In 1999, residents of the Upper Clearwater Valley and the local forest district agreed that the corridor of private and public land surrounding the road leading to Wells Gray Provincial Park had unique values. The values were documented in guidelines in a local resource use plan. The guidelines were endorsed by the district manager, who was pleased about the trust that had developed between business, government and individuals. Little harvesting occurred in the area until 13 years later, in 2012, when the licensee who operates in the area went to the referral group with harvest plans and explained how the plans followed the guidelines. The referral group disagreed. The licensee tried to get comments on the operational plans but the residents' concerns were more strategic than operational and the residents viewed government as breaking its agreement with them. They complained to the Board that the guidelines were not being followed.
As part of the Forest Practices Board's 2014 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Thompson Rivers Resource District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected four woodlot licences for audit: W0303, W1434, W1591 and W2070. Two of the woodlots are located near the community of Clearwater and two are located just north of Adams Lake.
The individual woodlot licences were selected based on the level of harvest activity between October 2012 and October 2014, and all woodlot licences had harvested greater than 13,000 cubic metres during this period. The audit assessed all timber harvesting, roads, silviculture, protection activities, and associated planning.
The audit found that planning and field activities undertaken by all woodlot licensees complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.
The audit identified one area for improvement related to fire hazard abatement on one of the woodlots.
This is the Board’s closing letter for a complaint filed by a group of residents of the Silver Star Road area, northeast of Vernon.
In March 2014, the Board received a complaint from the residents in the BX Creek watershed regarding the visual impact of BC Timber Sales harvesting across the valley from their homes. The residents were also concerned that they had not been directly consulted prior to the logging and want to ensure they are consulted about future harvesting in the area.
The Forest Practices Board selected West Fraser Mills Limited’s Forest Licence A18694 for audit. In 2010, West Fraser purchased this licence from another licensee. Only West Fraser’s activities and obligations werincluded in this audit. West Fraser administers this licence from its 100 Mile House office. The licence has two operating areas within the Kamloops Timber Supply Area. One operating area is located east of Bonaparte Lake and west of Highway 5, between Logan Lake and Clearwater. The other operating area is north of Vavenby.
In the spring of 2011, water from a trough located above Gilpin Creek, on the Overton-Moody Range Unit near Grand Forks, was released onto an unstable slope. The ground was saturated and a debris slide occurred, sending a significant amount of soil into Gilpin Creek. A local guide-outfitter found the slide and complained to the Forest Practices Board about the location and operation of that trough. The complainant was also concerned that some new fencing, built to block cattle access to the creek, was not wildlife friendly and that it posed a potential danger to deer and wild sheep.
