Definitions

Old Growth is any forest stand with a minimum of 30% crown closure, > 50% of the basal area is in climax species, and > 30% of the stand's basal area is > 125 years old. Climax species are normally Hemlock, Red Spruce, White Pine, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch or American Beech but may also include ‘intermediate’ species such as Balsam Fir, Red Maple and Black Spruce in some environments e.g. highlands, bogs, fens.

Mature Climax is any forest stand that has a minimum of 30% crown closure, > 50% of the basal area is in climax species and > 30% of the stand's basal area is > 80 years old.

Old Forest is any stand or collection of stands containing old growth or mature climax forests.

"Best remaining old forest restoration opportunities" means the largest, oldest, unbroken patches of climax-species-dominated forest on the landscape.

Policy

Staff are to set aside as old growth and old forest, eight percent of Crown land in each of the provinces 38 EcoDistricts (NSDNR Ecological Land Classification). This will consist of the best remaining old forest restoration opportunities, as outlined in the Procedures and Guidelines following. Where possible, the selected forests should provide a full representation of the climax forest types that are ecologically natural for the EcoDistrict. The EcoSection level of the ELC provides mapping of the potential climax forest types and should guide the selection of a reasonable area representation of potential climax forest types.

Procedure

The criteria which guide decision making are; better stands have more basal area in climax species; older stands in later stages of succession are better; and larger stands, groups of stands or patches are better. Using these criteria the following steps are to be followed to identify the required number of hectares of old forest for the landscape.

1. All stands that meet the old growth criteria in part one of the Old Growth Scoresheet (Appendix 1) on Crown land inside protected areas are to be included. Protected areas are National and Provincial Parks and category A and B park reserves, and all ecological reserves or candidate ecological reserves.

2. If more land is required to meet the 8% objective, include stands that meet the old growth criteria in part one of the Old Growth Scoresheet (Appendix 1) on Crown land outside protected areas. Also include a surrounding buffer at least 50 metres wide and include the buffer area in the old forest percentage calculations.

3. If more land is required to meet the 8% objective, include all forested lands within protected areas with site class > 3, basal area of climax species > 50%, age > 40 and crown closure >30%.

4. If more land is required to meet the 8% objective, add the best remaining old forest restoration opportunities from all Crown lands outside protected areas according to their rank calculated from the second and third parts of the Old Growth Scoresheet (Appendix 1).

5. Additional areas may be added above 8% if staff feel the areas have regionally important features.

Guidelines

1. Regional IRM teams, with guidance from the Ecological Technical Committee, will decide which areas to set aside based on their knowledge of the area and other development objectives. Where landscapes span DNR Regions, adjacent Regional Resource Managers will collaborate on meeting objectives for each landscape.

2. On an ongoing basis, any stand scheduled for harvest or other development that is suspected of meeting old forest criteria, should be assessed in the field and scored using the Old Forest Scoresheet. Where the stand exceeds the values of stands already set aside as old forest, the IRM team should consider replacing one of the other areas. Copies of the completed Old Forest Scoresheets should be forwarded to the Forestry Division.

3. Stands must be large enough to be identified as a stand on the GIS, i.e. narrow special management zones along watercourses do not have the necessary old forest qualities to be considered old growth stands.

4. Staff should note that forests on steep slopes have different ecological characteristics than those on level ground so both types of topography should be represented in proportion to percentages that are ecologically normal for the landscape. Within this constraint, preference should be given to forests having the least value for harvesting, such as inaccessible sites.

5. Stands should be selected that will provide the best opportunities to establish large and well connected old forest systems. Clumping stands with a variety of old forest qualities i.e. clumping mature climax or old growth stands with neighbouring immature climax stands, is encouraged to create larger old forest patches that may have higher value than an isolated old growth stand. Similarly, old forests should be linked by wildlife corridors and special management zones.

6. The buffers surrounding old forest stands outside protected areas, are intended to maintain the interior forest conditions of the old forest. Only silvicultural activities that would improve the old forest qualities of the buffer should be allowed.

7. Some of the lands under permanent protected status are expected to develop into relatively large areas of old growth forest which will serve as cores in an old forest network. This important long-term role is recognized in Step 3 of the Procedure.

8. The Department has no management authority on private lands. However where old growth stands have been identified and evaluated on private land, staff should inform the owner(s), of the stand’s provincially important ecological values and advise on appropriate management options emphasizing protection.

9. Old forests identified during this process should be drawn on GIS maps and a separate coverage generated representing areas set aside under the interim old forest policy. The Ecological Technical Committee will link this layer to the scoresheets completed during field evaluation.

10. The Ecological Technical Committee will cooperate with the regional IRM teams in the identification, priorization and selection of stands through a series of workshops.

11. The Ecological Land Classification for Nova Scotia (NSDNR, 2003) provides a hierarchical framework for implementation of the policy. The policy's area objectives (8%) are to be met at the EcoDistrict level, while the objectives for ecological representation are to be met using the EcoSection and associated potential climax forest database.

Old Forest Score Sheet:

The Old Forest Score sheet has proven helpful in evaluating stands for their old forest qualities. The score has three parts e.g. 2-72-2. Priorities for stand selection should be assigned based on the complete old forest score. The Ecological Technical Committee has developed the field methodology for completing the score sheet. A table with Samples of Measured Stands is also available.

Part one identifies the stand as either old growth (1), or mature climax (2), immature climax (3) or other (4).

Part two of the score sheet allows scoring a stand on its structural attributes - age, primal forest values, tree diameter, bole length of standing and fallen dead woody material, crown closure and number of canopy layers. This part provides guidance to the important features of old forests and allows comparison of stands within the first category e.g. which mature old growth stand has the best old forest qualities.

All stands in the patch will have the same part three score. Single isolated stands will usually score 1 for size class.