As part of its 2017 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the North Island Central Coast Natural Resource District as a location for a full scope compliance audit. The Board selected forest licences (FL) A93095 and A93096 and non-replaceable forest licence (NRFL) A75918, held by Gwa’Nak Resources Ltd. for audit.
The activities audited are located approximately 46 kilometres north of Port Hardy, along Belize Inlet and within the Great Bear Rainforest. The audit area is remote and can only be accessed by water or air. Rugged mountains, lakes and numerous inlets, which create operational challenges, characterize the area. It is ecologically complex, supporting a rich and diverse array of wildlife, and contains a mixture of hemlock, balsam and western red cedar tree species.
In May 2016, Sierra Club BC submitted a complaint about logging practices in the East Creek Valley. This valley is just north of Mquqwin / Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park on northwest Vancouver Island. Sierra Club BC (the complainant) was concerned with a wide range of issues related to forest planning and practices.
The Board examined the licensee’s forest operations on the ground in the East Creek Valley, their planning activities relating to the operations, and whether the licensee provided adequate access to site plan information when requested by the complainant.
In January 2015, Spirit of the West Adventures, a guided adventure tourism company that has a base camp at Boat Bay, complained that proposed harvesting by TimberWest Forest Corp. would adversely affect their clients’ kayaking experience. The complainant was also concerned that neither TimberWest nor the district manager of the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations, North Island Central Coast District, addressed its concerns about visual quality in a reasonable manner.
Because the concern did not focus on the licensee’s compliance with government’s established visual quality objective, this report focuses on whether TimberWest and the district manager addressed the visual concerns in a reasonable manner.
As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2014 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Campbell River Resource District as the location for an audit. Within the district, the Board selected Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 47, held by TimberWest Forest Corporation. The audit assessed all timber harvesting, roads, silviculture, protection activities, and associated planning, carried out over two years, commencing in August 2012.
TimberWest conducted its operations within the Campbell River and North Island Central Coast Districts, south-east of Port McNeil and on the islands to the east of Johnstone Strait. These islands are only accessible by water, making operations challenging. The TFL contains natural resource values, including scenic corridors, marine recreation areas, old growth forests, rare plant communities, and cultural sites, requiring special management. During the two-year audit period, the licensee harvested approximately 730 000 cubic metres of timber, in accordance with their forest stewardship plans.
The audit found that planning and field activities undertaken by TimberWest complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.
The audit found an area of improvement related to fire hazard assessments.
