In 2005, the Board reported on the state of access management in BC. The Board identified issues that reduced government’s ability to provide positive benefits and prevent negative effects of resource roads. While there has been some progress in the intervening decade, many of the issues remain.
This special report provides an update to the 2005 report. The Board undertook this report in the interests of advancing the state of access management in British Columbia. Given the continuing and emerging issues with resource roads, it is time to review what has happened in the intervening years since the Board’s 2005 report was published and to summarize the current situation.
The Forest Practices Board participates in appeals to the Forest Appeals Commission under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. These appeals concern administrative penalties (which are issued by government officials, rather than by the courts), remediation orders and government decisions concerning approval or rejection of forest stewardship plans, range stewardship plans, or range use plans. This report summarizes the work of the Forest Practices Board in administrative appeals from April 1, 2009, to December 31, 2014. Previous reports have summarized the periods from 1995 to 2001 and 2002 to 2009.
This special investigation examined how well forest licensees plan and mitigate forestry impacts to timbered natural range barriers. Along with barriers such as steep gullies and large rivers, timbered range barriers are important because they help ensure cattle are contained within certain areas and do not graze where they are not supposed to. Forestry operations, including harvesting and road construction, can reduce the effectiveness of a timbered range barrier.
The investigation examined 10 case studies of range barrier mitigation on the ground and the commitments made in 56 operational plans (referred to as measures) to address forestry impacts to range barriers. In most of the case studies, the investigation found problems in how mitigation was planned and implemented. Most measures in operational plans were also deficient because, as written, they were not likely to lead to effective mitigation and were not verifiable. The investigation report includes three recommendations to improve how range barrier mitigation is planned and implemented.
In 2011, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNR), the Ministry of Environment and 12 heli ski/cat ski operators signed two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) regarding the management of helicopter and snowcat skiing in mountain caribou habitats. The MOUs, being consistent with government’s mountain caribou recovery objectives, include provisions for adapting to caribou encounters, among other things, and reporting this information to FLNR by May 31 each year.
This audit highlights the beneficial aspects of having an industry, with the potential to adversely impact a sensitive wildlife resource, follow agreed upon procedures to manage and minimize wildlife encounters, and to self-report on those encounters.
One way the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) and Wildfire Act (WA) are enforced is through the use of administrative penalties. Administrative penalties provide an efficient way to enforce legislation and promote compliance, if appropriately used. This investigation examined whether administrative penalties:
- are timely;
- remove any financial gain and reflect the statutory considerations such as the gravity and magnitude of the contravention; and
- are made known, so as to promote compliance in the regulated community.
This report looks at penalty determinations made by government officials for contraventions of FRPA, WA and the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, during a five-year period from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2014.
The report makes several recommendations, including that government should establish a publicly-accessible, online database of all penalty determinations under FRPA and WA.
