In May 2016, Sierra Club BC submitted a complaint about logging practices in the East Creek Valley. This valley is just north of Mquqwin / Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park on northwest Vancouver Island. Sierra Club BC (the complainant) was concerned with a wide range of issues related to forest planning and practices.
The Board examined the licensee’s forest operations on the ground in the East Creek Valley, their planning activities relating to the operations, and whether the licensee provided adequate access to site plan information when requested by the complainant.
In September 2016, the Forest Practices Board audited range planning and practices on five agreements for grazing in the Thompson Rivers Natural Resource District. This is the audit report for two of those agreements, RAN077495 and RAN077496. These two overlapping tenures are located north of Chase. Results for the other three range agreements are reported separately. The audit involved assessing compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act, including the required content of range use plans and whether agreement holders met practice requirements, such as protection of riparian areas, upland areas, licensed waterworks and maintenance of range developments.
The audit identified a significant finding regarding water quality and an area requiring improvement related to riparian areas.
In September 2016, the Forest Practices Board audited range planning and practices on five agreements for grazing in the Thompson Rivers Natural Resource District. This is the audit report for two of those agreements, RAN077532 located north of Barriere and RAN077579 located north of Kamloops. Results for the other three range agreements are reported separately. The audit involved assessing compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act, including the required content of range use plans and whether agreement holders met practice requirements such as protection of riparian areas, upland areas, licensed waterworks and maintenance of range developments.
Both range agreement holders passed the audit with one having an area for improvement regarding documenting changes to the grazing schedule and the other had two areas for improvement related to grazing schedules and riparian areas.
In August 2016, the Board received a complaint asserting that a timber sale licence holder (TSL holder) under the BC Timber Sales program had removed portions of a fence on the complainant’s range agreement area, within the 100 Mile House Natural Resource District, to accommodate road access for timber harvesting. The complainant alleged that the actions of the TSL holder put their livestock at risk and that the TSL holder did not obtain the required authorizations from the district manager to remove portions of the fence.
In December 2016, the district manager issued a policy on implementation of section 51 of the Forest and Range Practices Act. The complainant is satisfied with the new district policy on range developments and with BC Timber Sales’ commitment to ensure the fence repairs meet ministry standards.
As part of its 2016 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Coast Mountain Resource District for the location of a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected Forest Licence (FL) A16884, held by Canada Resurgence Developments Ltd. (CRD) for audit.
CRD’s operations under FL A16884 are near Bowser Lake and north in the Bell Irving watershed. Most of the operations are adjacent to Highway 37N (the Stewart–Cassiar Highway) and the Bell-Irving River north of Meziadin Junction. Operations are primarily on gentle ground. FL A16884 has an allowable annual cut of 291 712 cubic metres and harvested approximately 142 930 cubic metres during the two-year audit period.
The audit identified two significant non-compliances related to structure installation and silviculture obligations. CRD constructed two structures over seven metres in length instead of two, four metre long log culverts. Consequently, the structures are considered log stringer bridges which are subject to various requirements of the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation (FPPR). Because CRD was planning to install a log culvert, they did not comply with the FPPR. In addition, CRD did not update the forest cover information and could not confirm that free growing was achieved on five cutblocks.
CRD has stated that it will remove the structures in 2017 and will inspect all new wooden box culvert installation. CRD also stated that it will complete free-growing surveys and update forest cover information for the five cutblocks in 2017.
An experienced forest worker was concerned that Tolko had not removed all the trees it felled to trap Douglas-fir bark beetle before the insects emerged and that some of its harvest practices increased the infestation level in ungulate winter range in the Upper Salmon River area.
Douglas-fir bark beetle is normally present at low levels in ecosystems containing mature Douglas-fir but can increase to epidemic levels given the right conditions. Good timber harvest practices can control an epidemic but poor practices can create or intensify an outbreak.
This report examines Tolko’s management of the Douglas-fir bark beetle outbreak, its harvest practices, and if it complied with requirements for ungulate winter range.
In October 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited non-replaceable forest licences (NRFL) A81942 and A84952, held by Norbord Inc. in the 100 Mile House Natural Resource District. The 100 Mile House Natural Resource District is located in south-central BC and includes the communities of 100 Mile House and Clinton.
Norbord’s operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations. The audit noted an area for improvement with Norbord’s fire hazard assessment procedures.
In August 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited the activities of Husby 's Forest Licence A16869 in the Haida Gwaii Natural Resource District. Husby is part of the Husby Group, a privately held forest products company with operations mainly located on Haida Gwaii. The licence permits it to harvest 192,044 cubic metres of timber each year within the district.
Husby passed the audit with operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities complying in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations. However, because Husby did not complete fire hazard assessments on time, the audit found an area requiring improvement for fire hazard assessments.
As part of its 2016 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Okanagan-Shuswap Natural Resources District portion of BC Timber Sales' (BCTS) Okanagan–Columbia Business Area for a full scope compliance audit. The district stretches from the United States border in the south, to the Seymour River/Shuswap Lake in the north and presents many challenges for forestry managers. Notable features include the cities of Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton, and Adams, Shuswap, Mabel and Okanagan Lakes, and the Upper Seymour, Eagle and Similkameen Rivers. BCTS operates in 52 operating areas throughout the district.
The audit identified one area requiring improvement with respect to TSL holders not completing fire hazard assessments, and one significant non-compliance related to minor silviculture reporting errors on almost 20 percent of the cutblocks reviewed. However, BCTS is addressing these issues. It has altered its internal procedures to require that the timber sales licensees assesses, records and submits their fire hazard assessment forms to BCTS. BCTS is also implementing a monthly review of its silviculture data to compare and correct any deficiencies between its internal database and the government database.
In October 2016, the Forest Practices Board audited Chu Cho Industries LP (Chu Cho) NRFL A62375 in the Mackenzie Forest District. The Tsay Keh Dene First Nation own Chu Cho. The license expired on August 15, 2015. This was a full scope compliance audit with a two-year time frame between October 1, 2014, and October 4, 2016.
The operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction, deactivation and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities carried out by Chu Cho complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations.
