West Babine Sustainable Resource Management Plan

4.2 Monitoring
The monitoring phase of the plan involves ongoing assessment of how well the management
objectives of the SRMP are being implemented. Resource values in the plan area are subject to
varying degrees of risk from development activities. Resource values at high risk will require
more regular monitoring than values at low risk, and this will be reflected in the monitoring plan
for the SRMP.
Monitoring of this plan will be embedded in the procedures and monitoring reports for the
Kispiox LRMP.
To monitor the implementation and effectiveness of this plan and other plans in the entire Babine
River watershed, it is proposed that a monitoring trust be established upon completion of this
plan. The proposed trust would be managed as a non-profit public-private partnership among
government, business and First Nations. It would monitor the values, uses and impacts on the
features integral to the Babine River watershed. A Board of Directors would manage the Trust
and be primarily responsible for attracting financial contributions, setting priorities for
monitoring and developing strategies for implementation.
4.3 Adaptive Management
This plan was developed using the best available information and knowledge. However, our
understanding of resources and ecosystems is imperfect and there are uncertainties associated
with the plan, both in the information and knowledge used and in the effectiveness of
management recommendations. To address this uncertainty MSRM recommends an adaptive
management process to allow continual improvement of management policies and practices. By
monitoring key responsive indicators over time and incorporating new information and
knowledge, resource managers will be able to analyze and report on the outcomes of their
management practices with respect to baseline conditions and incorporate this knowledge into
future management approaches. An adaptive management framework could be an effective way
of structuring the monitoring of the plan and would need to be developed and implemented by
the Trust.
A technical companion document accompanies this plan. This document is an important
reference to determine what information and assumptions were used to develop the objectives,
strategies and targets, which is required to facilitate adaptive management.
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