British Columbia is in the midst of a large-scale salvage program, the likes of which has never been seen. There is nothing sustainable about this harvest; this is a one-time activity initiated by the province to recover value from the trees killed by the mountain pine beetle epidemic and to speed regeneration of affected areas. Once those trees no longer have any economic value, salvage will stop and the province will need to sustainably manage the harvest of the remaining live trees. The issue, simply put, is that the more live trees that are harvested now, the lower the sustainable harvest level will be after the salvage program is finished. A report on the forest industry’s harvesting of beetle-killed timber confirms that industry has been meeting government’s expectations for concentrating harvesting on dead pine trees, but says the harvest of other kinds of trees is increasing more than expected in some areas of the province.
As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2013 compliance audit program, the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence (TSL) holders in the Prince George District portion of the Prince George Business Area were randomly selected for audit.
The audit area falls within the Prince George and Robson Valley Timber Supply Areas (TSA) and includes the communities of Prince George, McBride and Valemount. The TSAs contain flat and rolling terrain in central areas and steeper slopes to the east along the Rocky Mountains. Together they include the Fraser, Nechako, McGregor and Parsnip River systems, as well as numerous lakes.
The audit found, with two exceptions, that the planning and field activities undertaken by the TSL holders complied in all significant respects with the requirements of FRPA, WA and related regulations, as of July 2013. The one exception involved construction of a bridge and the other fire protection.
This is the audit report for woodlot licence W0033, held by Penelakut First Nation (Penelakut). It is 800 hectares in area, all of which is Crown land. The licence is located west of Mount Prevost and south of the Chemainus River. It has an allowable annual cut of 4 200 cubic metres per year. During the two-year audit period, Penelakut harvested about 32 000 cubic metres of timber. Auditors were aware that the licence was in an overcut position and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations is addressing this situation directly with the licensee.
The audit examined Penelakut’s planning, field activities and obligations related to:
The Forest Practices Board is concerned with the growing number of non-compliances showing up in recent audit reports, and is very concerned about how many of those non-compliances involve unsafe bridges. Based on these audit results, the Board undertook a special investigation of bridge planning, design and construction. Over the 2013 field season, the Board examined 216 bridges built on resource roads since January 2010 in five districts around the province.
The investigation focused on safety, protection of the environment and planning. Results were variable across the five districts and amongst builders.
This bulletin explores risk management in BC forest operations, and suggests that it needs to be transparent and fair, while reflecting the public’s interest in the resources. It is the fifth in a series of new Forest Practices Board bulletins describing important issues for forest management identified in recent Board work.
This special investigation looked at karst management on northern Vancouver Island and did not determine that any caves or significant karst features had been damaged or rendered ineffective by forestry activities. However, investigators were only able to assess the portions of karst terrain thatwere readily visible; they did not assess the subterranean portions.
The Board acknowledges that forest management on karst terrain can be challenging, due to identified surface karst features being only a small part of the karst terrain as a whole; and that this is further complicated by legislation that only focuses on caves and very specific karst features.Since much of the karst terrain cannot easily be assessed, the Board believes it is important that forest professionals take a cautious approach when addressing karst features and utilize karst specialists and the best available information when assessing karst features and prescribing management strategies.
This audit examined forest planning and practices on woodlot licence W1632, held by the Halalt First Nation, in the South Island District. The licence is located near Chemainus, west of the Panorama Ridge subdivision and the Island Highway, south of Ladysmith. The licence has an allowable annual cut of 3012 cubic metres per year.
While most planning and practices complied with requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, the auditors found one significant non-compliance.
As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2013 compliance audit program, the BC Timber Sales program and timber sale licence holders in the Coast Mountains Resource District portion of the Skeena Business Area were randomly selected for audit.
The Skeena Business Area within the Coast Mountains Resource District conducts operations in the Kalum, North Coast, Nass, Pacific and Cascadia timber supply areas and Tree Farm Licences 1 and 41. The district includes the communities of Terrace, Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Stewart, New Aiyansh and Port Edward, as well as several villages
In July 2012, the Forest Practices Board received a complaint that a BC Timber Sales (BCTS) logging operation in the Hunaker Creek Watershed had affected the flow of a seasonal stream, which in turn caused damage to the complainant’s property. The complainant also claimed that the logging operations led to contamination of a well and that the BCTS public consultation efforts were inadequate, both for harvest planning and for notification about burning waste wood piles.
The Hunaker Creek Watershed is small—less than 500 hectares in size—with the portion upstream of the complainant’s home covering 289 hectares. The watershed is relatively flat with a slight northern aspect and elevation ranges from 550 to 600 metres above sea level.
As part of its 2013 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board selected Block 1 of Western Forest Product Inc.'s (WFP) Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 39 for audit. Block 1 lies within the Sunshine Coast district, near Powell River.
TFL 39 is made up of five distinct operating areas called blocks. Blocks 2 to 5, which are not part of the audit, are on Vancouver Island and on the mainland coast, northwest of Block 1. WFP manages Block 1 through its Stillwater Forest Operation, which is located in Powell River.
The forest in the southern portion of Block 1 is dominated by second growth Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, red alder and amabilis fir. The northern portion of Block 1 contains mixed species of immature to old forest. WFP harvested about 500 000 cubic metres of timber from Block 1 during the one-year audit period.
