In June 2014, the Forest Practices Board (Board) conducted a full scope audit of forest planning and practices on Carrier Lumber Ltd. (Carrier) Forest Licence (FL) A18158, in the Prince George District. Carrier’s activities were located in 10 different operating areas—six in the Prince George District and four in the Fort St. James District.
The Board conducted a full scope compliance audit, in which all harvesting, roads, silviculture, fire protection activities and associated planning, carried out between June 1, 2012, and June 19, 2014, were included. These activities were assessed for compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), the Wildfire Act (WA) and related regulations
The audit found that the planning and field activities undertaken by Carrier on FL A18158 complied with the requirements of FRPA, WA and related regulations.
As part of the Forest Practices Board's 2013 compliance audit program, the Board selected the Mackenzie District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected Mackenzie Fibre Management Corporation’s (MFMC) forestry licence to cut A87345 (FLTC A87345).
The audit area falls within the Mackenzie Timber Supply Area and includes the community of Mackenzie. The Mackenzie District lies within the Northern Interior Forest Region and covers approximately 6.1 million hectares. Williston Lake, covering approximately 1.5 million hectares, is the dominant geographic feature of the area.
Under FLTC A87345, MFMC has been allocated 4 000 000 cubic metres over a 5-year term, with an annual harvest of 800 000 cubic metres. MFMC prepared operational plans and applied to the government for cutting and road permits, so it can legally develop and harvest timber within a defined area.
During the two-year audit period, MFMC harvested approximately 881 735 cubic metres of timber, primarily to salvage mountain pine beetle infested timber and rehabilitate forest values. There is a licence requirement to harvest stands with a minimum 70 percent pine component based on the gross volume of the stand.
As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2013 compliance audit program, the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence (TSL) holders in the Prince George District portion of the Prince George Business Area were randomly selected for audit.
The audit area falls within the Prince George and Robson Valley Timber Supply Areas (TSA) and includes the communities of Prince George, McBride and Valemount. The TSAs contain flat and rolling terrain in central areas and steeper slopes to the east along the Rocky Mountains. Together they include the Fraser, Nechako, McGregor and Parsnip River systems, as well as numerous lakes.
The audit found, with two exceptions, that the planning and field activities undertaken by the TSL holders complied in all significant respects with the requirements of FRPA, WA and related regulations, as of July 2013. The one exception involved construction of a bridge and the other fire protection.
This is the audit report for woodlot licence W0033, held by Penelakut First Nation (Penelakut). It is 800 hectares in area, all of which is Crown land. The licence is located west of Mount Prevost and south of the Chemainus River. It has an allowable annual cut of 4 200 cubic metres per year. During the two-year audit period, Penelakut harvested about 32 000 cubic metres of timber. Auditors were aware that the licence was in an overcut position and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations is addressing this situation directly with the licensee.
The audit examined Penelakut’s planning, field activities and obligations related to:
