarly journals Reducing the Impact of Forest Harvesting on the Vancouver Island Tourism Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 92 (01) ◽  
pp. 101-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle W. Hilsendager ◽  
Howard W. Harshaw ◽  
Robert A. Kozak
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Tourism Resource ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Visual Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Industry Professionals

British Columbia forests have traditionally been managed for timber production. However, the increasing importance of nature-based tourism within the province means that forests also have significant value as a tourism resource. This can lead to conflicts between the forestry and tourism industries. This article examines tourism and forestry interests on Vancouver Island and discusses ways that forests could be managed to reduce negative impacts to the tourism industry. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with forestry and tourism industry professionals on Vancouver Island and elsewhere in British Columbia. Findings suggest that visual impacts associated with forestry can negatively impact tourism. It also appears that forestry receives a much higher priority than tourism when it comes to forest management, despite the vital importance of the tourism industry to the Vancouver Island economy. Displeasure over the lack of communication requirements between the forest industry and other stakeholders was also documented. The implementation of formal agreements between the two industries may potentially reduce conflicts between these two industries on Vancouver Island. Identification and special management of highly valuable tourism areas may also provide benefits to the Vancouver Island tourism industry.

The effect of variable-retention riparian buffer zones on water temperatures in small headwater streams in sub-boreal forest ecosystems of British Columbia

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1371-1382 ◽  
Author(s):  
J S Macdonald ◽  
E A MacIsaac ◽  
H E Herunter
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Variable Retention ◽  
Forest Practices ◽  
Diurnal Temperature Variation ◽  
Temperature Impacts

Stream temperature impacts resulting from forest harvesting in riparian areas have been documented in a number of locations in North America. As part of the Stuart–Takla Fisheries–Forestry Interaction Project, we have investigated the influence of three variable-retention riparian harvesting prescriptions on temperatures in first-order streams in the interior sub-boreal forests of northern British Columbia. Prescriptions were designed to represent a range of possible harvesting options outlined by the Forest Practices Code of B.C., or associated best management practice guidelines. Five years after the completion of harvesting treatments, temperatures remained four to six degrees warmer, and diurnal temperature variation remained higher than in the control streams regardless of treatment. Initially, the high-retention treatment acted to mitigate the temperature effects of the harvesting, but 3 successive years of windthrow was antecedent to reduced canopy density and equivalent temperature impacts. We speculate that late autumn reversals in the impacts of forest harvesting also occur. Temperature impacts in this study remained within the tolerance limits of local biota. However, even modest temperature changes could alter insect production, egg incubation, fish rearing, migration timing, and susceptibility to disease, and the effects of large changes to daily temperature range are not well understood.

scholarly journals Historical Landslide Fatalities in British Columbia, Canada: Trends and Implications for Risk Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Strouth ◽  
Scott McDougall
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Debris Flows ◽  
Expert Judgment ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Other World ◽  
Debris Floods

According to a Canadian government database, landslides are the most common type of disaster that occurs in the province of British Columbia. Recently there has been a trend in British Columbia toward using quantitative risk assessments to estimate life-loss risk at landslide hazard sites, and to compare these estimates with risk tolerance thresholds to determine the necessity for, and extent of, risk management measures. These risk estimates are most often calibrated by so-called ‘expert judgment’ because historical landslide fatality data are not readily available. This article addresses this gap by summarizing available historical data to better inform expert judgment. It shows that fatalities caused by landslides in British Columbia are rare (approximately one fatality per year in the last decade) and have decreased with time despite rapid population growth. Approximately half of these fatalities in the last decade are related to debris flows and debris floods that impact houses, whereas the other half are related to rockfalls, debris flows, and debris floods that impact highways. A comparison with other hazard types in the Canadian government’s disaster database suggests that, while not particularly deadly, landslides are still important because of the economic damage and service disruptions they cause. Although the data are specific to British Columbia, the methods for identifying and presenting landslide risk trends could be modified and adopted in other world regions where landslide fatality data are collected and quantitative risk management methods are utilized.

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