Chilliwack Landscape Unit Plans

Twenty-three landscape units have been delineated within the Chilliwack Natural Resource District. Plans for sustaining elements of biodiversity (e.g. old growth forest, wildlife trees) have been developed for 21 landscape units.

Old growth management areas (OGMAs), spatially defined areas for the purpose of providing old forest representation, have been legally established by orders issued under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act in 15 units and the Land Use Objectives Regulation of the Land Act in six units. The remaining two units (Coquitlam and Seymour-Capilano) do not require OGMAs because the majority of the forested public land within these units is protected within the Metro Vancouver drinking water supply area (Coquitlam, Seymour and Capilano Watersheds) and the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, where logging and other development is not allowed.

OGMAs may be comprised of a range of age classes and are intended to be retained over several rotations to allow old forest ecosystem characteristics to develop. Forest licensees are required to maintain legally established OGMAs, however small incursions may be allowed for forest health, worker safety, wildfire response and prevention, and adjacent forest harvesting activities. Boundary amendments may be approved where the order allows, and where suitable replacement forest exists. Maps attached to the orders may not reflect current OGMA boundaries. Please refer to DataBC for the most recent spatial data.

Wildlife tree retention objectives have been established for 15 landscape units by orders issued under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act. When the code was replaced with the Forest and Range Practices Act, wildlife tree retention requirements were specified in the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation, which is why orders issued under the Land Use Objectives Regulation do not include wildlife tree retention objectives. Wildlife tree retention objectives approved under the code continue to remain in effect.