In February 2012, a member of the public who regularly hikes on the Sunshine Coast Trail near Powell River complained to the Board that Western Forest Products Inc. (WFP, or “the licensee” unless otherwise indicated) is not maintaining the integrity of the trail when harvesting close to it. The complainant asserted that buffers were not protecting visual quality or preventing trees from blowing down onto the trail.
The complainant has shared his concerns with the licensee on numerous occasions and the licensee has responded. The licensee assured the complainant that it is committed to sustainable forest management and local community values including the Sunshine Coast Trail. The complainant continues to feel that the licensee does not seriously consider his concerns.
As part of the Forest Practices Board's 2013 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Quesnel District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected forest licences (FLs) A65926 and A81934, held by Ndazkhot’en Forest Management Ltd. (NFM) and located in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area (TSA), for an audit.
NFM operates on two forest licences within the TSA. Forest Licence A65926 was issued on February 15, 2002, with a term of 15 years and FL A81934 was issued on January 1, 2008, with a term of 5 years. The licences have an allowable annual timber harvest volume of 70 000 cubic metres and 125 000 cubic metres respectively. Most of NFM’s operations are near the village of Nazko, approximately 100 kilometres west of Quesnel. During the two-year audit period, NFM harvested 441 000 cubic metres; 221 000 cubic metres from FL A65926 and 220 000 cubic metres from FL A89134. All harvesting was carried out using ground-based systems, and mountain pine beetle infested lodgepole pine accounted for 88 percent of the harvested volume.
As part of the Forest Practices Board's 2013 compliance audit program, the Board selected the South Island District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected ten woodlot licences for audit. This is the audit report for eight of the woodlot licences: W0011, W0020, W1479, W1526, W1713, W1902, W1903 and W1906. Results for the other two woodlot licences are provided in separate audit reports.
The Board randomly selected the South Island District and, from the population of licences within the forest district, noted that woodlot licences had not been audited in recent years. The individual woodlot licences were selected based on the level of harvest activity occurring between February 2011 and June 2013, and not on past performance or geographic location. The Board selected all woodlot licences with a cut of greater than 5000 cubic metres since February 2011.
This audit examined the activities of Ka-Bar Resources Limited (Ka-Bar) on 10 cutblocks located northeast of Princeton, near the community of Bankeir in the Cascades District, from September 1, 2012, to September 16, 2013.
In 2006, government created a new category of forest licence to enable harvesting of trees to protect communities from wildfire. Five of Ka-Bar's forestry licences to cut were issued for that purpose—to protect local residents from wildfire. This is the first time the Board has audited this type of tenure.
The Board conducted a limited scope compliance audit of BC Hydro’s OLTCs L48655, L48700, L48750 and L48751, in which all fire protection activities carried out between January 1, 2011, and June 5, 2013, were included. These activities and associated planning were assessed for compliance with the Wildfire Act and related regulations.
On December 20, 2012, a Director of the Regional District of Columbia Shuswap complained to the Forest Practices Board about proposed harvesting in an area covered by the Begbie Falls Integrated Resources Plan (BFIRP).
The director was concerned that forestry activities of Stella-Jones (the licensee) were not consistent with the BFIRP; that residents of Revelstoke and the area adjacent to the proposed development did not have adequate opportunity to comment on the harvest proposal; and that the harvesting was proposed within a FireSmart demonstration area, which had just been treated to reduce wildfire risk.
As part of its 2012 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board selected community forest agreement K1H, held by the McBride Community Forest Corporation for audit. A community forest pilot agreement was first issued to MCFC in August 2002, and MCFC was awarded the 25-year long term CFA K1H in 2007.
The McBride community forest surrounds the Village of McBride, which lies in the Robson Valley, about 210 kilometres southeast of Prince George.
Planning and practice requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) and the Wildfire Act (WA) are the minimum legal requirement on public land in British Columbia. The government inspects licensees’ forest and range activities for compliance with these requirements and may take enforcement action for non-compliance. This helps to hold licensees accountable and is an indication that the legislation is working.
In 2010, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO)—the government ministry responsible for monitoring forest and range activities on public land—began inspecting activities other than forest and range as part of its new legislative responsibilities. In this report, the Board looked at the extent to which the government still inspects forest and range activities. It found the number of inspections of forest and range activities for the year ending March 31, 2012 were a third of the number carried out three years earlier.
This report is about a complaint from three residents of the Chilliwack River Valley who were concerned about logging near their subdivision close to Post Creek. One concern was about potential impacts of logging to the sensitive wildlife values in the area.
The area around Post Creek presents challenges for timber harvesting for several reasons: it is adjacent to a rural/residential community, it is close to a provincial park, it is down-slope from designated mountain goat winter range and it is within a designated habitat area for one of Canada’s most endangered species, the spotted owl. The licensee was aware of these challenges and knew the logging would cause public concerns.
Forest licensees in BC are not legally required to consult with the public for every cutblock they plan to harvest, but there are legal requirements for public consultation, which the Board considers to be a minimum. In this case, those legal minimums were actually exceeded; however, the Board has previously expressed the view that licensees should exercise judgment and provide meaningful public involvement tailored to local needs to maintain and build confidence in the management of BC’s forest resources. In the Board’s opinion, Post Creek was a situation that warranted more communication than was provided.
This bulletin explores an important component of a sound planning and management framework for forest management —a process for involving the public, First Nations and stakeholders. This is the fourth in a series of five new Forest Practices Board bulletins describing important issues for forest management identified in recent Board work.
