This audit examined the activities of Ka-Bar Resources Limited (Ka-Bar) on 10 cutblocks located northeast of Princeton, near the community of Bankeir in the Cascades District, from September 1, 2012, to September 16, 2013.
In 2006, government created a new category of forest licence to enable harvesting of trees to protect communities from wildfire. Five of Ka-Bar’s forestry licences to cut were issued for that purpose—to protect local residents from wildfire. This is the first time the Board has audited this type of tenure.
This is the Board’s closing letter for the investigation of a complaint about harvesting associated with cutting permit 17 issued to Interwest Timber Ltd. (the licensee) under forest license A80509.
This complaint arose when Interwest planned six cutblocks in the vicinity of Tyaughton Lake. Residents at Tyaughton Lake became aware of this planned activity when they noticed harvest boundaries marked in the forest above their properties in early 2011. The Tyax Ratepayer’s Association was formed in the spring of 2011 to represent the residents and their concerns regarding this development.
As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2011 compliance audit program, Weyerhaeuser Company Limited’s forest licence A18698 in the Cascades forest district was selected for audit. The forest licence lies within the Merritt timber supply area (TSA), and nearby communities include Princeton, Tulameen and Hedley. The audit took place between October 1, 2010 and October 20, 2011.
The Board’s report on a complaint into the activities and decisions of the Wildfire Management Branch during the initial stages of the 2009 Tyaughton Lake fire.
As a part of its 2009 audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Cascades Forest District, located in the Southern Interior Forest Region, for an audit of the appropriateness of government enforcement of forest and range practices legislation.
The audit examined enforcement activities under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act from January 1, 2008, until March 4, 2010. This report describes the results of the audit, which looked at activities such as tracking, inspecting and reporting licensees’ forest activities, and taking action to address non-compliance.
