As part of its 2012 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board selected Cassiar Forest Corporation (Cassiar) Forest Licence (FL) A64561 and Coast Mountain Hydro Corporation (CMH) Occupant Licences to Cut (OLTC) L46959, L49021 and L49136 for audit.
Both operations are located in the Skeena-Stikine District. Forest Licence A64651 is near the community of Bob Quinn Lake, which is approximately 380 kilometres north of Terrace. CMH’s licences are located approximately 37 kilometres west of Bob Quinn Lake, within the mid reaches of the Iskut River. The licences are for a run-of-river hydroelectric project and a related transmission line right-of-way.
This bulletin explores professional reliance in BC forest management, and suggests that perhaps too many expectations are being placed on it, detracting from a more important analysis and discussion of other elements in our provincial forest management framework. It is the third in a series of five new Forest Practices Board bulletins describing important issues for forest management identified in recent Board work.
This audit examined the activities of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence (TSL) holders in the Fort St. James District.
The communities in this district depend heavily on the forest industry but also rely on resourcessuch as water, fish, and wildlife to provide economic diversity and to meet cultural and tourism needs. At a time when mountain pine beetle infestations and subsequent timber salvage are high, BCTS and TSL holders face many challenges when balancing resource interests with salvage operations.
This is the Board's closing letter for the investigation of a complaint about harvesting associated with cutting permit 17 issued to Interwest Timber Ltd. (the licensee) under forest license A80509.
This complaint arose when Interwest planned six cutblocks in the vicinity of Tyaughton Lake. Residents at Tyaughton Lake became aware of this planned activity when they noticed harvest boundaries marked in the forest above their properties in early 2011. The Tyax Ratepayer's Association was formed in the spring of 2011 to represent the residents and their concerns regarding this development.
In August 2012, the Forest Practices Board (Board) conducted a full scope audit of forest planning and practices on Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 48 near Chetwynd in the Peace District.
This is the second time the Board has audited this TFL. The Board is pleased to see that Canfor is doing a good job meeting its forestry obligations and has met its legislative requirements. However, the Board is concerned about the tremendous increase in other resource extraction activities now taking place on this TFL.
This mix of developments is outside of Canfor’s control and is an issue for government to deal with, as discussed in our bulletin on cumulative effects management,1 but it is important for Canfor to be made aware of all of these other activities so it can continue to manage the TFL appropriately.AC
In June 2012, the Board conducted a full scope audit of forest planning and practices on International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor) Forest Licences A16850 and A82001 in the North Island-Central Coast District.
This area, often referred to as the Great Bear Rainforest is rugged, remote, and characterized by a wet, windy climate, making forest operations challenging. The area has received international attention due to concerns about resource use in one of the largest temperate rainforests in the world. This attention has led to the collaboration of land users, First Nations and government agencies in the creation of land use orders designed in part to implement ecosystem-based management (EBM), integrating social, economic and ecological needs in the area. This is the first Board audit in the Mid-Coast Timber Supply Area where EBM has been incorporated into planning and practices.
This special report takes a look at the results of Board audits under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act over the last seven years, specifically focusing on forestry roads and bridges. For all compliance audits carried out between 2005 and 2011, most roads and bridges met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, but a surprisingly large number did not, especially since 2009.
More than 55 percent of the issues found in audits since 2005 involve roads and bridges. The other 45 percent involve regenerating harvested sites, reporting information to government, and a few findings involved soil disturbance, protection of fish streams and range practices. This report focuses on road and bridge practices because poorly constructed or maintained roads and bridges create the highest risk to the environment and to safety for road users.
In 2005, when government established the original Revelstoke Higher Level Plan Order (RHLPO), it included a provision that it might review the order, should subsequent recovery efforts for caribou adversely affect timber supply. Hence, a 2011 amendment was intended to recover a volume of harvestable timber to compensate for that set aside in 2009 to protect caribou habitat. This investigation determined that the amendment, without altering the area reserved for caribou, reduced and re-arranged the amounts, location and security of old and mature forest required to be protected for biodiversity conservation. Ultimately, though less old and mature forest is now protected, the reduced amount is not substantive relative to the original RHLPO, provided forests that are currently considered inoperable remain unharvested.
This audit examined the activities of 606546 B.C. Ltd. on forest licence A19202 in the Chilliwack Forest District. 606546 B.C. Ltd. purchased this forest licence in 2008, and it also holds other forest licences in the district. Dorman Timber Ltd. owns 606546 B.C. Ltd.
The audit results show that harvesting and wildfire protection activities were satisfactory, but the overall performance of 606546 B.C. Ltd. was not up to the standard required by legislation and expected by the public. The Board found three cases of significant non-compliance:
Also See: Road and Bridge Practices - Board Audit Findings 2005 - 2011
(special report released concurrently)
This bulletin describes the need to manage the cumulative effects of natural resource development in British Columbia. It is one of a series of five Forest Practices Board bulletins describing important issues for forest management identified in recent Board work.
