Whitebark Pine Ground Treatments
The project supported activities to restore damaged Whitebark Pine ecosystems in the Bulkley-Morice headwaters of the Skeena watershed in the southern Skeena Region. Whitebark Pine is an endangered species listed under SARA and an important wildlife tree in subalpine habitats due to its large, nutritious pine nuts. This project is an ongoing collaborative and multi-partner approach designed to plant blister rust tolerant Whitebark Pine seedlings, maintain and monitor existing restoration plantings, monitor pine cone crops in preparation for seed collection, stratify rust tolerant pine seeds, and help plan and coordinate upcoming restoration activities by government, industry and community groups as guided by BC’s Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Restoration Strategy.
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Application Criteria
SERNbc uses three general criteria to select specific ecosystems for restoration activities, which include:
- Ecosystem vulnerability,
- Functional importance of the ecosystem, and
- Existing management mechanisms and/or programs.
Vulnerable, degraded and damaged ecosystems are a high priority for ER activities if they have high functional importance in terms of providing important ecological services. This functional importance or management priority increases when the ER needs of a subject ecosystem is not being addressed by existing programming.
Potential ER projects must align with SERNbc’s objectives as identified in our strategic plan. All ER projects undertaken by SERNbc need to be supported by data and analysis that describes their current state, desired future condition, management objectives, and treatment rationale.
