This special investigation looked at karst management on northern Vancouver Island and did not determine that any caves or significant karst features had been damaged or rendered ineffective by forestry activities. However, investigators were only able to assess the portions of karst terrain thatwere readily visible; they did not assess the subterranean portions.
The Board acknowledges that forest management on karst terrain can be challenging, due to identified surface karst features being only a small part of the karst terrain as a whole; and that this is further complicated by legislation that only focuses on caves and very specific karst features.Since much of the karst terrain cannot easily be assessed, the Board believes it is important that forest professionals take a cautious approach when addressing karst features and utilize karst specialists and the best available information when assessing karst features and prescribing management strategies.
In June 2012, the Board conducted a full scope audit of forest planning and practices on International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor) Forest Licences A16850 and A82001 in the North Island-Central Coast District.
This area, often referred to as the Great Bear Rainforest is rugged, remote, and characterized by a wet, windy climate, making forest operations challenging. The area has received international attention due to concerns about resource use in one of the largest temperate rainforests in the world. This attention has led to the collaboration of land users, First Nations and government agencies in the creation of land use orders designed in part to implement ecosystem-based management (EBM), integrating social, economic and ecological needs in the area. This is the first Board audit in the Mid-Coast Timber Supply Area where EBM has been incorporated into planning and practices.
In June 2009, the Board conducted a full-scope compliance audit of forest planning and practices of the British Columbia Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale holders, in the central coast portion of the Seaward-tlasta Business Area.
The audit assessed operational planning, silviculture obligations, fire protection activities, harvesting on 27 cutblocks and over 500 kilometres of road activities.
The Board’s audit fieldwork took place from June 22 to 25, 2009.
The Ministry of Forests and Range (MFR) Compliance and Enforcement (C&E) program is responsible for promoting compliance with, and ensuring enforcement of, the province’s forest legislation. Conducting inspections to determine licensee compliance is a key activity of this program, and is the ministry’s primary source of information to assess compliance.
This investigation examines, at the district level, the number of compliance and enforcement (C&E) inspections completed in 2005 and 2006, and the range of alleged non-compliances identified in inspection reports for six forest districts: North Coast and Campbell River in the Coast Region; Skeena-Stikine and Fort Nelson in the Northern Interior Region; and Kamloops and Chilcotin in the Southern Interior Region.
This is a report on a “limited scope” audit for TFL 6, held by Western Forest Products Inc., in which only harvesting, road activities and associated planning were examined. These activities were assessed for compliance with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), and related regulations.
The Board’s audit fieldwork took place from June 25 to 29, 2007.
