More topics

Forest and Range Evaluation Program wildlife monitoring

Last updated on May 8, 2024

Objectives for wildlife are stated in the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation, Sections 7, 8, 9 and 9.1. Additionally, wildlife habitat area objectives may be established under the Government Actions Regulation.

On this pageFREP Wildlife Monitoring

Priority question

"Do ungulate winter ranges and wildlife habitat areas maintain the habitats, structures and functions necessary to meet the goals of the area and is the amount, quality and distribution of these areas contributing effectively with the surrounding land base (including protected areas and managed land base) to ensure the survival of the species now and over time?"

Initial evaluations focus on mechanisms within FRPA that address the conservation of wildlife habitat for species at risk and ungulate species, including:

  • Ungulate winter range (UWR)
  • Wildlife habitat areas (WHA)
  • Objectives for wildlife habitat areas
  • General wildlife measures

How wildlife is evaluated

The Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Wildlife Resource Values provides a prioritized and standardized approach for evaluating wildlife habitat practices under FRPA. This framework was developed because of the number and variety of species that must be addressed, the rare and elusive nature of these species and the inherent complexity of monitoring wildlife.

Evaluation approach

The wildlife resource value team follows a monitoring and evaluation approach consisting of the following steps:

  1. Identify key monitoring objectives and questions
  2. Develop conceptual model to select indicators
  3. Develop draft monitoring protocol to measure the indicators
  4. Pilot test and finalize monitoring protocol
  5. Collect and analyze the data
  6. Report results and make recommendations

Read a summary of the approach:

Priorities for wildlife monitoring 

Initial priorities for developing monitoring protocols and implementing monitoring projects are determined by ranking species according to the following criteria:

  1. B.C. Conservation Framework priority
  2. Number or hectares of implemented habitat tool (WHA/UWR)
  3. Importance of habitat management tool to species conservation
  4. Uncertainty of the effectiveness of habitat mechanism

Learn more about the procedure for setting monitoring priorities:

Species priorities are then considered in the context of current resources, existing commitments and the feasibility, benefit and urgency of the project.

Current species priorities are:

  • Coastal and Rocky Mountain tailed frog
  • Coastal giant salamander
  • Marbled murrelet
  • Queen Charlotte goshawk
  • American white pelican
  • Ancient murrelet
  • Badger
  • Grizzly bear
  • Gopher snake
  • Western rattlesnake
  • Mountain goat
  • Boreal, northern and mountain caribou

Contact information

Email
FREP@gov.bc.ca