This guide contains information, condensed for field use, on the identification and interpretation of biogeoclimatic and ecosystematic units in the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone, Northern Drier Maritime Zone (CWHf). The area covered includes most of the low and middle elevation forests of the central part of the Kalum Timber Supply Area and some of the middle elevations of the westernmost Kispiox Timber Supply Area.

This field guide presents a summary of ecological and management informationfor the Interior Cedar - hemlock Zone, Northwestern Transitional Suybzone(ICHg) in the Prince Rupert Forest Region. This guide includes brief explanations of the biogeoclimatic variants, ecosytem unitws, andsilvicultural prescriptions. Ecological information and identification keysare provided to assist the user in determining the ecological units andmaking silvicultural interpretations.

Within the Sub-Boreal Spruce Zone (SBS) of the Prince Rupert Forest region, the forest manager encounters a considerable range of stand types, forest productivities, and stand responses to various kinds of treatment. Such variability arises not only from different stand histories but also from intrinsic differences in the climate, topography, geology, and soils of various forests sites or ecosystems. This Field guide aims to provide a practical, efficient tool to identify decent intrinsically different ecosystem units in the field.

This guide is a technical support document intended to help forestry practitioners collect the information they need to prepare a silvicultural treatment regime and silviculture prescription in accordance with British Columbia Forest Practices Code legislation. It deals primarily with the collection & stratification of site-specific field data. After information on office preparation, stratification, plot establishment, and mapping procedures, the guide presents data collection procedures for silviculture prescription field forms. Copies of forms are included in the appendix. The data cover such matters as site characteristics, understorey & overstorey, soils, riparian & watershed values, soil & fire hazards, silvicultural systems & objectives, harvesting, forest health, stand tending, and forest resource values.