The province has brought together an independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) to ensure we’re using the best science and data available to identify at-risk old growth ecosystems and prioritize areas for temporary deferral.
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The work of the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) has built on initial technical work by government and others to provide maps, analysis and detailed information on the status of old growth forest ecosystems in B.C. Results of this work are informing government-to-government decisions with First Nations on temporary deferral areas.
The TAP mapped rare, at-risk, and irreplaceable forest types to identify recommended areas for temporary deferral. This mapping included:
Using the above mapping, the TAP identified Priority At-Risk Old Growth (aka Priority Deferral Area), which was comprised of:
Learn more about these types of old growth forests
The TAP performed their analysis using spatial data that divided the province into a 1 ha raster grid. This method is commonly used for large and complex strategic analysis and was considered appropriate given the strategic province-wide scale of analysis.
The original TAP raster data layers have since been converted to an “operational” scale based on traditional vector line work such the Vegetation Resource Inventory (VRI). Use these operational-scale vector-based layers for all operational planning and field assessments because they are more precise than the original raster-based spatial data. The original raster layers can continue to be used for strategic-scale analysis.
Access the TAP spatial layers through the GIS mapping spatial data
Raster data and vector data are two types of spatial data maps. The main difference is that raster maps present information as square data cells, or “blocks”, while vector maps represent data using points, lines, and polygons (shapes).
Generally, raster data maps are suitable for mapping and analysis of large areas (eg. timber supply area) while vector data maps are suitable for mapping and analysis of smaller site specific areas (eg. small watershed)
Analysis and reports
The work of the TAP resulted in total old growth area calculations that are below previously estimated amounts.
Past provincial estimates identify approximately 13.7 million hectares of provincial forests are old growth. The TAP, through their methods using government provided data, estimates that there are approximately 11.1 million hectares of old growth – excluding private land.
The difference between the two estimates can be attributed to the following key factors:
1. Updated Inventories
In addition to regular annual updates, an update in 2020 to the provincial forest information included a substantial update to a very large area of northwestern BC where updates resulted in a decrease of more than 1M hectares of estimated old forest in the province.
2. Alternate methods for analysis
The collaborative work of the TAP along with provincial experts has resulted in agreed to enhancements to the methods used to analyse old forests. These enhancements result in a further decrease of about 1.5M hectares, and generally include consideration of: