13. Age Classes of the SCNRD
In this map purple represents old growth (more than 250 years old). White represents Alpine Tundra or “No Data”.
Have you noticed that the vast majority of lands in old growth condition are in the Mountain Hemlock Zone?
Low elevation old growth is extremely rare – such as the coastal douglas fir old-growth in Smugglers Cove mentioned in the previous page
As examples for demonstrating landscape unit conditions, let's zoom in on the Chapman and Sechelt LU for a much closer look.
There is a lot of variety of forest cover age class within the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District. Let’s zoom in to take a closer look at the lower Sunshine Coast.
Wow, that’s a lot of variation! Do you see some patterns?
One notable feature is the lack of low elevation old growth forest (over 250 years) anywhere in the region. Especially on the lower Sunshine Coast, located near Mount Elphinstone.
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Glossary of Terms
Biomass: refers to the total amount of organic matter (i.e., anything that comes from plants and animals).
Biogeoclimatic (BEC) Zone: the classification system used to identify an area based on the dominant type of vegetation, climate, and soil characteristics at its climax
Climax Old-Growth: the final stage of a forest stand when left undisturbed by humans
Biogeoclimatic Zone Abbreviations
- AT: Alpine Tundra
- BG: Bunchgrass
- BWBS: Boreal White and Black Spruce
- CDF: Coastal Douglas-Fir
- CWH: Coastal Western Hemlock
- ESSF: Engelmann Spruce - Subalpine Fir
- ICH: Interior Cedar - Hemlock
- IDF: Interior Douglas-Fir
- MH: Mountain Hemlock
- MS: Montane Spruce
- PP: Ponderosa Pine
- SBPS: Sub-Boreal Pine - Spruce
- SBS: Sub-Boreal Spruce
- SWB: Spruce - Willow - Birch
SCNRD Landscape Units
- Bishop
- Brem
- Brittain
- Bunster
- Bute East
- Bute West
- Chapman
- Cortes
- Haslam
- Homathko
- Homfray
- Howe
- Jervis
- Lois
- Narrows
- Quatam