This special investigation looked at the level of soil disturbance caused by timber harvesting operations in a sample area of the Quesnel and Vanderhoof Forest Districts. Soil disturbance is important because it is an indicator of potential damage to soil and water. The investigation reviewed the activities of four major forest licensees - Canfor and West Fraser in both districts, Tolko in the Quesnel district, L&M Lumber in the Vanderhoof district - and British Columbia Timber Sales and its timber sale licence-holders in both districts. Forest practices conducted between July 1, 2006, and July 31, 2008 were investigated.

In June 2009, the Board conducted a compliance audit of forest planning and practices of the British Columbia Timber Sales’ (BCTS) program and timber sale licence (TSL) holders, in the Skeena Business Area’s Hazelton operations, located within the Skeena Stikine Forest District.

The audit assessed more than 80 cutblocks and over 700 kilometres of road activities and obligations, as well as operational planning by BCTS.

As part of its 2008 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Skeena Stikine Forest District as the location of a limited scope compliance audit. The Board chose to conduct an audit with a focus on forest service roads (FSRs) that are solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Forest and Range’s (MFR’s) district manager, as well as riparian area management and fish passage at fish stream crossings along these FSRs. After initiating the audit, it was determined that the district manager was solely responsible for only wilderness FSRs within the audit area.

An FSR is a road, including bridges and major culverts, built and/or maintained by the MFR. The FSRs that are solely the responsibility of the district manager are not normally assessed in Board audits of forest companies or of British Columbia Timber Sales.

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.

Lodgepole pine is an abundant species in the interior of British Columbia (BC) and is important to the region’s forest economy. It is present in 9 of the 12 biogeoclimatic zones, occurring in 6 million hectares of forest across the region. Pine supplies as much as 80 percent of the annual timber harvest in some central interior forest districts and comprises 25 percent of the province’s timber supply.

The audit found the licensees operating in the Hallett landscape unit to be in compliance, in all significant respects, with the Forest Practices Code’s planning and practices requirements as they relate to MPB management within the audit area for operational planning; harvesting; road construction, maintenance and deactivation; site preparation; planting; and fire hazard abatement, for activities between September 1, 2002 and September 26, 2003.