In September 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited the Little Prairie Community Forest Inc. in the Peace Forest District. The community forest is a cooperative venture between the District of Chetwynd, the Saulteau First Nation and West Moberly First Nation.
The community forest’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.
This was a full scope compliance audit with a two-year timeframe from September 1, 2014, and September 27, 2016. Community Forest Agreement K2O is held by the Tumbler Ridge Community Forest Corp.
The operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction, deactivation and maintenance, silviculture, or fire protection activities carried out by Tumbler Ridge Community Forest Corp. complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations. All activities were well done including harvesting fire interface areas adjacent to the town of Tumbler Ridge.
A resident in the Boundary area was concerned that harvesting a large clearcut would negatively impact water and wildlife. The forest licensee, Interfor Corporation, was harvesting a large area within its tree farm license in part to convert low value pine to a more productive stand. The Forest and Range Practices Act sets a minimum cutblock size but allows forest licensees to harvest larger cutblocks, subject to requirements to conserve biological diversity at the landscape level. The effects of these larger clearcuts can be negative or beneficial, depending on aspects of hydrology or species of wildlife.
This report examines whether the forest licensee complied with legislated requirements and is adequately managing risks to water and wildlife.
As part of its 2016 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Vanderhoof Natural Resource District portion of BC Timber Sales' (BCTS) Stuart-Nechako Business Area for audit. The Vanderhoof District covers approximately 1.4 million hectares and contains the communities of Vanderhoof and Fraser Lake. Vanderhoof is surrounded by the Northern Interior Plateau’s low-rolling and upland terrain, forested with spruce and pine. The salvage of mountain pine beetle damaged timber has been a priority during the last several years. BCTS manages its activities from its office in Vanderhoof, where staff prepares operational plans, auctions timber sales and issues timber sale licences and road permits.
The audit found that the BCTS and timber sale licensees’ practices complied with FRPA and the WA, but also found that several licensees’ fire hazard assessment practices require improvement. While licensees are abating the fire hazard as a standard practice, they cannot demonstrate that they have been diligent in assessing the hazard, which is a non-compliance with legislation.
In 2008, a Forest Practices Board complaint investigation found that cattle and elk were over-grazing rangelands in the East Kootenay and the Board recommended that government reduce forage use. A follow-up investigation by the Board in 2015 reported that actions undertaken by government since 2008 had successfully reduced elk populations and grazing allocations for cattle amidst ongoing efforts to restore areas of grassland and open forest lost to forest ingrowth and encroachment. This special report evaluates the effectiveness of actions implemented by government and others to increase the area and quality of rangelands in the East Kootenay. While progress is being made through the collaborative efforts of government and a dedicated group of stakeholders, a number of issues threaten the sustainability of rangelands over the longer term. These include ongoing encroachment and ingrowth of forests, spread of invasive plants, site disturbance due to industrial activities and off-road recreational vehicles and localized over-grazing by cattle and elk.
A local resident in the Okanagan-Shuswap was concerned about the maintenance of the Cooke Creek Forest Service Road (FSR) near Dale Lake. In May 2014, Dale Lake, near Enderby, overflowed and caused a debris flood down Cooke Creek. The complainant believed that the debris flood could have been prevented if district staff had acted on his warnings about maintenance of the culverts at the outlet of the lake. He felt that more attention should be paid to road maintenance.
This report examines whether BC Timber Sales and the district complied with requirements for proper design and maintenance of the stream crossing structures on the Cooke Creek FSR at Dale Lake and whether they responded adequately to the complainant’s concerns.
In July 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited Canadian Forest Products Limited’s (Canfor) Tree Farm Licence 14 in the Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District. Tree Farm Licence 14 is located south of Golden and northwest of Invermere in the East Kootenays.
Canfor’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 that Canfor’s fire hazard assessment procedures need improvement.
In April 2015, Board staff noticed logging near Port Alberni that appeared to exceed the government’s visual quality objectives for the area. After making some initial enquiries, the Board decided to investigate the issue—looking into compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act, the licensee’s consideration of visual impacts, and appropriateness of government’s enforcement.
The Board found issues with the licensee’s management and government’s enforcement of visual quality, and makes recommendations to the government and the Association of BC Forest Professionals.
In May 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited the activities of SN Forestry Operations Ltd.'s Forestry Licence to Cut A82551 in the Sea to Sky Natural Resource District. SN Forestry is owned by the Squamish Nation, and the licence permits it to harvest 592 800 cubic metres of timber from within the boundaries of Tree Farm Licence 38.
The results were good – SN Forestry'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.
This bulletin explores why fire hazard assessment is important; recent Board audit findings; and provides some FAQs.
A fire hazard assessment considers the risk of a fire starting, the hazard associated with the industrial activity, the difficulty in controlling a fire and the potential threat to values.
