A rancher in the south Cariboo was concerned that West Fraser Mills Ltd. did not mitigate impacts to a natural range barrier when it harvested mountain pine beetle-killed stands on the ranchers’ Crown range tenure.
The Forest and Range Practices Act requires forest licensees to propose and carry-out measures to mitigate loss or impacts to natural range barriers on Crown range tenures. In this case, substantial harvesting occurred across the tenure by multiple licensees. Impacts to some range barriers were mitigated but the parties disagreed on whether one natural range barrier had been impacted by harvesting.
The investigation examined whether West Fraser complied with the measures in its forest stewardship plan and whether any licensees or government considered the cumulative effect of salvage harvesting of mountain pine beetle-killed stands by multiple licensees on natural range barriers across this range tenure.
In May 2015, the owners of the Sunset Village Mobile Home Park, near Clearwater, complained that harvesting by the Wells Gray Community Forest Corporation increased seepage from a cutbank beside the mobile home park threatening several homes. As well the park owners were concerned about loss of access to the Star Lake Road.
The report focusses on the impact of harvesting by the Community Forest on seepage beside the mobile home park, compliance with legal obligations, the consideration and management of risks from water flows and access to the Star Lake Road.
In January 2015, Spirit of the West Adventures, a guided adventure tourism company that has a base camp at Boat Bay, complained that proposed harvesting by TimberWest Forest Corp. would adversely affect their clients’ kayaking experience. The complainant was also concerned that neither TimberWest nor the district manager of the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations, North Island Central Coast District, addressed its concerns about visual quality in a reasonable manner.
Because the concern did not focus on the licensee’s compliance with government’s established visual quality objective, this report focuses on whether TimberWest and the district manager addressed the visual concerns in a reasonable manner.
As part of its 2015 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Forest Licence A19231, held by Western Forest Products Ltd. (WFP) in the Campbell River District, for audit. WFP’s operations are mainly located on Nootka Island, but also extend northward on Vancouver Island to the Zeballos area, with a few outlying areas north of Gold River. Limited access to Nootka Island creates operational challenges for WFP staff, so they contract Nootka Sound Timber Co. Ltd. to manage operations on the island.
The audit identified two notable practices; one is an electronic bridge ledger system and the other is a terrain risk management strategy. WFP kept a very detailed bridge ledger, recording and digitally linking construction, inspection and maintenance documents in one central, easy to follow location. This bridge database is the most user friendly, comprehensive collection of bridge information the Board has seen yet. In addition, WFP developed a terrain risk management strategy that informs and guides its forest road and harvesting activities. It was developed with terrain and hydrological expert assistance, and has been in use by the company since 2013. The Board has not seen this type of strategy elsewhere.
The audit also identified an area requiring improvement related to road construction and maintenance at a fish stream crossing. While constructing a road to access timber WFP installed a box culvert to cross a fish stream (S3). During construction, WFP placed angular rock on the stream banks to stabilize them and to provide a foundation for the culvert. The rock constricts the stream channel and could potentially accelerate stream flow and erode the channel when stream flow is high. A fish biologist assessed the potential impacts on fish and fish habitat and determined the constriction will likely have a minimal impact.
As part of its 2014 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Kamloops field unit portion of BC Timber Sales' (BCTS) Kamloops Business Area for audit, located in the Thompson Rivers District. BCTS operates in 30 operating areas in the Kamloops field unit. They are located within the Thompson River drainages and near the communities of Kamloops, Cache Creek, Chase, Little Fort and Barriere and includes Kamloops, Bonaparte and Adams lakes.
The audit identified one area requiring improvement with respect to a TSL holder maintaining natural drainage along a road and trail it had constructed to access timber. Auditors found that the TSL holder did not maintain natural drainage patterns along the length of the road and trail, causing water to flow down the ditch-line and into the forest, where the water and sediment settled on an old trail located 10-metres upslope from a small fish-bearing stream. After the audit, the TSL holder deactivated the road and rehabilitated the trail to restore natural drainage.
Resident of Lake Country filed a complaint with the Board asserting that Tolko Industries Ltd. overharvested trees in moose ungulate winter range, not meeting the requirements of an Order under the Government Actions Regulation for Ungulate Winter Range #U-8-006 - Okanagan TSA.
The Board conducted a limited scope compliance audit focusing on compliance with the Wildfire Act and Wildfire Regulation of three oil and gas companies operating under master licences to cut in the Lower Beatton Landscape Unit. Auditors examined fire hazard assessment and abatement activities for land clearing activities carried out by Venturion Oil Limited, ARC Resources Limited and Tervita between September 1, 2013, and September 23, 2015.
The audit found that Land clearing for all sites was well done, roads and pipelines were well constructed and fire hazard was abated in a timely and effective manner. However, licensees did not assess the fire hazard before they abated the hazard. Assessing fire hazard is a legal requirement and must be completed regardless of whether the hazard was abated. Consequently, the licensees are non-compliant with legislation but is not considered significant since fire hazards are being abated in an effective and timely manner. As a result, this is an area requiring improvement.
Mountain caribou are at risk in the southern two-thirds of British Columbia. The government has identified habitat loss as one of the key factors in the decline of the caribou population over the past few decades. It has made habitat protection, monitoring and adaptive management high priorities.
As part of its 2007 Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan the BC government issued nine ungulate winter range orders, covering more than two million hectares of Crown land, under the Government Actions Regulation of the Forest and Range Practices Act. These orders contain special restrictions for industrial and commercial recreational activities to protect mountain caribou habitat.
This special investigation examines whether timber removal by industrial and commercial recreational sectors complied with Ungulate Winter Range Order U-3-004, in the Blue River area and comments on the status of habitat monitoring and adaptive management.
The investigation showed that all sectors have complied with Ungulate Winter Range Order U-3-004, and the government continues to develop and implement effectiveness monitoring initiatives as a high priority, so it can adapt management measures, if necessary, to improve mountain caribou recovery efforts. The implementation of effectiveness monitoring work is still in the early stages and it’s not yet possible to say whether habitat protection measures will be meaningful for long term recovery of caribou herds.
District managers for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations are the government decision-makers who are “closest to the ground.” These are the government officials who review and approve resource development on public land.
In recent years, the Forest Practices Board has seen situations arise where forestry development was putting local environmental and community values at risk, yet district managers could do little to affect the development and protect the public interest.
This special report is intended to highlight issues that the Board has observed and to stimulate public discussion of potential solutions. The report is based on previously published Board reports, supplemented by interviews with district managers.
In October 2015, the Forest Practices Board audited the activities of Lowell A. Johnson Consultants Ltd.'s forest licence A70026 in the Skeena Stikine natural resource district. Activities took place approximately 35 kilometres east of Smithers, not far from Babine Mountains Provincial Park.
The audit found good practices - Lowell A. Johnson Consultants Ltd.'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.
