A new approach for making management decisions about the logging of forested streambanks is presented in this thesis. For several years administrative guidelines or regulatory clauses have required that narrow strips of vegetation be left along all streambanks after logging but experience with these guidelines or regulatory clauses has not always been satisfactory. In many cases the type of strip that is left is not well suited to the particular streambank site or to the needs of the users of that site and a new procedure for making streambank management decisions is clearly needed.
The decision-making procedure developed and tested in this thesis provides a routine, consistent method for site-specific decision-making on any Vancouver Island streambank site slated for logging. It includes a range of possible management alternatives and a method for determining which alternative is appropriate to a given site.
A checklist is used to assess a number of physical characteristics of the stream and streambank and to determine the resource uses of the site. The value of the vegetation along the streambank to the users is then identified and from this environmental basis, the width and type of vegetated leave strip best suited to the integrated use management of the site is indicated.
The procedure was field tested on seven different streambank sites on Vancouver Island. Checklists were completed by individual participants and decisions about the width and type of strip to be left were made according to the procedure. Written qualitative comments were solicited.
Analysis of the field test results indicated that there were a number of shortcomings in the checklist and in the procedure generally and revisions and improvements are suggested. There was however sufficient consistency in the results to indicate that the procedure could be used routinely and consistently by field level personnel and would improve streambank management decisions.
The qualitative reaction to the procedure was generally favourable. It was felt to be a useful and valuable innovation and several participants indicated that they would be prepared to use it on an operational basis.
It is concluded that a useful procedure for making site-specific integrated use decisions has been developed for forested streambanks. Recommendations are made for further improvement of this procedure and for its application to other resource management problems. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/19987 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Moore, M. Keith |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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