This is the Board’s closing letter for the investigation of a complaint about harvesting associated with cutting permit 17 issued to Interwest Timber Ltd. (the licensee) under forest license A80509.
This complaint arose when Interwest planned six cutblocks in the vicinity of Tyaughton Lake. Residents at Tyaughton Lake became aware of this planned activity when they noticed harvest boundaries marked in the forest above their properties in early 2011. The Tyax Ratepayer’s Association was formed in the spring of 2011 to represent the residents and their concerns regarding this development.
In 2005, when government established the original Revelstoke Higher Level Plan Order (RHLPO), it included a provision that it might review the order, should subsequent recovery efforts for caribou adversely affect timber supply. Hence, a 2011 amendment was intended to recover a volume of harvestable timber to compensate for that set aside in 2009 to protect caribou habitat. This investigation determined that the amendment, without altering the area reserved for caribou, reduced and re-arranged the amounts, location and security of old and mature forest required to be protected for biodiversity conservation. Ultimately, though less old and mature forest is now protected, the reduced amount is not substantive relative to the original RHLPO, provided forests that are currently considered inoperable remain unharvested.
This investigation looked at a landslide into Laird Creek that caused damage to the water supply of about 100 homes. The slide was caused by a combination of factors, including logging by the BC Timber Sales program that occurred in the area prior to 2007.
The Board investigation found that BCTS’s operational and technical practices were sound. Overall the Board finds that BCTS acted in a responsible manner after the slide event, though there was no legislated requirement for it to do so. BCTS conducted appropriate assessments; implemented the recommendations; stabilized the road and slide path; helped water users get their systems running; and, ensured water users had access to potable water.
This case brings to light broader issues regarding public policy and decision making, including potential gaps in regulation that go well beyond this specific instance, and the Board will examine those concerns separately, drawing on the results of this and other recent audits and investigations.
Closing Letter from Laird Creek Investigation in 2005
A rancher complained that, during the summers of 2009 and 2010, his ranch southwest of Williams Lake had run short of water. The complainant asserted that salvage logging upstream of the ranch had caused earlier, faster and greater runoff during spring, which removed water from the system, and ultimately led to summer water shortages. Mountain pine beetle attacked the pine-dominated watershed in the mid-2000s, killing much of the mature pine. Extensive salvage harvesting began in 2006.
The Board found that the reduced summer streamflows at the ranch were likely the result of depleted soil moisture and groundwater following a series of dry years, but salvage harvesting may have added to the problem by increasing the potential for accelerated runoff.
In April 2011, a retired agrologist from Dawson Creek filed a complaint concerning the harvesting of mature aspen stands in the Peace River area.
Aspen stands naturally regenerate by suckering from live roots that remain after harvesting. However, within three to five years, regenerated aspen stands are so dense that they can become unusable for cattle grazing. Forage availability and grazing opportunities on areas harvested gradually starts to improve after 30 years of self-thinning.
The complainant stated that Louisiana Pacific Canada Ltd (LP) was not implementing recommended mitigation strategies contained in the Draft Guidelines for Timber and Range Mitigation and, as a result, the impact on many grazing tenures (including his own) in the South Peace area, and within LP’s operating area, was greater than it should be.
