This complaint is about the Schroeder Creek forest access road built by Kalesnikoff Lumber Company Limited (the licensee) in the Kootenay Lakes Forest District. Valhalla Wilderness Society (the complainant) asked the Board to investigate six landslides, or failures, that occurred along the road, including planning, general road building practices, and the Ministry of Forests' enforcement of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and its regulations (the Code) for the road.
The Board decided to investigate whether the licensee met the Code's requirements for planning, road building and enforcement for only the sections of the road that include two landslides. The ministry's determinations for the four other failures are being reviewed through the administrative review and appeal process under the Forest Practices Code.
The Board randomly chosen 2002 audit of TFL 23, held by Pope & Talbot Ltd. (P&T), enabled the Board to develop and test its auditing procedures for a certified company. P&T’s operations under TFL 23 are certified under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).
This is the Board’s report on the full scope compliance audit of TFL 23 held by Pope & Talbot Ltd. The primary operating area of TFL 23 is located between Castlegar in the south, and Revelstoke in the north.
In July 2002, a Christina Lake resident submitted a complaint about the control of cattle within a range adjacent to the Kettle River, east of Grand Forks. A Grand Forks resident (the licensee) grazes cattle on the range, which is known locally as the Oxbow-Boothman range. The complainaint claimed there have been multiple contraventions of the range use plan (RUP) for the area. The complainant maintained that the licensee did not follow the grazing schedule, allowed too many cattle on the range, did not maintain the irrigation system, and allowed cattle within the riparian area adjacent to the Kettle River. The complainant also asserted that the Ministry of Forests failed to enforce the requirements of the RUP.
On October 17, 2002, a complaint was submitted to the Board about planned road deactivation in the Tangier River and Woolsey Creek watersheds. Deactivation plans included imminent removal of a bridge over the Tangier River. The complainant is a trapper, and he said the deactivation would prevent him from safely accessing his registered trap line. The complainant believed that the Ministry of Forests had not given him enough time to move his trap line cabin across the bridge so that it would be accessible after the bridge was removed.
