The Forest Practices Board strategic plan for 2019-2022 will guide our work and help us to focus on priority issues for the next three years.

For its first compliance audit of 2019, the Board selected Pacheedaht Andersen Timber Holdings Limited Partnership's (PATH) tree farm licence (TFL) 61 for audit. PATH is a partnership between Pacheedaht First Nation and Andersen Timber.

TFL 61 is located on southwestern Vancouver Island between Port Renfrew and Jordan River. This was a full scope compliance audit and all activities carried out between May 1, 2017, and May 13, 2019, were eligible for audit.

Planning for forest management in BC is currently missing a critical level between strategic processes for setting direction (such as land use planning) and operational planning. This tactical level of planning is essential if we are going to move towards a desired future forest for all values.

In this special report, the Board has outlined the advantages and principles of tactical forest planning—why we should do it and what it consists of.

In November 2017, the Forest Practices Board received a complaint from a member of the public alleging that culverts at stream crossings on a section of forest road were removed and the channels filled with dirt, causing harm to fish and damage to fish habitat. The complaint also alleges that, despite reporting the situation to government’s compliance and enforcement program several days later, the issue was not investigated until he called back four months later to enquire about whether any action had been taken.

The Board found that damage to fish habitat had occurred and that natural surface drainage patterns were not maintained. The Board also found that government’s enforcement was not appropriate. Although government did investigate the situation, it did not fully consider several important factors, such as the presence of fish and subsequent damage to fish habitat.

As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2018 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Peace Natural Resource District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected five woodlot licenses near Fort St John for audit: W0604, W1780, W1781, W1950 and W2101. This report covers W2101.

W2101 is located approximately 120 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John and about 55 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope.

The audit found that the licensees’ practices mostly complied with FRPA and the WA, but found a significant non-compliance for harvesting within a riparian reserve area.

As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2018 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Peace Natural Resource District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected five woodlot licenses near Fort St John for audit: W0604, W1780, W1781, W1950 and W2101. This report covers W0604, W1780, W1781 and W1950.

Two of the woodlots (W1780 and W1781) were affected by the Beaton Airport Road fire in 2016 and have had significant salvage harvesting.

The audit found that the licensees’ practices complied with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.

In 2015, the Forest Practices Board published a special investigation report on forest stewardship plans (FSPs). The 2015 report findings were substantial, and the recommendations triggered a quick response from government in the form of non-legal direction and training for practitioners and government staff. Since the 2015 report came out, many FSPs have expired and new replacement FSPs have been submitted to the province for approval.

The Board decided to take a look at the status and content of new FSPs to see if its recommendations were being implemented and if the new replacement FSPs were improving. The results of that follow-up work are contained in this report.

Audit announcement of the BCTS and timbe sale licence holders in the Clearwater Field Unit portion of the BCTS Kamloops Business Area.

In September 2018, the Forest Practices Board audited the Small Scale Salvage program in the Cariboo Chilcotin Natural Resource District. Small scale salvage is the harvest of individual trees or small patches of dead or damaged timber.

During the one-year audit period, almost all small scale salvage activity in the district was aimed at addressing a Douglas-fir bark beetle infestation. A small amount of salvage harvesting involved fire-damaged timber.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is British Columbia’s land manager, responsible for stewardship of provincial Crown land, cultural and natural resources. The Compliance and Enforcement Branch (C&E) is the law enforcement arm of the ministry and is responsible for ensuring compliance with natural resource legislation.

In 2013, the Board examined the C&E program and released its “Monitoring Licensees’ Compliance with Legislation” special investigation report. The Board found that the number of inspections of forest and range activities was one-third the level carried out before the expansion of C&E’s mandate. Since that report came out, the C&E program has changed dramatically.

With focus on the Wildfire Act and FRPA, this investigation examines the compliance and enforcement framework that government has established.