Babine Watershed Monitoring Trust
Box 4274
Smithers
B.C.
V0J 2N0
July 1st, 2005
Ian Sharpe
Section Head
Ministry of Environment
Bag 5000
Smithers, BC
V0J 2N0
RE: SKEENA REGION BENTHIC INVERTEBRATE MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
The Babine Watershed Monitoring Trust will provide a $5000 contribution to the Skeena Region
Benthic Invertebrate (BI) Monitoring and Assessment System Development Project for 2005/06.
A description of the project is attached. The Trust may consider renewing this agreement in
future years upon review of this year’s project results.
The Babine Watershed Monitoring Trust (the Trust) is pleased to support this project: the project
is consistent with, and will support implementation of, the Monitoring Framework and Annual
Monitoring Plan developed by the Trust (www.Babinetrust.ca)
PURPOSE
The Trust’s payment is to provide funds toward site selection, sampling and analysis for at least
10 benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring sites in the Babine watershed. The data from these sites
will be combined with up to 90 other sites in the Skeena and Omineca / Peace Regions of BC in
this year’s work. One outcome of this work will be an aquatic sustainability indicator for use in
forest management and planning.
Site selection for the Babine Watershed will be coordinated with Pierre Beaudry, who is
assessing sediment hazard using a Stream Crossing Quality Index in the Nichyeskwa creek
watershed this year. As a second outcome of this project, the Recipient will collaborate with
Pierre Beaudry to develop a risk curve that relates sediment input at stream crossings to water
quality; the Monitoring Framework describes the role and methods for developing the risk curve.
TERMS
The Trust’s support of the above project is subject to the following conditions:
1. The monies are to be spent only on the project, as specified above.
2. Funds will be provided prior to March 31, 2006, and payment will be made upon acceptance
of a project report.
3. The Recipient must return all unspent funds, or funds not spent according to conditions as
laid out, to the Trust within 60 days of project completion.
4. The total funding obtained for the project from all sources must not exceed 100% of the
project costs.
5. The Recipient will acknowledge support provided by the Trust in reports resulting from the
project.
6. The Trust assumes no liability for loss, injury or damage suffered or caused as a result of this
project.
PROJECT DATES
It is anticipated that the Recipient will commence the Project by as soon as possible, with
completion on or before March 31, 2006.
LIAISON
Unless advised to the contrary, please liaise with Kevin Kriese, Telephone 250 847 1388.
ACCEPTANCE
If the above conditions are acceptable, please sign and return the two originals of this
Agreement. One original will be provided for your files upon signing by the Trust.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties hereto have duly executed this agreement as of
The
day of
, 2005.
SIGNED AND DELIVERED on behalf of the Trust
(Authorized representative)
SIGNED AND DELIVERED on behalf of the Trust
(Authorized representative)
SIGNED AND DELIVERED on behalf of the Recipient
(Authorized representative)
Appendix 1
Forest Science Program, LOI Form for Continuing Projects.
Proponent Name: Ian D. Sharpe
Contact person: same as above
Proponent Organization: BC Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection, Environmental Protection
Division
Mailing Address: C/O WLAP P.O. Box 5000 Smithers BC V0J 2N0
E-Mail Address: ian.sharpe@gems5.gov.bc.ca
Telephone Number: 250-847-7251
Fax Number: 250-847-7591
Last year’s project number: Y051128
Title of the project: Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sustainability Indicator Development for SFMP and
LRMP Applications
Geographic area*: Year 1 work has been conducted in the New Nadina and Bulkley Stikine Forest
Districts. Year 2 work will be expanded to the Omineca Peace Region.. Provided that the first two years
are successful, year 3 work will be further expanded to include parts of the southern half of the province
Project Team*: Same as in original submission.
Description: Theme: “Sustainable Forest Management Indicators, Targets and Monitoring Systems”.
Forest harvesting in BC is moving towards “outcome” based management. New tools are needed to
measure the effectiveness of forest practices in meeting a range of goals, including sustaining aquatic
ecosystems. A benthic macroinvertebrate (BI) sustainability indicator system, part of a performance based
forest harvesting aquatic impact assessment toolbox has been under development for 4 years in Skeena
Region. Other such BI monitoring and assessment systems are also being developed around the world,
and it is intended that this research project will rely on advances from this work, as well as local research
(see original proposal for details). This two pronged approach is made possible through a research team
with relevant expertise from the US, Australia, Ontario and British Columbia.
To improve the understanding and resolution of the BI monitoring and assessment system, 3 elements
need further research, including sampling protocol optimization, statistical design for impact
classification/assessment and the adaptive management framework using bio-criteria. The 3 year project
will lead to a proven sustainability indicator of aquatic ecosystem health, intended for use in Forest
Stewardship Plans, Sustainable Forest Management Plans, Land and Resource Management Plans, as well
as in Forest Product Certification systems. This tool, once set as a RISC Standard and combined with
other indicators of aquatic ecosystem sustainability (fish and fish habitat) will serve as a monitoring and
assessment feedback mechanism to determine the effectiveness of forest practices in protecting valued
aquatic resources. It is intended that progress made in this project will lead to province wide application
of the methods developed.
An experimental approach using the existing forest harvesting landscape, and streams within it will
provide the basis for developing models of how human influence related stressor gradients in watersheds
affect BI assemblages found in streams. Models that best explain these relationships will be adopted for
use in generating a sustainability indicator scoring system. In doing this, analyses of resolution of effect,
cost, operational limitations and applicability to forest harvesting adaptive management will be made.
The product will be embedded in an existing Environment Canada database management system and will
include protocols for generating and using the statistically derived sustainability indicator models. Details
will be provided on how stream condition ratings can be validated through statistical analyses on an
ongoing basis, and the steps necessary for quality control and assurance.
Deliverables and Extension:
 Year 1 deliverables include the development, testing and reporting of a new protocol for
sampling, watershed/stream characterization, stressor gradient analysis and sustainability
indicator model development. The intent of the protocol is to strike the balance among the
following attributes: measuring the appropriate habitat(s) which may be affected by human
influence, contribution to impact identification success, contribution to meaningful “impact
cause” hypothesis testing, cost and ease of use (see Statement of Progress for more detail).
Reporting will also include recommendations for year 2 work in terms of optimizing the protocols
and expanding the monitoring and assessment system to a broader geographic area.
An extension plan for the 3-year project is being developed in collaboration with FORREX staff.
Components of the plan for this year will include the dissemination of draft and final report(s) for
wide review among interested scientists (see list of reviewers in the original proposal), existing
and potential users of aquatic resource sustainability indicators, including industry, government
and NGO stakeholders. An international workshop, to discuss this and other similar work, will be
held in March at UBC. This workshop will be used to further publicize year 1 results, and seek
feedback on fine tuning the workplan for year 2.
 Having dealt with field and watershed/habitat characterization components in year 1, year 2 will
focus on optimizing statistical design for impact classification and sustainability indicator
development. More sites from a larger geographic area will be added to the system, and
additional stressor gradient determination approaches will be added to better determine cause and
effect relationships between forest harvesting disturbances and patterns in BI assemblages. This
will further develop the sustainability indicator.
Results will be reported and disseminated as dictated by the extension plan developed in year 1.
Further efforts may include peer reviewed journal article(s) describing the results of stressor
gradient effects modeling. Workshop venues will be used to bring the study team and other
scientists together with forest management decision-makers to review the work to date, and finetune the workplan for year 3. The focus of this work will be on advancing the use of cause and
effect interpretations, and developing the decision-making framework for use by forest managers.
 In year 3, more sites will be added to further expand the system over a broader area, and efforts to
improve cause and effect interpretations within the context of the sustainability indicator will be
made. As extension efforts expand, broader exposure of the research results to forest managers
will occur. This, along with the creation of a case study of how best to integrate sustainability
indicator information into forest harvesting adaptive management will be used to put the
sustainability indicator into practice. The focus will be on how best to create a sliding scale of
management consequence based on the severity, extent (geographic) and duration of impacts
demonstrated through the use of the sustainability indicator. Numeric stream condition scoring
associated with this will serve as bio-criteria.
In addition to the ongoing extension efforts from the first 2 years, a demonstration package,
complete with database management system will be made available, including training venues.
(Environment Canada’s CABIN system is already set up for this, and training in its use occurs on
an annual basis).
After year 3, it is intended that the BI sustainability indicator will become a “mainstream tool”
with the backing of federal and provincial governments, and those involved in forest management
decision making. This backing will include long term funding of the use of the system through
partnership arrangements much like the one that is helping to fund this project. This outcome
will be the result of the extension plan.
Funding Request:
Fiscal Year/
Source
2005-06
FSP
WLAP
Licensees
Academics
Env Can.
total
2006-07
FSP
WLAP
Licensees
Academics
Env Can
total
Total
FSP
WLAP
Licensees
Academics
Env Can
Grand total
FSP
Salary
&
Relate
d
Costs
NonSalary
Costs,
contractors
Consumables, lab
analyses,
travel,
accom.
Subtotal
75000
75000
DA
(5%)
Total
Partners
Cash
InKind
75000
25000
15000
75000
75000
150000
150000
24000
5000
15000
10000
75000
49000
20000
15000
10000
194000
24000
5000
15000
10000
75000
49000
20000
15000
10000
194000
48000
10000
30000
20000
150000
98000
40000
30000
20000
388000
75000
25000
15000
150000
50000
30000
Project
Total
The original proposal included a Research Assistantship to UBC and a post doctoral contribution
to University of Western Ontario. The UBC RA will be replaced with a direct contract to
Shauna Bennett, and the post doctoral contribution will be in the form of a grant from WLAP to
U of Western Ontario. This eliminates the need for entries in the salary cost column under FSP.
All other salary $ associated with the project will be from :”in kind contributions. There will be
no Capital Purchases
Statement of Progress:
Although the project started 2 months late, we are now on track to deliver on the project plan as originally
proposed. In addition, through fine-tuning, the deliverables are now more detailed.
Year 1 deliverables have changed to some degree from the original proposal, due to other researchers
making progress in answering questions about how to optimize benthic macroinvertebrate sampling
methods. This has allowed us to use existing data to decide which BI sampling method to use. With this
completed, we have focused on other aspects of sampling design related to stream habitat and watershed
characterization, as well as identification of a set of stressor gradient variables for use this year.
Deliverables to date have included:







Collate, standardize and upload data to CABIN database from 212 pre-existing benthic
invertebrate monitoring sites (almost half have multi-year records), including GIS analyses of
precise location, watershed characterization variables (slope, distance to source, etc.) and stressor
gradient variables (% area of watershed covered by range of disturbance classes, etc.) – 50%
complete – remainder will occur in December 2004.
Conduct preliminary statistical analyses on pre-existing data (see above) to assist in choosing
sites, which as a group may be representative of the range of reference conditions and stressor
gradients present – complete, but not successful.
Choose and sample 65 reference and influenced sites from among pre-existing sites. Add and
sample 15 sites from new areas to fill gaps in the reference “envelope” and stressor gradients
(added high elevation and coastal reference sites and more highly stressed sites) – complete.
Obtain taxonomic identifications of samples from all sites – contract lab work has begun.
Expecting full results in December. Upload all BI and site / watershed characterization in the
CABIN database – focus on data quality assurrance – in progress, with completion in November
2004.
Create statistically derived Reference Condition Approach models, with impact scores (O/E
scores) for influenced sites. Compare results with B-IBI metric scores for same set of influenced
sites. Conduct GIS based analyses of stressor gradients within influenced sites sampled –
scheduled for January, 2005.
Identify and report on strengths and weaknesses of RCA and B-IBI scores as they relate to
stressor gradients within the group of influenced sites sampled. Make recommendations
regarding optimizing sampling and impact indicator derivation methods for year 2, based on
method resolution, ease of use, and cost – scheduled for February 2005.
Extension plan:. FORREX planning workshop is complete. Extension Plan will be finalized in
December 2004. Extension activities will begin in February, and will include an international
workshop at UBC in March 2005.
Linkages: Funding sources include BC Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection, Weldwood
Canada through Houston Forest Products and two offices of Timber Sales BC
(Terrace and Prince George). In kind contributions include West Fraser Timber through Pacific Inland
Resources, FORREX, Environment Canada, University of Western Ontario, and University of British
Columbia,. Collaboration in the form of reviews of study designs and research products will include staff
of BC Ministries of Forests and Sustainable Resource Management and the University of California,
Berkeley. Extension activities and workshops will include staff from all of these entities as well as from a
wide range of other academic institutions; forest companies NGOs and US government agencies.
Additional collaboration from other aquatic resource sustainability researchers in BC is currently being
sought (UNBC, Okanagan College).