April 21, 2008. PRESS RELEASE

Trench Society welcomes BC Government support

Directors of the Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society (the Trench Society) thank Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman for once again acknowledging the importance of ecosystem restoration.

“Restoration of our grasslands and open forests creates a lasting benefit for plant communities, wildlife, livestock and people living in the Rocky Mountain Trench,” Society Coordinator Dan Murphy said in accepting a $100,000 Ministry of Forests and Range grant from East Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett and Rocky Mountain Forest District Manager Tony Wideski.

“It is gratifying that the provincial government recognizes these benefits by continuing to support the restoration program in such a tangible way.”

The Trench Society is an alliance of hunting, ranching, environmental and wildlife organizations dedicated to restoration of grassland and open forest ecosystems in the East Kootenay and Upper Columbia Valley.

The Society is also a member of the Rocky Mountain Trench Ecosystem Restoration Steering Committee, a stakeholder group representing government, the public and industry that directs the restoration program.

Ministry of Forests and Range grants to the Trench Society are used by the Steering Committee to fund restoration operations such as prescribed burns. Grants also help fund scientific research and monitoring, digital mapping and public education activities.

MLA Bennett is one of the ecosystem restoration program’s strongest advocates.

“The restoration work we are doing in the Rocky Mountain Trench is causing other Interior grassland areas of the province to sit up and take notice,” Bennett said.

“The East Kootenay, and particularly the Trench Society, should be proud of its leadership. Now, thanks to Minister Coleman, we have a stable, funded provincial ER program and we can work at this forest ingrowth problem in the Trench with the confidence of knowing we will have the resources to continue the work year after year.”  

A restoration program for fire-maintained ecosystems was initiated in the East Kootenay in the 1990s by government agencies, grassroots stakeholders, and the ranching and forest industries. The program is now considered one of the most progressive in North America, and in 2006 the BC government launched a province-wide restoration program based on the cooperative approach developed in the East Kootenay.

The goal of the Trench program is to restore the ecological potential of grasslands and open forests, often referred to as rangeland.

The restoration process begins with mapping potential open range and open forest habitat, followed by development of stand management prescriptions to determine how identified areas should be treated in the short and long term. Other values accommodated in the planning process include First Nations, watersheds, range licences, forest licences, recreational tenures and wildlife trees, to name a few.

Treatment may include timber harvest, slashing and spacing to achieve desired tree densities. Periodic prescribed burning or further spacing is used to maintain desired tree densities and rejuvenate historic bunchgrass and shrub communities.

Restoration of ecosystems in the dry Interior Douglas-fir and Ponderosa pine zones of the Trench produces many benefits.

These include rejuvenation of bunchgrasses and shrubs used by elk, deer, bighorn sheep and domestic cattle. Many rare or vulnerable wildlife species also depend on open forests and grasslands. Forest health is improved when conifers are well spaced, and the risk of severe wildfire is reduced when dense stands are removed.