the salmon river watershed - Learning Centre

Grazing Lands
The drier biogeoclimatic subzones of the watershed including grasslands, dry forest and
interface ecosystems, as well as, high elevation areas recently timber harvested have various
livestock grazing tenures (leases, licenses, and permits). This tenured area covers
approximately two thirds of the watershed. The Fraser River Environmentally Sustainable Task
Force (1991) described the watershed as having a livestock density of greater than two animal
units per square kilometre.
The following are estimated approximate levels of “animal unit months” of livestock grazing per
range unit in 1995 within the watershed supplied by the Ministry of Forests (Figure 3)
Salmon Unit RU3059 May 15 to Sept. 30 711 AUM’s
Charcoal Unit RU3053 May 15 to Sept. 30 182 AUM’s
Fly Hills RU3054 May 15 to Sept. 30 608 AUM’s
Estelkwalan Unit RU3329 May 15 to Oct. 15 2,180 AUM’s
Falkland Unit RU3312 May 15 to Sept. 30 1,576 AUM’s
Six Mile Unit RU3237 May 15 to Sept. 30 605 AUM’s
Woods Unit RU3325 May 15 to Sept. 30 2,436 AUM’s
Stephens Unit RU3326 May 15 to Oct. 15 1,724 AUM’s
Chapperon North
(Area A) Unit RU3234 July 1 to Oct. 23 656 AUM’s
(Area B) Unit RU3234 July 1 to Oct. 23 750 AUM’s
Peterhope Unit RU3063 Spring and Fall 1,823 AUM’s*
TOTAL
WATERSHED AUM’S 13,251 AUM’S
(* portion in watershed only)
Anticipated Trends
Although there is some opportunity for expansion of existing farm and ranch production units
within the watershed it is minor due to a lack of land resource area with agricultural capability
and/or the water required to achieve irrigated productivity levels.
It is anticipated that the current distribution, mix and range of agricultural uses within the
watershed will remain relatively stable for the foreseeable future with some increased
emphasis on speciality and exotic crops and commodities.
With respect to the Agricultural Land Reserve, the trend appears to be to firmly maintain the
ALR and only allow exclusion or subdivision under very special circumstances.
Implications For Agricultural Sustainability
Although opportunity for significant expansion of agriculture within the watershed may be
limited due to increasing competition for resources, the existing diversity of uses could be
expected to vary with market demand and production economics. However, a common need
for all watershed agriculture is to use and sustain the land and water resources for crop and
animal production in cooperation with other watershed land and water users. The long term
sustainable existence of the agricultural industry within the watershed is dependent upon
protecting the resource base (soil health, water quantity and quality and general range
ecosystem sustainability).
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