Ecological Modelling
Temperature Sensitive Streams
Ministry of Environment, British Columbia
British Columbia’s Government Action Regulations allow forest managers to designate Temperature Sensitive Streams (TSS) to protect critical fish-bearing streams against the risk of heating due to forestry activities. A designated TSS is considered at high risk of experiencing temperatures hot enough to cause negative impacts on down-stream fish populations / communities. Designation as a TSS will invoke special riparian management practices to minimize changes in stream temperatures. The BC MOE approached ESSA to develop a consistent, reliable framework to identify at-risk streams in BC that would benefit from protection through TSS designation. Potential methods for determining TSS streams and a workplan for implementing these methods were developed at a workshop facilitated by ESSA in 2003 (Marmorek and Alexander 2003). The TSS framework was further refined at a second workshop facilitated by ESSA in 2006 (Nelitz et al. 2008). ESSA subsequently piloted an analytical approach for identifying TSS streams within the B.C. Interior. This approach built on previous studies defining temperature sensitive streams (Nelitz et al. 2007), and integrated models describing regional water temperature patterns and temperature response to forest harvest. ESSA’s analysis represented ‘proof of concept’ of an approach for TSS designation that would be sufficiently supported by available datasets and could eventually be applied as the TSS management framework across the entire province. To date, no streams have been formally designated as TSS in BC as there has been no decision-support tool in place. The BC MOE plans to rectify this and intends to expand the pilot approach developed by ESSA to identify at-risk streams and inform TSS designation of streams requiring protection across British Columbia.
Additional information:
BC Ministry of Environment Temperature Sensitive Streams site