The complaint is about forest development near the south end of Bonaparte Lake, 65 kilometres northwest of Kamloops. An individual complained to the Board that logging and road building is contaminating drinking water, harming fish habitat and reducing water availability during drought periods. The complainant is also concerned that logging is harming biodiversity and damaging moose habitat.
The complaint issues are broad and potentially involve two forest districts and four forest companies. The Board therefore focused the investigation on what the complainant said was the most important issue – the management of water resources at the southwest end of Bonaparte Lake.
The Puggins Forest Service Road (FSR) runs west from Highway 52, approximately 55 kilometres to Puggins Mountain, southwest of Dawson Creek. It provides access to Crown land for outdoor recreationists and the forest and oil and gas industries.
On September 28, 2001, two long-time users of the road discovered that almost 100 waterbars had been constructed across the road, making it impassable to car traffic and difficult for pick-up traffic. These men have used the Puggins FSR without incident for more than 40 years, and they could not understand why the waterbars were required. They contacted the Ministry of Forests Dawson Creek forest district and their Member of the Legislative Assembly, and on October 11, 2001, they filed this complaint with the Forest Practices Board.
In November 2001, the Freeman Brook Community Waterworks Association submitted a complaint about the control of cattle around several small streams near Freeman Brook, northwest of Salmon Arm. The complainant claimed there were multiple contraventions of the range use plan by Grouse Creek Ranch (the licensee). The complainaint also asserted that the Ministry of Forests (MOF) didn’t enforce the requirements of the range use plan. The Board decided to investigate whether the grazing and range practices complied with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and regulations, and whether the requirements of the range use plan were enforced by MOF.
The Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (the complainant) reviewed three of International Forest Products’ (the licensee) 2000-2004 forest development plans (FDPs) for forest licence A19220 in the Sechelt timber supply block. The licensee’s Campbell River Division manages the area under two of those FDPs, the Nelson Island/Chapman and Grey Creek plan and the North Jervis Inlet plan. The licensee’s Sechelt Division manages the area under the third FDP, the South Jervis Inlet plan.
This reports deals with a complaint that large clearcuts, approved to address a mountain pine beetle outbreak, contravened the maximum cutblock size requirements of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and its regulations (the Code).
The complaint was submitted by the Fraser Headwaters Alliance (the complainant) in July 2000. The complainant believes that the district manager approved more harvesting than necessary to address a mountain pine beetle outbreak. The complainant is concerned that the large clearcuts will change hydrological flows and cycles, resulting in increased soil instability, erosion and harm to fish habitat.
