This is the Board’s report on a compliance audit of Forest Licence A20212, held by Tembec Industries Inc. (Tembec). Forest Licence A20212 was formerly held by Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd. During the audit period Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd. was amalgamated with Tembec. The operating area for this licence is located in mountainous terrain in the Kootenay Lake Forest District, primarily north of the city of Creston to the headwaters of the Goat River.
This is the Board’s report on a compliance audit of Non Replaceable Forest Licence A55525 held by Qwa’eet Forest Products Ltd. The licence does not have specific borders within which activities take place; however, the primary operating area is located north and south of the town of Merritt, BC. Qwa’eet also operated on several cutblocks located northeast of Princeton. The operating area for Qwa’eet consists of fairly flat and dry upland plateaus with few riparian features or areas of unstable terrain.
A complaint was filed with the Forest Practices Board in June 1999, asserting that an amendment to a forest development plan to allow harvesting of snow-damaged timber in the Elk Valley did not provide adequate information and did not adequately address forest resources.
This investigation examines a complaint that Atco Lumber Ltd. (the licensee) is routinely cutting immature timber around Nelson, BC without regard to the future value of the timber. The complainant believes that the province should allow young stands to grow older before they are harvested, to ensure a better financial return from public forest lands.
As an example of his concern, the complainant referred specifically to cutblocks harvested near Hall Creek, about 15 kilometres south of Nelson, BC. He said those stands are only 70 years old, and further, that the licensee paid harvesting royalties to the province of only 25 cents per cubic metre. The Board does not have jurisdiction to investigate whether the province received adequate royalties for timber harvesting on Crown land. However, the investigation considers whether harvesting of those stands, given their age, complied with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and its regulations (the Code), and whether the approval of harvesting was appropriate.
In August 1996, the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance (the Alliance), an advocacy group for water-users, filed a complaint with the Forest Practices Board about the district manager’s approvals of operational plans in the Arrow Forest District. The Alliance asserted that the district manager should not have approved operational plans for at least 10 watersheds that supply domestic water because there had been no participation by water licensees in watershed assessments. A watershed assessment is an analytical procedure that helps forest managers anticipate water-related problems that may exist in a watershed. It identifies possible hydrological implications of proposed forestry-related development in a watershed.
The Alliance maintained that water licensees should have had the opportunity to participate in watershed assessments, regardless of whether or not the watersheds were designated as "community watersheds" under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act (the Act). The Board investigated the complaint and acknowledged that there was some basis for such an expectation. However, there was no legal requirement for water-user participation. Nevertheless, the Board concluded that the issue of protection of domestic water supplies remains important, so the Board decided to examine the opportunities available under the Act and related regulations (the Code) for domestic water-users to have input into operational planning. The Board's report deals specifically with the Nelson Forest Region, where the complaint arose.
In July 2000, the Board received a complaint from the Valhalla Wilderness Society - Forest Watch (the complainant) about a road being constructed within the riparian management area of a wetland. Slocan Forest Products Ltd. (the licensee) was constructing road to harvest timber in the Hasty Creek watershed. Hasty Creek supplies domestic water to about 50 residences. Area residents fear that forest practices will damage their water supply, especially if the area's wetlands are not protected.
