Miller Creek area - 2024 Proposed Harvesting Referral Form
Block names: MI102, MI103A, MI103B, MI103C, MI103D
The Spel̓kúmtn Community Forest is seeking review and comment regarding the proposed harvesting and associated road construction for cutblocks MI102, MI103A, MI103B, MI103C and MI103D specifically with respect to use of the area by members of the communities of Pemberton and Mt Currie. Community members are encouraged to submit any comments or concerns regarding public use activities or affects of harvesting on existing forest values associated with the south Miller Creek area where the planned blocks are located. Review and comment by the community is requested so that Spel’kúmtn CF is aware and can plan activities to minimize any potential impact to public use and ensure any forest values of concern for the community are addressed.
These blocks are proposed to be harvested under the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest tenure agreement. The proposed harvesting and road building details are provided below.
Please submit comments and questions about these proposed harvest plans by January 21, 2024 to spelkumtncf@gmail.com
Original referral or revised? Original
Click on green links for block specific maps
Miller 2024 Overview map
Block Descriptions:
Blocks MI102, MI103A, MI103B, MI103C and MI103D are located between ~ 0.5km and 3.0km on the Pemberton Creek FSR. The Pemberton Creek FSR can only be accessed through private land parcels: via an existing, gated road through Cedar Grove Estates or a new road through the Talbot family property. Due to the lack of public access, this area of the Community Forest receives only limited community use, though residents of Cedar Grove Estates can enter the FSR through their private road. The community forest has entered into a road use agreement with the Talbot family to allow access for Community Forest management activities on the Pemberton Creek FSR. There will continue to be no broad public access into the area due to the private property crossing requirement.
Block MI102 will utilize existing historical roads and short sections of new road during harvesting. Approximately 1.5km of existing roads will require reconstruction to an operational standard and approximately 600m of new roads require construction. All new road construction locations have been assessed and road designs/plans have been developed to ensure the roads are constructed to an appropriate standard for the intended use. All of the locations of new planned roads cross gentle to moderate slopes and are simple cut and fill designs, there are no sections of benching or endhaul required.
Blocks MI103A, MI103B, MI103C and MI103D will all be harvested from the Pemberton Creek FSR and existing spur roads. Minor road maintenance will be required on the FSR and an existing spur to allow harvesting to proceed.
All new roads planned for construction and/or upgrades to existing roads required for harvest operations are included in this referral. New roads constructed and not required for future operations will be fully rehabilitated back to a productive state following harvest completion. The rehabilitated roads will be planted with appropriate tree seedlings during block reforestation activities.
Block MI102 consists of 4 separate patches. Each patch is a similar stand type, being mixed species stands of Douglas fir, Western hemlock and Western red cedar with 2 distinct layers. The 2 distinct layers within each stand are described as variable densities of larger older overstory trees (150-180yr at 35 - 40m heights) with a dominant pole layer (60-80yrs at 30 – 35m). The mixed age stands are a result of previous select logging practices and / or from the fire origin history of the area. The stands are classified as a zonal to richer CWHds1 sites.
Blocks MI103A, B, C are 2nd growth stands approximately 60yo. These blocks are uniform Douglas fir plantations with minor amounts of western red cedar and western hemlock present. Trees in these uniform stands have DBH range of 20cm to 40cm and heights of 28-32m. Crown closure across these stands is high and understory herb and shrub layers are sparse with clumpy distribution / increased understory plant presence in small canopy gaps. The block areas are classified as zonal to slightly richer CWHds1 / CWHms1 transitional sites.
Block MI103D is a mature (~80-100yrs) Douglas fir, Western hemlock and Western red cedar fire origin stand. There are scattered fire scarred Douglas fir veterans (180-200yrs) across the stand at roughly 5sph density. These older / larger stems have higher wildlife values and the majority of these large trees will be retained from harvest. Trees in the stand range from 30 to 70 cm at 1.3m and heights range from 30m to 35m. Classified as a zonal CWHms1 site.
The blocks are planned for ground-based harvesting utilizing hoe forwarding/ground skidding, with a ~1.0ha of block M102 planned for overhead cable in steeper sections. The blocks will be harvested under a retention silviculture system with retention planned at 10-20 sph across each cutblock. Retention will be arranged as individual dispersed retention trees and small patches (5-20 trees/patch).
The Innergex Miller creek hydro generating facility penstock and project distribution line are adjacent to block locations / along the FSR. An onsite planning visit will be completed with Innergex prior to harvest activity commencing to ensure no impact to the project infrastructure occurs. Shared road use procedures will also be discussed.
Key Values and Issues:
Highlight of the primary identified values, issues associated with the proposed cutblocks / roads:
Recreation
General recreation / public use of the area is low due to the lack of public access.
There is a lightly used trail within the lower portion of block MI102, preliminary communication with the residents of Cedar Grove identified that this trail was created and is used by CG residents for recreation purposes. This trail has no authorizations allowing construction or use. Regardless, the community forest recognizes this “backyard trail” to have value to local residents and will strive to ensure the trail remains available after harvest for ongoing use. A portion of the trail will be protected within a retention patch and large old growth trees adjacent to the trail location will be retained to preserve some of the current trail use experience. Where harvesting will occur adjacent to the trail, efforts will be made to minimize disturbance to the trail bed (use of good suspension/deflection when cable yarding across) and to avoid depositing excessive woody debris materials on the trail surface.
Within blocks MI103 A, B, C, D there are several recently created (appear to be summer 2023 creations) motocross single track type trails. These trails have no authorization for construction or use and are poorly planned. It was observed that these trails are creating disruptions to natural drainage patterns, are creating unacceptable soil disturbance impacts and are impacting identified potential areas of archeological importance. The Community Forest does not support trail building and use of this type and therefore no efforts will be made to maintain or protect any of these trails. Woody debris will be left in place across the trails to discourage use.
Riparian / Water Licences
There are small S6 creeks and non-classified drainages (NCDs) flowing through the blocks and into Miller Creek. The Innergex Miller Creek IPP powerhouse and tailrace is located downstream from the block locations adjacent to the Miller Creek. A qualified professional has assessed all riparian areas and appropriate management strategies (riparian buffer reserve zones, machine crossing limitations, etc) will be developed prior to harvesting for each feature that will ensure riparian values (water flow and quality) are not negatively impacted by harvesting activities. There will be no impact to water quality or flow in South Miller Creek resulting from harvesting activities and no impact to the powerhouse / tailrace infrastructure.
There are domestic / irrigation water licences on Miller Creek located downstream from the block locations which are held by / serve residents along Pemberton Meadows Road. Riparian management plans to be used during harvest will be appropriate to ensure there is no impact to water quality or to any downstream water license intake areas. There are water lines associated with the water licences reported to be buried in/adjacent to the FSR in the vicinity of the new alignment/bridge crossing downstream from the blocks. No impacts to the sections of the road will occur as there is no planned use and no maintenance or excavations will occur on these sections of road.
Cedar Grove residents have expressed concerns related to impacts to water quality and or flow on Staehli creek from proposed logging operations on block MI102. The creek supplies an irrigation/fire protection pond within Cedar Grove Estates. The creek area and potential for impacts has been assessed by a professional forester. The creek flows to the north of the planned harvest area and none of the existing or planned roads for use during harvest cross the creek and none of the streams within the block flow to the creek. The block is entirely outside of the watershed (source area) of Staehli creek. There will be no impact to flow or water quality of this stream resulting from planned harvesting of block MI102.
Terrain Stability
A formal Terrain Stability Assessment (TSA) has been completed for block MI102 by a professional Geoscientist terrain stability expert. This assessment identified that the post harvest landslide hazard to Cedar Grove Estates is rated as “Very Low”. Terrain above the residential areas is stable with no evidence of historical soil movement or landslide events affecting downslope areas. Soils have high coarse fragment content and all existing and planned road locations are located on gentle to moderate slopes. No specific road building prescriptions (bench cut construction or endhaul sections) are required to address any terrain stability concerns.
The TSA did identify the potential for increased landslide hazard within block MI102 on the steeper slopes above Miller Creek / Innergex Powerhouse locations if water is misdirected or flows concentrated on steeper slopes. The TSA recommended that the increased hazard would be eliminated through removal of specific steeper slope areas from the planned harvest area. The Community Forest has altered the block design to remove these higher hazard areas and thus avoid the increased risk.
A formal TSA was not required to be completed for blocks MI103A, B, C and D. Slopes within these blocks are gentle to moderate and there is no evidence of slope instability initiating within the block areas. There are rocky debris flow / landslide deposits present within blocks 103A and 103B which are a result of historic events which occurred 20+ years ago. These events were natural occurrences initiated in very steep terrain several hundred meters above the block locations. These events likely occurred from natural rockfall or high rain events in mature forest / unlogged areas. These slide / debris flow events terminated within the gentle terrain found in the blocks and did not progress further downslope. Harvest of these blocks will not impact the terrain stability within the blocks and will not affect the areas of initiation far upslope. There are no terrain stability concerns within the MI103 series of blocks.
Click the link to read the Terrain Stability Assessment for MI102
Visuals
Blocks MI103A, B, C, D and the central/western portion of block MI102 are located within an area of the landscape to which a Visual Quality Objective of “Modification” applies. A preliminary visual assessment from these locations has been prepared. The preliminary assessment indicates that the visual impact of the planned harvest will be appropriate for an area with a modification objective. Preliminary assessment suggests that following harvesting the blocks will easily meet the Modification objective and will likely be consistent with the more restrictive (less visible) visual quality objective of “Partial Retention”.
The eastern / lower portion of block MI102 falls within an area of the landscape to which the visual quality objective of Partial Retention (PR) applies.
The portion of the cutblock within the PR polygon has been designed with the principles of good visual design and is expected to be only partially visible from any significant public viewpoints with significant screening occurring from boundary location, retention trees and topography of the valley. The most significant viewpoints have been identified to be from the sports field / old high school location on Pemberton Meadows Road and from the bridge crossing site over Miller Creek along Pemberton Valley Road.
The preliminary assessment has been completed which indicates that the Visual Quality Objective of Partial Retention will be achieved.
Wildfire
Block MI103A, B, C, D are not within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and Miller Creek provides a fuel break between residential areas and the block locations. Block MI102 is within the WUI. For all blocks, to reduce the potential for ignition and to reduce the potential for a high intensity wildfire, specific fire hazard abatement measures will be utilized. Normal utilization of harvestable material, combined with roadside processing area clean up and piling of woody waste materials for disposal, both at roadsides and within the block area will ensure that the post-harvest wildfire risk of this area is not increased by harvest. Woody debris will be disposed of through burning during appropriate conditions.
Click on the link to see the Provincial Wildland Urban Interface Risk Class Maps
Wildlife
There were no significant wildlife habitat or critical wildlife features identified within the planned harvest areas. This info package will be supplied to the Pemberton Wildlife Association (PWA) requesting information on any wildlife concerns from the PWA within this area of planned harvesting. There have been no significant wildlife sightings or evidence of critical areas or features for wildlife use within the blocks. There is evidence of use by a variety of wildlife species throughout the area. Harvest of the blocks will maintain some of the existing wildlife features currently in place and it is anticipated that harvest will increase the amount of early seral stage browse species available for wildlife use following harvest. The block will have appropriate Wildlife Tree Retention Areas (WTRA) established which will maintain a component of wildlife trees appropriate for wildlife use in the general area.
Block Management – Management of other Block Specific Values
N/A