West Babine Sustainable Resource Management Plan

Water quality is one of the primary interests expressed by the Gitxsan First Nation and
stakeholders. Water quality tends to be most influenced by forestry activities related to road
layout, construction, maintenance and deactivation. MSRM has assessed the implications of
timber harvesting on water quality and quantity, given the other management strategies that are
in place for the area. Generally speaking the West Babine plan area is at a low risk for
harvesting-related hydrological instability (i.e., changes to peak or low flows) due to its
relatively small amount of operable forest. In addition, objectives to maintain biodiversity, visual
quality, and grizzly bear habitat limits the amount of timber harvesting that can occur in a given
watershed. In the Gail, Shedin and Shelagyote watersheds where the majority of snow pack
accumulates above the operable landbase, and in the Babine watershed where a large portion of
the forested area is within the park, clearcutting will have a minimal impact on peak flows and
hydrological integrity.
Management direction to maintain water quality and hydrological integrity
The Kispiox LRMP includes the following objective for hydrological integrity:
to protect the hydrological integrity of watersheds.
A strategy of the LRMP, which is to be refined at the landscape planning level is: on average no
more than 22 per cent of the forested land in a watershed will be in a hydrological condition
equivalent to clearcut (ECA). The recommended ECAs by watershed in Table 10, page 34 are
based on assessments by hydrologists in Prince Rupert Forest Region, and replace the 22 per cent
“rule-of-thumb average.
Table 9: Management Direction for Water Quality
Objective Indicator(s) Target/Measure Management
Considerations
1. To maintain
water quality
and quantity
within the
range of
natural
variability.
a. Equivalent clearcut
area (ECA) within
each mid-sized
watershed.
ECAs to not exceed
values shown in
Table 5, page 20
without guidance
from an independent
watershed
assessment.
Where the ECA exceeds a trigger
for a watershed (see Table 5,
page 20) undertake a complete
overview watershed assessment
(WAP) prior to forest
management activities, including:
Sediment source mapping
(natural);
Description of the natural
sediment regime (timing) ;
Erosion hazard mapping;
Detailed field description of
where past forest harvesting
has occurred.
March 2004 Page 33