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Landscape Aesthetics & Visual Impact Assessment
Visual Resource Management Consultants / K.B. Fairhurst, PhD, RPF, Owner
K.B. (Ken) Fairhurst, PhD, RPF Founder and Owner
K.B. Fairhurst is a Visual Resource Management and Landscape Visual Impact Assessment Specialist continuously involved since 1980: as one of the original landscape foresters in British Columbia's Ministry of Forests until 1996 and running RDI Resource Design Inc ever since. RDI is celebrating our 26th year in 2022!
About Us
Forest Landscape Aesthetics Planning and Visual Impact Assessments are our Specialty
Visual Resource Management and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment have always been key components Forest Landscape Planning, Analysis and Design in BC, USA, UK and further afield. The concept of forest aesthetics was defined by Heinrich von Salisch, a forester who lived in Postel, a hamlet north of Breslau, Silesia, in what was then Germany, in his book Forestasthetik first published in 1885, with revisions in 1902 and 1911 and translated into English by Walter I. Cook and Doris Wehlau (Forest History Society, 2008) and is available at https://foresthistory.org/other-books/forest-aesthetics/. Von Salisch stressed an integrated resource management approach merging the aesthetic with the ecologic when managing the multiple demands on forest and open space resources. The same approach is required when managing urban forest resources.
Now that BC now has a "new" resource management initiative in British Columbia called Forest Landscape Planning, I look forward to continued and increased integration of visual / ecological / First Nations values in the landscape. Though not directly addressed by the panel on Forest Landscape Planning at the 2020 ABCFP AGM, Visual Quality is one of the 11 FRPA values being maintained and likely expanded upon in Forest Landscape Planning.
A new "Visual Impact Assessment Handbook", released in May of this year is available for downloading at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/forestry/visual-resource-mgmt/visual_impact_assessment_handbook.pdf
A broader consideration - Proforestation - keeping intact forests to ecological potential to maximize nature-based biological carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water quality, air quality, flood and erosion control, public health, low-impact recreation, and scenic beauty - Frontiers in Forests and Climate Change: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00027/full
RDI provides practical solutions for meeting Visual Quality Objectives (now VQ Requirements) which are strongly centered in ecological objectives at the forest landscape level.
The Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP), back-linked on our Connections page, offers four excellent Visual Resource Management training modules on their website for members. See our VRM Publications page for the link. Included in Module 4 - "Assessing the Design" is a link to the 2018 draft "Guidance for Forest Professionals Practicing in Visual Resource Management". RDI has provided a link to this important document as well as links to ABCFP Ethical and Professional Conduct Standards to which RDI adheres when conducting Visual Resource Management assessments and reviews (see yellow highlighted links below). KB Fairhurst, RPF, has been a Registrant of the ABCFP since 1981.
With old-growth forests very much a topic of discussion in BC today, the Wilderness Committee has published a sophisticated interactive map of old-growth deferrals, other old-growth, and related development plans covering the entire province which should help inform these discussions.
You are viewing rdi3d.ca which is our primary website. You can still view our original website at rdi3d.com where you will find more links and great pictures.
We provide expert-level professional guidance for mitigating or avoiding visual impacts
RDI has the knowledge and expertise to derive practical solutions to meet Visual Quality Objectives.
RDI's VRM Contracts with the BCTS are set to span 15 continuous great years
RDI was awarded a new VRM contract with BC Timber Sales in February, 2022. The contract extends RDI's specialist involvement with the Kamloops Business Area for up to 3 more years, which will bring us up to 15 continuous years of service with the BCTS KBA in 2025!
Our bid, the lowest of 8 submitted, is fully achievable only by offering comprehensive GIS services and 3-D Visualization technology combined with expert knowledge all under one small roof. Doing what you really enjoy, where you enjoy it, living and working one city block from Stanley Park in Vancouver with all of its trees, wildlife, seawall, beaches, Vancouver Rowing Club, and fresh air, everyday, also helps. See more under the VIA tab.