Indicator 6.5.1 - Proportion of participants who are satisfied with public involvement processes in forest management in Canada
core indicator


Forest management is primarily a provincial/territorial responsibility. The provincial and territorial governments use several inventory systems, including the management unit inventory and valuation (or operational) cruising,⁴ to provide data to support their management responsibilities. Increasing demands are also being placed on resource inventories to supply information about values beyond timber volumes and forest cover types. As a result, inventories are becoming more comprehensive, using a wider range of technologies to collect information for a broader range of topics than was previously acquired.

This indicator measures the geographic coverage of inventories, the number of different attributes they measure, the frequency with which they are updated or areas reinventoried, and their reliability. Jurisdictions responsible for maintaining forest resources inventories were contacted to obtain inventory information that could be collated and summarized to provide an indicator of the status of Canada's forests. The focus of this report is primarily on the forest management unit inventory, which is the most prevalent and important inventory system for forest management, and the National Forest Inventory.

The management unit inventory provides detailed maps of the majority of the forest area under management from the interpretation of medium-scale (e.g., 1:20 000) aerial photography and estimates of volume, biomass, and other detailed data from field samples. The inventory is based on a set of detailed standards and procedures. The maps and field samples are inspected to ensure the inventory data meets a set of predefined quality specifications. Agents of the Crown, who have a mandate to manage the forest resources, and the public participating in discussion fora use the inventory for decision making.

Inventory coverage is the geographic area covered by the provincial/territorial forest management inventories. The inventory coverage ranges from 3% in the Northwest Territories to 100% in the Maritime provinces (Table 6.5a). The inventory coverage does not extend into the northern areas of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, or the Territories, nor does it extend into the prairie farm areas of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Manitoba.

Table 6.5a Extent and characteristics of the inventory cycle and the statistical reliability of forest management inventories in Canada.

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Jurisdiction	Inventory areaa		Inventory cycle				Statistical reliability
	Millions ha	% of total land area	Typeb	Number	Period (yr)	Update frequency (yr)	Target	Attributec	Achieved
PE	0.6	100	Periodic	4	10	10	±1% at 95%	GMV	±0.2% at 95%
NS	5.5	100	Continual		10	Annual
NB	7.8	100	Continual		10	Variable
QC	59.2	39	Continual	3	10	Annual	±5% at 95% ±1% at 95%	GMV by sample unit GMV by province	Yes
ON northern southern	52.7 8.3	57d	Continual Periodic	3	20 20	Annual	nae na
MB	38.7	61	Periodic	2	25	15-25	na
SK	35.5	54	Continual	1	na	5	na
AB	30.8	47f	Periodic	1		Periodic	na
BC crown private	74.3 7.5	79 8	Periodic Periodic		30 30	2-5 2-5	±10% at 95%	NMV NMV	5-20% Unknown
YT	28.0	58	Periodic	1			na
NT	4.4	3	Periodic	1	10-20	None	na
National Forest Inventory	998.5	100	CFI	1	10	Annual	na

^a Many provinces also have large areas where a satellite-based, extensive, reconnaissance-level inventory has been undertaken.
^b Continual: a percentage of the area is inventoried annually; periodic: inventory conducted over a short period of time and the entire procedure is repeated periodically; CFI (continuous forest inventory design): permanent sample plots are repeatedly remeasured.
^c GMV: gross merchantable volume; NMV: net merchantable volume.
^d Includes both northern and southern Ontario.
^e na: Not available.
^f Forest inventory covers 88% of the "Green Area" of Alberta (the portion of Alberta set aside in 1948 as provincial crown forest lands managed for multiple uses including forest production, water, recreation, fish and wildlife, grazing, and industrial development).

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Frequency of the inventory describes the cycle in which the inventory is conducted or updated. Management unit inventories are conducted on either a continual cycle, where a percentage of the province is inventoried annually, or on a periodic cycle, where the inventory is conducted over a period of time and the entire procedure is repeated periodically. The cycles range from 10 to 30 years depending on the province. Update frequency varies from once annually to once every 10 years and, in some cases, the update frequency coincides with the new inventory. Finally, update frequency is usually guided by the amount of disturbance activity.

Reliability is a measure of the statistical confidence associated with the inventory. It is typically described with a sampling error (at a given probability level) and measurement error statements. Only a few provincial forest management unit inventories have been designed to achieve a certain target sampling error and probability level. In Quebec, for instance, the objective is to estimate the gross merchantable volume (GMV) in an inventory unit to within ±5%, 19 times out of 20. In Prince Edward Island, the objective is to estimate the GMV to within ±1%, 19 times out of 20. In both cases, the objectives were achieved. In British Columbia, the objective of the vegetation inventory is to estimate net merchantable volume in an inventory unit to within ±10%, 19 times out of 20. This target is also met.

Most other provincial inventories are map-based inventories where the classification is checked against the measurement specifications in a quality assurance process. In Ontario and Quebec, operational cruising is sometimes performed to provide more detailed information than supplied by the management level inventory, including relevant statistical data. In New Brunswick, to assess whether the target is achieved, predicted levels of harvest are compared with scaled harvest, while in British Columbia the reliability of the map-based inventory was assessed at the unit level using independent audit plot data. This audit indicated that the reliability associated with the inventory was within 5-20%, 19 times out of 20.

In all inventories, measurement errors are expected to be negligible. This is achieved by establishing detailed standards and procedures, setting measurement specifications for each attribute, focusing on quality control through training, and assuring the quality by auditing the results.

The common inventory attributes used to characterize the forest include land cover, species composition, age, development stage, height, crown closure, density, basal area, volume, nutrient regime, moisture regime, and productivity. Each successive cycle of inventory incorporates broader area coverage, improvements in standards and procedures, and additional attributes to address a full range of values related to sustainable management.

Some attributes that are interpreted from aerial photographs in some jurisdictions will be compiled in other jurisdictions on the basis of ground plots or models. For example, volume may be interpreted or may be calculated from volume tables or yield functions. Other attributes such as disturbance and treatment information, plantation species, ownership, and land use come from management records or auxiliary map information.

Inventory attributes are compiled to generate a suite of reporting attributes and in most cases statements of reliability are not associated with these attributes. Common reports include:
area by land cover classification,
area and volume of forest,
area and volume of forest by forest type,
area and volume of forest type by ownership,
area and volume of forest type by age class,
area and volume of forest type by site class,
volume by species or species group,
volume by species and age class,
volume by species and size, and
area and severity of disturbance.

For the last 20 years, Canada's National Forest Inventory (CanFI) has been a compilation of inventory data from across the country. The CanFI approach to national inventory is cost-effective in that it is based on existing data. The process is well established and accepted by the provincial and territorial governments. The approach provides detailed information about Canada's forests that is consistent with forest management information. The inventory also contains location-specific information on the characteristics and quantity of the forest resource, thus providing mapping and spatial analysis capabilities. However, by design, some CanFI data could be up to 25 years old and data standards could be variable. Furthermore, CanFI lacks information on the nature and rate of changes to the resource, does not reflect the current state of the forests, and cannot be used as a satisfactory baseline to monitor change.

To support increasing demands for additional information on forest resource attributes, and for policy development as well as national and international reporting, forest inventories must provide:

• data that is timely, reflecting the state of the resource at a defined time;
• data types with uniform definitions, collected to the same quality standards;
• data that reflects consistent and complete area coverage; and
• data suited for accurate assessment of trends (change).

To address these limitations in CanFI, a new National Forest Inventory (NFI) was developed and is being implemented to monitor Canada's progress in meeting a commitment toward sustainable forest management.⁵ It will also help satisfy requirements for national and international reporting (Gillis et al. 2005). The purpose of the new inventory is to assess and monitor the extent, state, and sustainable development of Canada's forests in a timely and accurate manner. The NFI ensures complete coverage by encompassing all of Canada. By collecting and reporting information to a set of uniform standards, the NFI allows for consistent reporting across the country on the extent and state of Canada's land base to establish a baseline of the current state of forest resources and how they are changing over time. It will also provide the data required to report on many of the indicators of the CCFM C&I framework.

Remote sensing data will be used to compliment the sample plot-based NFI. Other national projects, such as Earth Observation for Sustainable Development of Forests (EOSD)⁶ will provide remote sensing products to assist in the monitoring of the sustainable development of Canada's forests (Wulder et al. 2003). EOSD is designed to provide, at regular intervals, complete satellite coverage of Canada's forest areas. The image data will be used to generate land cover and biomass information and to estimate change in these features to enhance the plot-based NFI design.

The initial focus of the reporting will be on the key NFI attributes that will each be accompanied by a statement of precision. Web-based Internet access is being developed to allow users to query the database and generate reports. The NFI is designed as a continuous forest inventory. All plots will be remeasured at regular intervals to provide an estimation of changes over time, and a statement of statistical reliability will also accompany estimates of change for each of the key NFI attributes.

⁴ The systematic measurement of a forested area designed to estimate.the volume of timber it contains.. Cruise data can also include an assessment of habitat conditions, environmentally sensitive areas, and a tally of important features that have to be considered in an integrated resource management plan. (Dictionary of Natural Resource Management, J. and K. Dunster, UBC Press, 1996, p. 79)

⁵ http://www.nfi.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/

⁶ http://www.eosd.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.html