On June 3, 1999, the Board received a complaint from a couple who own property near Armstrong, in the Vernon Forest District. The complainants’ land is on the slope of Mt. Rose Swanson and on the flat valley bottom below.
The complainants suspect that logging, which took place in 1996 on Crown land upslope of their 26 hectare hayfield, caused part of the field to become saturated with water, making it inaccessible to farm equipment. Consequently, the complainants lost hay crops in 1997 and 1998 and were forced to reduce their herd of cows, due to the crop loss.
On June 11, 1999, the Board received a complaint from a member of a family that operates a registered trapline near Babine Lake. Babine Lake is about 60 kilometres north of Burns Lake, in the Lakes Forest District.
The complainant asserted that forest practices damaged fish habitat, culturally modified trees, trails, cultural heritage values and traplines near Babine Lake. The complainant also stated that a barge operated by Babine Forest Products (the licensee) routinely spills oil and gas into Babine Lake.
The complaint issues were very broad, so the complaint analyst met with the complainant early in the investigation to define specific issues.
On January 31 and on February 6 and 7 of 1997, Northwood Pulp and Timber Limited (the licensee) advertised an opportunity for the public to review and comment on the 1997-2001 Forest Development Plan for Forest Licence A18165 near the McGregor River, 120 kilometres east of Prince George. The plan was available for viewing during a five-day open house at the company’s Prince George office from February 24 to 28, and written comments from the public were to be accepted until April 1, 1997.
The licensee submitted the development plan to the Prince George District office of the Ministry of Forests on March 3, 1997, but added additional information and re-submitted the plan on April 16, 1997. On May 30, the district manager noted that the plan did not contain information required under the Code and instructed the licensee to resubmit the plan in full when the content requirements were met. The following information was missing: classification of streams, wetlands and lakes as well as terrain stability, heritage resources, watershed assessments, visual impacts, wildlife, green-up and roads.
On July 2, 1999, the Board received a complaint from a Powell River resident about a trail leading to Hurtado Point, near Lund, in the Sunshine Coast Forest District.
Section 102 of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act (the Act) requires a person to obtain the consent of the district manager before constructing, rehabilitating or maintaining a trail on Crown land. The complainant was aware that a group of people had recently improved the trail to Hurtado Point without approval from the district manager, and that the district was investigating this possible contravention of the Code. Based on a newspaper article and discussions with those who cleared the trail, the complainant felt that the work done on the trail was minor, and did not require the consent of the district manager. Ministry of Forests district staff disagreed. The complaint stated that the Ministry of Forests appeared to be misinterpreting section 102
The complaint was filed by an environmental organization, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, which was concerned that harvesting in the Upper Bridge River area would impact on an adjacent wilderness area. The Sierra Legal Defence Fund frequently acted on behalf of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. For convenience, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and members of both organizations are collectively referred to as “the complainant” in this report.
In mid-August 1996, the complainant reviewed a series of operational planning documents for an area in Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd.’s (the licensee) Upper Bridge River operating area northwest of Gold Bridge, BC. The complainant also did a field inspection of forest practices in the area. The complainant was concerned that operational plans and forest practices did not comply with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and related regulations.
