The Kamloops TSA has a total area of 2,666,375 hectares. The topography of the Kamloops TSA is one of sharp contrasts, from dry, hot grasslands in the south, to very wet and rugged mountain landscapes in the north. As a TSA, Kamloops is among the most diverse ecologically in the province, containing nine of the eleven interior biogeoclimatic (BEC) zones. Annual precipitation ranges from 320 mm/year in the dry southern valleys, up to over 1200 mm/year in the cool wet rugged northern mountains.

Objectives of the Kamloops Future Forest Strategy

To rationalize expectations and direction for future management in the context of expected impacts of climate change and other influences by:

1. Identifying current expectations and management direction for the future forest condition, and to highlight potential overlap.
2. Understanding the range of potential impacts from climate change, based on well-informed local climate modeling.
3. Identifying vulnerabilities to forest management expectations and direction based on the impacts of climate change and other influences.
4. Providing options to modify management direction, better aligned with the impacts of climate change and other influences.
5. Articulating a robust desired future forest condition to promote general goals for timber and other values so they are not jeopardized over the long term.
6. Identifying data gaps and uncertainties.
7. Provide recommendations of how to move forward with implementation of the strategy.
8. Providing a template for managing multiple objectives in a changing environment.

Overview of the Kamloops Future Forest Strategy Methodology

Preliminary data organization and analysis was undertaken in January to March 31, 2008. This included climate modeling on the TSA with ClimateBC to forecast changing Biogeoclimatic subzone climates over time. Output was created by using best and worst case greenhouse gas emission scenarios with two different global climate circulation models. At the same time, a case study area on approximately one-third of the TSA was chosen to focus and refine initial analytical approaches. Management regimes across the TSA were explored for current direction that may influence the future forest condition. Potential overlap in management direction was also explored.

In 2008-09 the Future Forest Strategy conducted additional analysis based on this preliminary work to explore ecological and management sensitivities and vulnerabilities and to design management direction. The following work was completed:

• Ecological sensitivities and adaptive capacity was considered over time in the context of changing stands and ecosystems as influenced by climate change to create ecological narratives of the potential future forest condition based for key biogeoclimatic subzones.
• Key management sensitivities were then identified based on these narratives.
• Management sensitivities were then evaluated to determine management direction to achieve a more robust managed future forest condition. The direction is designed to guide planning and practices to avoid being “painted into a corner” over time, with only a few difficult management options available.
• Implementation barriers and knowledge/data gaps were identified to help identify adaptive capacity issues for management. These were considered in making final recommendations of how to move forward in the Kamloops TSA.

See the Kamloops Future Forest Strategy Report for the full report and associated documents.

NOTE: The weblink has the complete Kamloops Future Forest Strategy report on it, as well as sections of the report so you can download what is of most interest. The main report is just over 20 pages and is an easy read. If you interest runs in different directions and you want more depth, there are a number of appendices and will be a compendium of supporting documents that can each be downloaded separately.

Symmetree sees these documents as just the start of a continuing dialogue on forest management adaptation to climate change at a number of levels in BC.