North Canyon Improvement District
Logging in Spotted Owl Habitat in the Blackwater Creek Valley
In June 2007, the Board received a complaint about a timber sale in the Blackwater Creek Valley near D’Arcy, in the Squamish Forest District. The complainant, the Blackwater stewardship group, is a group of local residents concerned that logging will harm pine mushroom habitat, spotted owl habitat, and water values. The Board reported previously about the complainant’s concerns with pine mushroom and water. This report deals with the concern about spotted owl habitat.
Scientific and public concern for the quality of management of spotted owl habitat is at the root of this complaint. For the balance of habitat conservation and forest harvesting to be improved, government’s spotted owl RMPs need to be much more specific about the habitat characteristics actually required by the spotted owl; the habitat inventory requirements needed to qualify such suitable habitat; and the boundaries of areas that need to be conserved. Providing forest licensees with well-defined habitat requirements, rather than general expectations, would make government guidance more effective.
Logging in Spotted Owl Habitat in the Blackwater Creek Valley
Construction of the McCorkall and Woodpecker Forestry Roads
Closing Letter: Wardner Woodlot
The Forest Practices Board received a complaint about forest practices on a woodlot near Wardner, BC. The Board has investigated and this is its report.
The complaintant identified several concerns with practices on the woodlot:
- that the woodlot licensee was leaving large debris piles in the woodlot;
- that there were water control issues on some roads; and
- that there was considerable debris left on the ground following logging in the woodlot.
Board staff visited the woodlot on November 17, 2008. Also in attendance were the complaintant and Ministry of Forests and Range (MFR) staff from the Rocky Mountain Forest District. The following are the Board’s observations and findings.
Motorcycles, Rare Frogs and Water Shrew Habitat at Kanaka Creek
On April 28, 2008, the Blue Mountain and Kanaka Creek Conservation Group submitted a complaint to the Forest Practices Board. They asserted that rare wildlife species and domestic water sources are being damaged by motorized recreation users in the Kanaka Creek watershed near Maple Ridge, including Kathryn Creek. The Kanaka Creek watershed area has sensitive amphibian habitat containing both red-legged frogs and coastal tailed frogs. The area may also contain Pacific water shrews. All three species are designated as ‘species at risk’ under the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA).
First Nations Consultation on the Maiyoo Keyoh
In February 2007, Canadian Forest Products Ltd. informed the Nak’azdli Indian Band that it planned to salvage forest stands killed by the mountain pine beetle in part of the Fort St. James Forest District. The Ministry of Forests and Range asked to consult with the Band about the potential effects of harvesting, road construction and other forest practices so as to resolve potential impacts to aboriginal interests and, if necessary, accommodate potential infringement.
The Band and members of a First Nations extended family in the area explained that the Band, as a whole, has almost no authority to consult about resources on the family-used area, because it was recognized that the family had traditional authority there, even though family members are also registered band members.
The head of the family in question asked MFR to fully assess, explain and justify what she perceived as potential infringement of the proposed forest practices on the family’s aboriginal interests in the area, and to compensate the family for any infringement.
Closing Letter: Trophy Mountain Pine
In 2007, the Board investigated and reported on a complaint regarding a conflict between a person’s recreational trail tenure and an adjacent woodlot tenure. The same complainant (the licensee) contacted the Board again on April 23, 2008.
In February and March 2008 the licensee had emailed the Ministry of Forests and Range (MFR) requesting information on the status of the woodlot and management plan. He received a response in March that someone would get back to him. When he had received no response from the ministry by April, he contacted the Board. He asked that the Board assist him in getting information and addressing a concern with danger trees along his trails.
