On June 21, 1999, the Board received a complaint from the David Suzuki Foundation (the complainant) about the approval of a 1999-2003 forest development plan (FDP) prepared by International Forest Products (the licensee) for Forest Licence A16841 in the North Coast Forest District. The complainant asked the Board to undertake an administrative review of the forest development plan approval. The Board dealt with part of the complaint by undertaking an administrative review. The administrative review addressed the licensee changing category I cutblocks to proposed category A cutblocks without changing the designation on the FDP maps. However, three remaining issues were not handled in the administrative review and are the topic of this complaint investigation.
Number of Cutblocks in a Forest Development Plan on the North Coast of BC
West Fraser Mills Ltd. – FL A16827
Audit of Timber Harvesting and Road Construction, Maintenance and Deactivation: West Fraser Mills Ltd. – FL A16827
This is the Board’s report on a compliance audit of Forest Licence A16827, held by West Fraser Mills Ltd. (West Fraser). Operations on Forest Licence A16827 are carried out by both Houston Forest Products Company and West Fraser Mills Ltd. The operating area for this licence is located in the Morice Forest District, primarily north and south of the town of Houston.
Audit of Timber Harvesting and Road Construction, Maintenance and Deactivation: Skeena Cellulose Inc. – FL A16829
This is the Board’s report on a compliance audit of Forest Licence A16829, held by Skeena Cellulose Inc. (Skeena). The operating area for this licence is located in the Bulkley Forest District, primarily northwest of the town of Smithers.
Skeena Cellulose Inc. – FL A16829
Forest Practices and Planning in the Sustut Valley North of Smithers, BC
This special investigation examines a series of complaints made by the An Dsap Wilp Society (the society), a group of First Nations people who use forest land 200 kilometres north of Smithers, in north-central BC. Society members live near Bear Lake at various seasons of the year. They claim traditional territories in the Sustut, Minaret, Bird Flat and Bear Lake areas where they currently hunt, fish and trap.
Two licensees, Takla Track and Timber Ltd. and Rustad Bros. & Co. Ltd. (the licensees), began timber harvesting in 1995 in the Bear Lake/Sustut area. In 1993 and 1994 they constructed local roads and an airstrip, using a BC Railway line for access to the operating area. Society members believed that their interests were adversely affected by the licensees’ forest practices. They remain concerned about the impacts of timber harvesting and road construction on forest resources in the area.
Forest Practices and Planning in the Sustut Valley
Managing Recreation Conflicts in a Forest Development Plan
On August 13, 1998, the Forest Practices Board received a complaint from a mountaineering school operator in the Bulkley/Cassiar Forest District. The complainant was concerned about impacts of proposed forest practices on his business and on an historic trail. The complainant asserted that Pacific Inland Resources (the licensee) failed to recognize and plan for recreation under the 1998-2003 Forest Development Plan for Forest Licences A16830, A46054, A57077 and Timber Sale Licence A16858.
The complaint had two parts. The first part asserts that the licensee did not locate the Moricetown-Cronin trail correctly on forest development plan maps and that proposed cutblocks were too close to, or on, the trail. The parties to the complaint met several times and resolved this issue. The Board encourages settlement of complaints at the local level and is pleased that the parties resolved this part of the complaint.
The rest of this report concerns the second part of the complaint, involving the same forest development plan, but in a different area. The licensee proposed roads and cutblocks in the upper Blunt Creek area that would allow snowmobile access to the alpine.
