Timber harvesting and road planning activities undertaken by Ainsworth Lumber Company Ltd. on pulp agreement #16 and West Fraser Mills Ltd. on forest licence A20001, in the 100 Mile House Forest District, complied with the forest practices legislation.

The operational planning; timber harvesting; silviculture; road construction, maintenance, and deactivation; and fire protection activities carried out by BCTS and its timber sale licence holders throughout the Queen Charlotte Islands TSA, complied with forest practices legislation.

Atco Lumber Ltd., Kalesnikoff Lumber Co. Ltd., Pope & Talbot Ltd. and Springer Creek Forest Products Ltd.’s forest practices in the Norns and Springer Creek Community Watersheds, located in the Arrow Boundary Forest District, complied with legislative requirements. The companies’ current forest practices are effective in minimizing the impacts to water quality.

The Burns Lake Indian Band complied with forest practices legislation on non-replaceable forest licence A72919, while harvesting beetle infested stands located southeast of Burns Lake, in the Nadina Forest District. The band is focused on public awareness and is actively involved to promote Band’s harvest planning and practices among other forest users in this area.

In summer 2005, the Forest Practices Board conducted a compliance audit of forest planning and practices of the British Columbia Timber Sales (BCTS) program, and timber sale licence holders, in the Rocky Mountain Forest District. BCTS’s operating areas are located in the Invermere and Cranbook Timber Supply Areas.

The Board notes that, with one exception, planning and practices undertaken by BCTS and its timber sale licence holders complied with legislative requirements in all significant respects.

The significant non-compliance noted in the audit relates to sediment from road building and upgrading by the holder of timber sale licence (TSL) A69888—that has, or has the potential to, adversely affect fish streams. Of particular concern is that the TSL holder, independently from BCTS, sought and got approval from the Ministry of Forests and Range for a road use permit to upgrade a long section of forest service road (FSR), adjacent to a fish stream to access a timber sale, but did not follow the permit conditions designed to minimize the amount of sediment entering the stream.