Fire Hazard Assessment and Abatement
Special Investigation – SIR/24
December 2008
RECOMMENDATIONS
Exemptions
1. The Board recommends that licensees consider requesting exemptions from fire hazard assessment requirements where it can be demonstrated that circumstances, conditions and practices make the request appropriate.
Fire Hazard Assessment Process
2. The Board recommends that a simpler fire hazard and risk assessment process be developed to accurately assess fire hazard and risk under a wide range of field conditions. This process should include a clear definition of what constitutes a “fire hazard.”
Practices
3. The Board recommends that best management practices to abate fire hazard be developed and shared with licensees and professionals.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportWoodlot Salvage Permit Policy and the Effects on Managing Forest Health
Complaint Investigation – IRC/145
September 2008
RECOMMENDATION
The Ministry of Forests and Range should consider removing the December 2006 policy on salvage permits for woodlots, or amending it so that it is consistent with the administrative practices within forest districts. Whichever process is chosen for the administration of blanket salvage permits, it should provide woodlot licensees with as much flexibility as is reasonable to adequately address forest health issues as they arise in the long term.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportWildlife and Cattle Grazing in the East Kootenay
Complaint Investigation – IRC/144
July 2008
RECOMMENDATION
With appropriate consultation and expert advice, the Ministry of Forests and Range and the Ministry of Environment direct reductions of forage use in the East Kootenay to levels sufficient to achieve a positive and continuing trend in grassland ecosystem condition.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportGoshawk Foraging Habitat on the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii
Complaint Investigation – IRC/143
July 2008
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Integrated Land Management Bureau should complete old growth management area (OGMA) spatial establishment in the Rennell Sound Landscape Unit, addressing goshawk foraging habitat to the degree possible within the OGMA selection criteria.
- Government should consider the unique situation of goshawks and foraging habitat on Haida Gwaii and advise the Board of its plans for managing foraging habitat there.
- The goshawk situation on Haida Gwaii appears to be an example of where an adjustment to the one percent limit on timber supply impacts is warranted. Ecosystem-based management objectives from the Land Use Agreement may address foraging habitat, but implementation is 18 months away. In the interim, managers may need flexibility to provide protection within a specific goshawk territory. Government should consider increasing the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy budget, specifically for goshawks on Haida Gwaii, to provide this flexibility when it is needed.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportMcBride Community Forest
Complaint Investigation – IRC/142
July 2008
RECOMMENDATION
The Ministry of Forest and Range’s compliance and enforcement staff contact the complainants to advise them of the outcome of any and all investigations into reported complaints and concerns.
REQUEST
The Board also requests that, as a courtesy, the Ministry of Forests and Range forward their final report regarding the investigation into Edgar’s Road to the Board for review.
Closing Letter
View ReportBiodiversity Conservation during Salvage Logging in the Central Interior of BC
Special Report – SR/35
November 2009
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Government should seize the opportunity that exists to implement a landscape‐level conservation uplift by proceeding without delay to:
a. Clarify government’s objectives for wildlife and biodiversity at the landscape‐level in areas affected by large‐scale salvage operations.
b. Provide leadership in the process of making landscape‐level decisions about what areas to retain during salvage harvesting.
c. Evaluate the achievement of the government’s objectives for wildlife and biodiversity at the landscape level throughout the area of the salvage operations before opportunities are lost to influence the decisions made as a result of recommendation 1b.
2. The Ministry of Forests and Range should:
a. Use all available information to produce a disturbance/depletion map that shows all forest harvesting that has occurred, provides some estimate of the date of the harvest and indicates the source of the information. That map should be updated annually.
b. Take steps necessary to make available maps showing forest cover and forest harvesting on tree farm licences of sufficient detail for strategic level analysis.
c. Implement quality control procedures to ensure complete and accurate reporting of wildlife tree retention areas under Section 86(3)(a)(iv) of the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation.
d. Make explicit the reserve status of all mature forest areas previously reported as being in harvested blocks.
e. Complete the mapping of existing wildlife tree retention areas in harvested blocks where responsibility has reverted to the Crown.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportRange Planning under the Forest and Range Practices Act
Special Investigation – SIR/26
November 2009
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.a) The Board recommends that government explore the option of creating a more streamlined framework for range planning by replacing the RUP with a set of clear practice requirements and creating a defined approach for preparation of RSPs. A number of considerations would have to go into such a framework including:
- What should the criteria be for determining who can follow practice requirements and who can prepare an RSP? Also, to what extent will the holder of an RSP be able to vary from the practice requirements?
- How should the timing and amount of grazing be determined—through range readiness criteria and stubble heights? And who should make the determination?
- How should tenure‐specific issues be identified and addressed?
- Who should have monitoring responsibilities and how should monitoring be set up to efficiently and effectively assess range condition and modify plans and practices to achieve continuous improvement?
1. b) For those agreement holders who prepare RSPs, their content and quality needs improvements, such as ensuring that:
- Tenure‐specific issues or problems are identified, and measures to address them are proposed in the plan.
- Readiness criteria and period of use are specified in such a way that it is clear what is required so that over‐grazing does not result. Issues and actions are measurable and enforceable.
- Designated features are identified on range tenure maps, and measures to protect those features from grazing impacts are proposed where appropriate.
- Adequate monitoring of the range resource is done to enable adaptive management and continuous improvement in range condition.
2. The Board recommends that government ensure that all range plans being considered for approval fully meet the content requirements set out in legislation before they are approved.
3. The Board recommends that government invest in training to ensure agreement holders and range staff understand government’s objectives for range and that agreement holders have sufficient knowledge to comply with the range plan and the range practice requirements.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportLake Koocanusa Campfire Ban and Recreation Issues
Complaint Investigation – IRC/159
November 2009
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government assess the risk to public safety and the environment, in the Lake Koocanusa area, caused by unmanaged recreation use. The assessment should identify and assess problematic areas by issue, and identify the resources needed to implement appropriate management measures, such as recreation orders. The government should designate a lead agency to coordinate the process and its implementation.
- The Board recommends that the Minister of Forests and Range examine the risk and effectiveness of the current system for collection of tickets under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. As part of this examination, the Board suggests that the Minister consider establishing a reciprocal arrangement with Alberta for the collection of fines and, internal to BC, an amendment to link the collection of Wildfire Act and Forest and Range Practices Act fines to driver’s licence renewals.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportGlyphosate Herbicide Impacts
Complaint Investigation – IRC/158
October 2009
REQUEST
The Board requests that MOE advise it of the status of the federal re‐evaluation by September 30, 2010.
Response to Request
View ReportBCTS – Strait of Georgia Business Area, Powell River Business Unit
Audit – ARC/108
July 2009
REQUEST
The Board requests that BCTS provide us with a report by October 31, 2009, on the remedial actions taken with respect to the ongoing maintenance issues on portions of the Potlatch and McNab forest service roads.
Closing Letter
View ReportMeeting Outstanding Silviculture Obligations in the Kotcho Area
Complaint Investigation – IRC/171
November 2010
RECOMMENDATION
Canada Resurgence Development Ltd. (the licensee) advise the Board of the status of the three Kotcho cutblocks, 91‑3, 55‐1, and 53‐1.
DEADLINE
View ReportBCTS – Seaward-tlasta Business Area
Audit – ARC/118
June 2010
REQUEST
The Board acknowledges BCTS’s effort to reduce environmental risk and requests that BCTS provide the
Board with a written update of further progress made to implement its road maintenance strategy, by
October 31, 2010.
Response to Request
View ReportPine Beetle Salvage Logging and Water Flows near Williams Lake, BC
Complaint Investigation – IRC/166
April 2010
RECOMMENDATION
The Board recommends that government consider this case as support for the Board recommendation made in the recent report, Logging and Lakeshore Management near Vanderhoof, FPB/IRC 163, March 2010.
View ReportQuesnel Forest District – Woodlot Licence W1050
Audit – ARC/115
March 2010
REQUEST
The licensee to report back to the Board by December 31, 2010, on the progress made in abating the fire hazard, as well as the status of the outstanding reforestation obligations on the identified cutblock.
Closing Letter
View ReportLogging and Lakeshore Management near Vanderhoof
Complaint Investigation – IRC/163
March 2010
RECOMMENDATION
Integrated Land Management Bureau’s Board of Directors, within the context of its Resource Management Coordination Project, develop a means to deal with direct overlapping interests of tenured land and forest resource users by a process of mediation in which the interests of the parties are effectively identified and a reasonable balance between all interests is struck, consistent with the law, but also responsive to locally specific circumstances.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportRemediation Orders: How Effective Area They?
Special Investigation – SIR/32
November 2011
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Develop guidance for decision‐makers to consider when making remediation orders, so orders are more enforceable.
- Improve and standardize the way in which information about compliance with orders, and the enforcement of orders, is gathered and recorded.
- Publish information annually on the rate of compliance with orders; the number of investigations and penalty determinations made to enforce orders; and, whether the intended outcomes of orders were achieved. To encourage voluntary remediation, the legislation could be amended to enable a licensee to reach a formal agreement with government to remediate the harm caused by a contravention. The Board recommends that government.
- Amend FRPA and the WA to enable government and licensees to cooperatively enter into formal agreements to remediate, as a way to address non‐compliance with legislation, when forest or range activities have resulted in harm to Crown resources.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportReporting the Results of Forestry Activities
Special Investigation – SIR/33
November 2011
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should immediately make legislative, policy and information management system changes required to implement a reporting system for construction and deactivation of roads outside of cutblocks.
- The forest ministry should conduct a needs analysis to evaluate the current status of reporting under section 86 of the FPPR, and institute any design, re-design, improvements and/or simplifications that are warranted.
- The forest ministry should move towards a less expensive, more flexible option for development and maintenance of the reporting system.
- In the near term, until recommendations 2 and 3 are acted upon, the forest ministry should implement a comprehensive quality control system for reports filed under section 86; including changes to RESULTS that would enforce submission of basic legal requirements of the section and they should improve the documentation for RESULTS and enhance training opportunities for users (detailed suggestions are provided in Appendix 3 of report).
Response to Recommendations
View ReportWater Quality in Oyama and Vernon Creek Community Watersheds
Audit – ARC/140
August 2012
RECOMMENDATIONS
- In the audited watersheds, the risk of harmful substances reaching the water supply intake is much higher downstream of the two storage lakes. However, because of the varying risk in watersheds throughout the province, it can be difficult for practitioners to determine the probability that the harmful material will reach the intake.
Government should provide guidance on the implementation of the practice requirement to not cause material that is harmful to human health to be deposited in, or transported to, water that is diverted for human consumption by a licensed waterworks, recognizing the variable risks within and between watersheds, of the harmful material reaching the intake.
- Streams, wetlands and other areas with riparian function require protection from cattle impacts. Government should ensure that all watercourses and areas with riparian function are protected to the extent that range use does not materially impair their function.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportWoodlot Licence W0657 – Fort St. James District
Audit – ARC/141
August 2012
REQUEST
The Board requests that the licensee report back to the Board by December 31, 2012, on the progress made in reporting required information for current and past activities in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Response to Request
View ReportBCTS and Timber Sale Licence Holders – Straight of Georgia Business Area,Campbell River District
Audit – ARC/139
July 2012
RECOMMENDATION
BCTS-CR should assess the potential environmental risk of the activities carried out by the various TSL holders and determine whether a monitoring/remediation strategy is required to minimize impacts which have occurred or to reduce the likelihood of impacts in the future.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportHow Much of British Columbia’s Forest is not Satisfactorily Restocked?
Special Report – SR/42
June 2012
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Confirm its assumptions about how much additional area will be salvage harvested by the forest industry and develop a monitoring system to track whether those assumptions are being borne out;
- Use the best information and projections currently available to conduct a broadly framed cost-benefit analysis of options to restock or not restock areas that may be NSR in the beetle affected region; and
- Carry out the survey and inventory work necessary to inform the future decisions that must be made; particularly those related to determination of the allowable annual cut in the beetle affected region.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportConserving Old Growth Forests in BC
Special Investigation – SIR/36
June 2012
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should develop and maintain a process for tracking OGMA values and incursions that can be updated by licensees or government staff.
- Government should provide appropriate oversight of non-spatial orders (where non-legal OGMAs have not been identified) to ensure that required attributes are available on the land base and, if they are not, that required recruitment stands have been identified.
- Government should create a uniform and consistent way of identifying and recording values within OGMAs and of making the information available to all Crown land tenure holders and agencies that administer those tenures.
- Government should review the conditions of orders to ensure that, if fully exercised, provisions for harvesting or road construction do not materially alter the effectiveness of OGMAs.
- Government should ensure all Crown land tenure holders are required to protect or mitigate the impacts of their activities in OGMAs.
- Government should develop and implement a strategy to assess the effectiveness of spatial and non-spatial old-growth retention.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportMonitoring Licensees’ Compliance with Legislation
Special Investigation – SIR/37
July 2013
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Determine the aggregate rates of forest and range licensees’ compliance with FRPA and the WA by taking into account all instances of non-compliance for an activity, whether or not the result was enforcement action.
- Publish annually the aggregate rates of forest and range licensees’ compliance with FRPA and the WA for specific activities, such as harvesting and roads, ensuring that the rates of compliance are identified separately from the rates of other regulated communities within FLNR’s mandate.
View ReportBurns Lake Specialty Wood Ltd. – Non-Replaceable Forest Licence A66762
Audit – ARC/169
December 2014
REQUEST
Burns Lake Specialty Wood Ltd. report back to the Board by January 31, 2015, on the progress made in completing the outstanding abatement obligations and reporting the required information for current and past abatement activities to government.
Closing Letter
View ReportTimeliness, Penalty Size and Transparency of Penalty Determinations
Special Investigation – SIR/41
October 2014
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should establish a publicly-accessible, online database of all penalty determinations under FRPA and WA. Comment – If there are concerns related to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, these could be addressed through a regulation or statute similar to section 6.1 of the Ministry of Environment Act.
- Government should, by regulation, include the size of the enterprise as a required consideration for decision makers. Comment – This could be done relatively quickly, using the regulation-making authority under section 71(5)(g) of FRPA and section 71 of WA.
- To promote sound decision-making and consistency, the government should consider reducing the number of delegated decision-makers for penalty determinations so that decision-makers would gain more experience.
- Decision makers should consider levying larger penalty amounts, particularly where the gravity and magnitude of the contravention is more than minimal, the person has previous similar contraventions or the contravention is deliberate. Comment – This consideration would be in addition to removing any economic benefit.
- Compliance and enforcement staff should: (a) examine the reasons why so many investigations exceed the policy guidance of one-year maximum and take steps to reduce investigation time; (b) where possible, present evidence to decision makers to enable them to address the issue of economic benefit from contraventions; and (c) consider making more use of agreed statements of facts.
- Decision makers should complete determinations promptly after the opportunity to be heard, and should include the incident or discovery date in their determinations so that timeliness can be monitored.
- Decision makers and compliance and enforcement staff should continue the practice of “de-briefing” after a penalty determination has been made, to discuss opportunities for improvement. The Board is not requesting a response to Recommendations 4 to 7, but will continue to monitor these issues.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportCommunity Watersheds: From Objectives to Results on the Ground
Special Investigation – SIR/40
April 2014
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Strengthening FRPA’s requirements for the protection of drinking water. Government should undertake a review of FRPA’s requirements for the protection of drinking water generally, and in community watersheds specifically. The review should include:
- revising government’s objective for community watersheds with the intent of emphasizing the importance of source water protection;
- revising the water quality practice requirement, in all applicable FRPA regulations, to address the inherent risk to human health associated with sediment;
- clarifying the meaning and scope of cumulative hydrological effects including whether the assessment and management of these effects is appropriate within the confines of FRPA or should be implemented under a different process; and
- examining the appropriate use of specific water quality objectives under the Government Actions Regulation and provisions under the Drinking Water Protection Act, where watershed condition is at risk.
2. Strengthening the content and approval of forest stewardship plans. Government should provide clear direction to delegated decision-makers that ensures results and strategies in FSPs pertaining to the community watershed objective are measurable or verifiable.
3. Ensuring the content of professional assessments is meaningful. The Association of BC Forest Professionals and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC should develop guidance for their members on the appropriate content of a watershed or hydrological assessment. This should include:
- the elements necessary to address government’s objective for community watersheds, including where the surface water source has changed to a groundwater source;
- procedures for considering cumulative hydrological effects at the watershed scale;
- integration of the needs of licensed waterworks; and
- examples of recommendations providing clear direction for implementation.
4. Monitoring the protection of drinking water. Government should expand its monitoring of the effectiveness of forest and range practices in protecting water quality to include water used for drinking both within and outside of community watersheds.
5. Updating the status of community watersheds. Government should undertake a comprehensive review of the status of community watersheds and determine which watersheds warrant designation and require special management.
Responses to Recommendations – Government
Responses to Recommendations – APEGBC and ABCFP
View ReportTimber Harvesting and Potential Impacts to the Duhamel Creek Alluvial Fan
Complaint Investigation – IRC/193
April 2014
RECOMMENDATION
Kalesnikoff Lumber Co. Ltd. (the licensee) update the 2004 watershed assessment using the standard as outlined in Land Management Handbook 61 – Managing Forested Watersheds for Hydrogeomorphic Risks on Fans.
Response to Recommendation (a report)
Closing Letter
View ReportSouth Island District Woodlot – Woodlot Licence W0033
Audit – ARC/163
March 2014
REQUEST
Penelakut notify the Board by April 30, 2014, of the progress made in reporting the required information on current and past activities to government.
Closing Letter
View ReportDistrict Managers’ Authority Over Forest Operations
Special Report – SR/52
December 2015
RECOMMENDATION
Government introduce a regulation to implement Forest Act section 81.1. The regulation should authorize district managers to refuse a cutting permit or road permit if the minister determines that any of the following applies:
- the interests of another tenure holder have not been adequately addressed (if that tenure holder requests district manager intervention).
- there is clearly significant risk to public health or safety;
- there is clearly significant risk to forest resources or values;
- there is likely to be a contravention of legislation; or
Response to Recommendations
View ReportForest Stewardship Plans: Are They Meeting Expectations?
Special Investigation – SIR/44
August 2015
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Government, and its decision-makers, should not extend or approve FSPs that include:
- results, strategies and measures that are unenforceable,
- results or strategies that are not consistent to the extent practicable with government’s objectives, or
- measures that are not reasonable and appropriate.
2. Government should ensure that the public has at least one opportunity every five years for full review and comment on forest stewardship plans.
3. Government should establish a process for public review and comment on planned roads and cutblocks.
4. The ABCFP should ensure that forest professionals, and their employers, are cognizant of the forest professionals’ independent responsibilities regarding:
- results, strategies and measures that are measurable or verifiable,
- results or strategies that are consistent to the extent practicable with government’s objectives, and
- measures that are reasonable and appropriate.
Responses to Recommendations
View ReportLogging Old Forest on TFL 47 – Sonora Island
Complaint Investigation – IRC/196
June 2015
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should ensure that the meaning of the term “old forest” is sufficiently clear to fit with the ecological conditions present in the SCCO area and to align with the intent of EBM.
- Government should ensure that the definitions for red- and blue-listed plant communities are clear for the SCCO area and that effective guidance for identification of these plant communities is available.
- TimberWest should provide the Board with information on how it will interpret the SCCO definition of old forest when conducting forest operations within the SCCO area.
Response to Recommendations - Government
Response to Recommendations - TimberWest
View ReportAccess Management and Resource Roads: 2015 Update
Special Report – SR/49
April 2015
RECOMMENDATIONS
Inventory
1. Government improve the current information on resource roads by providing a website that allows collaborative editing of content (a wiki); both to enable government staff and to engage the public in providing current information about road location and status.
Strategic Management
2. A regulation bringing into force sections 93.1 and 93.3 of the Land Act, as a way to enable setting and varying of access objectives for a prescribed area that could apply to everyone; all industries and the public.
3. Government require timely notification be provided to non-industrial users of resource roads about pending changes in road status (new construction, changes in maintenance and deactivation).
4. The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations maintains some access on forest service roads that serve communities, rural residences and high value recreation areas, but there is no formal mechanism for public input into that program. The Board recommends government address part of this issue by implementing the recommendation of the BC Forest Safety Ombudsman that “the Province should establish a new public highway designation for resource roads that serve as the primary or secondary access roads for communities."
Operational Management
5. Until comprehensive legislation is passed, government address many of the operational issues with minor regulatory changes, by developing clear policies and by promoting and supporting the work of local road management committees.
6. Government complete an inventory of these roads, including rating the risk of negative effects. With respect to road rehabilitation in the forestry context, there is a need for a clear distinction between temporary and permanent access and clear direction that temporary access roads should be rehabilitated.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportMitigation of Forestry Impacts to Natural Range Barriers
Special Investigation – SIR/42
February 2015
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should ensure that measures in operational plans support effective mitigation of impacts to natural range barriers and are verifiable. Alternatively, government could replace the requirement in FRPA to propose and carry out measures with a practice requirement.
- Government should ensure that policies governing the stumpage appraisal system provide licensees and range users with sufficient time to determine if, and to what extent, forest practices have impacted a natural range barrier and the appropriate mitigation that is required.
- Government should ensure that guidance is developed to clarify the purpose and scope of natural range barriers, including where on the range tenure section 48 of FRPA is meant to apply (e.g., pasture or tenure boundaries) and the values the requirement is intended to mitigate.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportDry Creek – Hydrology and Wildlife Concerns About a Large Cutblock
Complaint Investigation – IRC/203
November 2016
RECOMMENDATION
To manage for conservation of biodiversity at the landscape level, Interfor should have a qualified person perform an analysis and develop a plan that ensures future timber harvesting in this landscape unit resembles, both spatially and temporally, the patterns of natural disturbance and considers retention areas and connectivity over the landscape.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportVisual Quality on Alberni Inlet
Special Investigation – SIR/46
September 2016
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government evaluate its approach to management of visual resources. This evaluation should involve not only the forest sector, but also those business sectors reliant on visual resources for their success. The evaluation should include consideration of ways to improve the clarity and enforceability of the existing regulatory framework, including consideration of making visual resource management a practice requirement for all licensees, consistent with the Woodlot Licence Planning and Practices Regulation.
- Government and the Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) review and update guidance and policy documents to ensure consistency of approach and use of best practices in the management of visual resources.
- Government ensure that compliance with, and enforcement of, visual quality objectives is a consistent priority across the province.
Responses to Recommendations
View ReportSelkirk Natural Resource District – Woodlot Licence W0437
Audit – ARC/192
July 2016
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Update the government database (RESULTS) to address the issues identified in the audit.
- Work with district staff to develop a plan to address the silviculture issues identified in the audit.
Responses to Recommendations
View ReportHarvesting Impacts on Natural Range Barriers near Sharpe Lake
Complaint Investigation – IRC/200
March 2016
RECOMMENDATION
The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations should facilitate a process between West Fraser and the complainants to collect and record detailed information on livestock movement to confirm whether a natural range barrier has been breached and to determine the appropriate mitigation required to be implemented by West Fraser. The Board suggests that such monitoring of livestock by the complainants occur over at least a two-year period, commencing at the start of the next grazing season.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportSpecial Report on the Forest and Range Evaluation Program
Special Report – SR/54
November 2017
RECOMMENDATIONS
- FREP should clarify and communicate to all involved what is meant by the measure of “sustainability” it uses, and how that relates to government’s objectives for the values specified in FRPA. This should include the linkage between the impact ratings and sustainability measures and how the information is to be used by licensees and by decision-makers, such as district managers approving forest stewardship plans.
- FREP should review the design of the monitoring program to ensure it can answer the priority evaluation questions and also develop new questions to address emerging information needs. It is essential that FREP is collecting the right data and providing the information that forest managers require today. This review should include consideration of long-term routine monitoring of specific sites in addition to the current approach of random sampling.
- FREP should fully implement effectiveness monitoring for soils, wildlife, wildlife habitat, plant communities, landscape-level biodiversity, and values established under the Government Actions Regulation (e.g., wildlife habitat areas) and land use orders.
- FREP should engage licensees and their professionals in all aspects of the monitoring program. FREP should also directly involve government and industry specialists in the monitoring program on an on-going basis, particularly in researching the causal factors affecting the condition of values. This should help to address industry concerns and build credibility, improving licensee confidence in FREP’s monitoring.
- FLNRO should implement a collaborative process at both the provincial and district levels to facilitate continuous improvement of practices based on FREP’s monitoring results. At the provincial level, government should have a process to implement changes to legislation and/or policy where improvements are not made voluntarily.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportResource Road Construction in Steep Terrain
Special Investigation – SIR/47
September 2017
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Board requests that, in view of the potential consequences and risks, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development review current legislation and regulations, and consider including additional legal requirements related to road construction if roads are located on terrain that is unstable or potentially unstable; on terrain with slopes greater than 60 percent; or on terrain where there are indicators of slope instability.
- The Board requests that the Joint Practices Board of the Association of BC Forest Professionals and the Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia advise it of the steps, planned or taken, to address the professional practice issues identified in this report.
Response to Recommendations – Government
Response to Recommendation – Joint Practices Board of ABCFP/EGBC
View ReportForest Roads and Grizzly Bear Management in the Kettle-Granby Are
Complaint Investigation – IRC/210
August 2017
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should confirm its population recovery objective and develop a strategy that includes a population target for the Kettle-Granby grizzly bear population unit that can be used to guide habitat management and industrial planning decisions.
- Government should consider revising GAR Order 8-373, in light of the recent grizzly bear research in the Kettle-Granby area and the failure to meet the road density targets through voluntary guidance. This reconsideration should weigh the benefits of road density and secure core area measures to government’s recovery objectives for the Kettle-Granby grizzly bear population unit against an informed assessment of any material adverse effects on delivered wood costs.
- Government should provide leadership to reduce the current risks to bears in the KettleGranby area. Government should lead local licensees and BCTS in an operational planning process for roads and timber harvesting in the Kettle-Granby specified area that protects high value bear habitat and addresses access management, such as road deactivation and regulatory road closures, while integrating with timber objectives. The Board’s previous reports on access management may be helpful to this exercise.
- Government should monitor the amount of open road density, secure core area, and grizzly population size and distribution over time and make further adjustments to management and legal requirements if and as needed.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportTimber Salvage Harvesting and Fisher Management in the Nazko Area
Complaint Investigation – IRC/217
October 2018
RECOMMENDATIONS
- As previously recommended by the Board, government must take leadership on landscape level decisions. Given the type of large scale salvage that is continuing to occur in this area, government should ensure that harvesting and retention planning in such salvage scenarios is coordinated between multiple licensees with spatially-explicit legal direction for species at risk and monitoring to ensure that planning is implemented and effective.
- Government should use the legal tools under sections 9, 10, and 11 of the Government Actions Regulation or Section 7 of the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation for species-at-risk to protect remaining important fisher habitats in the Nazko area and manage to restore the local population over time.
Responses to Recommendations
Closing Letter
View ReportWestern Toads and Forest Harvesting near Summit Lake
Complaint Investigation – IRC/214
May 2018
RECOMMENDATION
Government should proceed quickly to designate this species as regionally important wildlife under GAR, which would enable the establishment of wildlife habitat areas and implementation of general wildlife measures for protection of western toad habitat, where such measures are warranted. BCTS should revise its protocol to include consideration of younger occurrences of plant communities.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportManaging At-Risk Plant Communities near Mount Elphinstone Park
Complaint Investigation – IRC/212
January 2018
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should provide legal objectives or guidance for managing the amount and distribution of these plant communities in the TSA.
- Government should update the list of plant communities in the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy.
- BCTS should revise its protocol to include consideration of younger occurrences of plant communities.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportTactical Forest Planning: The Missing Link Between Strategic Planning and Operational Planning in BC
Special Report – SR/58
June 2019
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Board recommends that:
The provincial government amend the Forest and Range Practices Act to include tactical forest planning. The implementation of this planning level should be consistent with five principles:
- Inclusive
- Integrative
- Place based and forward looking
- Embedded in the forest management system
- Continuous improvement
In addition, the mandate of the Forest Practices Board should extend to tactical forest planning.
View ReportRoad Deactivation and Impacts to Fish Habitat near Kelowna
Complaint Investigation – IRC/222
June 2019
RECOMMENDATION
Government should prepare guidance for CEB staff on how to interpret and apply section 46 (1)(b) of FRPA, regarding unforeseen weather conditions leading to damage to the environment.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportAppropriateness of Government’s Compliance & Enforcement Framework for FRPA and the Wildfire Act
Special Investigation – SIR/50
April 2019
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Compliance and Enforcement Branch:
1. Develop an annual compliance and enforcement plan with measurable objectives and specific targets for proactive compliance monitoring as well as for investigating public complaints regarding FRPA and WA. Overall, the levels of compliance monitoring should provide a basis to inform the public about licensees’ compliance with legislation. As part of this process:
a. Develop clear policy and procedures for implementation of the plan and ensure it is communicated to, and understood by, field staff.
b. Develop stronger relationships with clients, stakeholders and partners that focus on identifying mutual needs and ensuring compliance and enforcement is delivered consistently across the province.
c. Take an adaptive approach to reviewing priorities to ensure that emerging issues are not being missed.
2. Develop performance measures that align with the annual plan’s objectives and targets and enable compliance and enforcement to measure achievement of actions aimed at promoting compliance.
3. Report to the public annually on the results of compliance and enforcement efforts, including defensible information on compliance rates, enforcement actions and outcomes.
4. Develop human resources plans and strategies that ensure recruitment, development and support programs result in CEB employing staff with the capability to understand, interpret and enforce the requirements of FRPA and the Wildfire Act.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportFire Hazard Abatement and the Shovel Lake Wildfire
Complaint Investigation – IRC/221
March 2019
RECOMMENDATION
Government review the appropriateness of the Defined Hazard Assessment and Abatement Strategy with particular attention to the deadline by which hazards must be abated, and the amount of fuel that may be left on cutblocks without requiring abatement.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportManagement of Biodiversity in the Prince George Timber Supply Area
Complaint Investigation – IRC/235
December 2020
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Board recommends that government:
- Promptly spatialize old growth management areas where the immediate risks to old forest are the greatest; and
- Review and update the requirements for biodiversity in the PG TSA. This should be consistent with emerging partnerships with First Nations, following a transparent process for public involvement, and considering the potential implications of climate change on forest management.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportReforestation in the Interior Douglas-Fir Subzone: Are Reforestation Choices Meeting Objectives?
Special Investigation – SIR/53
September 2020
RECOMMENDATIONS
- FLNRORD should promptly re-assess the long-term reforestation objectives for the dry IDF, and update them based on the likely consequences of climate change.
- FLNRORD should update reforestation standards to reflect the updated objectives, using a combination of legally required direction and best management practices (guidance) so that the public can be confident that the objectives will be achieved.
The Board requests that government respond to these recommendations by February 1, 2021, indicating:
- that it accepts the recommendations and describes how it is addressing or has addressed them; or
- that it partially accepts the recommendations and provides reasons why; or
- that it is not accepting the recommendations, and provide reasons why.
If government accepts or partially accepts the recommendations, the Board requests that it update the Board on its progress in addressing them within 12 months of publication of this report.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportConserving Fish Habitat under FRPA – Part 2: An Evaluation of Forest and Range Practices on the Ground
Special Investigation – SIR/52
May 2020
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Government should amend FRPA and/or its regulations to ensure that there is a clear and enforceable requirement to minimize sediment entering streams during road construction, maintenance and deactivation.
- Government should update guidance and standards for road construction and maintenance to clearly identify practices needed to minimize sediment entering streams during road construction, deactivation, and on an ongoing basis during road maintenance.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportFollow-up Investigation of Bridge Planning, Design and Construction
Special Investigation – SIR/51
April 2020
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Joint Practices Board of ABCFP and EGBC should review the professional practice guidelines for crossings with an eye towards improving clarity to help their members understand their responsibilities for bridge planning and design.
- The ABCFP should subsequently review its guidance for forest professionals to ensure it is clear and consistent with professional practice guidelines for bridge planning and design.
- The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development confirm how it intends to undertake ongoing compliance monitoring and, if necessary, enforcement, of bridge planning, design and construction.
Response to Recommendations – Government
Response to Recommendations – EGBC and ABCFP
View ReportPlanning for Old Forest on TFL 47 – East Thurlow Island
Complaint Investigation – IRC/230
March 2020
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Board recommends that:
- TimberWest amend its FSP content for old forest and listed plant communities to incorporate the provincial field guide criteria for stand-level assessment of old forest and listed plant communities.
- Government clearly communicate its expectations to FSP holders regarding implementation of the provincial field guide within the Great Bear Rainforest.
Response to Recommendations – Government
Response to Recommendation – Mosaic (formally TimberWest)
View ReportManagement of Forest Recreation in BC
Special Report – SR/59
May 2021
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Improve the information available on forest recreation resources.
- Improve the use of objectives for managing the recreation resource value.
- Incorporate recreation resources values into strategic and tactical planning processes.
View ReportCompliance with Biodiversity Requirements in the Nahmint Watershed
Complaint Investigation – IRC/237
May 2021
RECOMMENDATIONS
- FLNRORD should promptly complete, and implement as legal direction under FRPA, a landscape unit plan for the Nahmint that provides clear objectives for mature and old forest and rare ecosystems, and is consistent with the Nahmint’s designation as a high biodiversity emphasis landscape unit.
- BCTS should amend its 2017 West Coast FSP to be consistent with the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan Higher Level Plan Order.
- BCTS should assess its operations for site level representation of old forest, and ensure that it is not developing or selling timber sales that contain old seral forest in site series that may be below the interim targets of 19 percent in the CWH, and 28 percent in the MH, until a landscape unit plan is approved.
- FLNRORD should examine legislation and identify a mechanism to allow FSPs to be reviewed, and potentially corrected, if they are found not to be consistent with government objectives. This review should consider an option for the Board to appeal an FSP approval to the Forest Appeals Commission when a deficiency is discovered.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportLogging in Fisher Habitat near Prince George, BC
Complaint Investigation – IRC/236
May 2021
RECOMMENDATIONS
- FLNRORD promptly clarify its expectations to licensees for application of best practices for fisher, including application of the fisher tool in the DPG.
- Once FLNRORD clarifies its expectations, Canfor incorporate them into its forest stewardship plan.
- FLNRORD apply the legal provisions in FRPA to identify and conserve the habitat required for fisher in the DPG.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportWildfire Act Determinations
Special Investigations – SIR/54
December 2022
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Ministry of Forests fairly and consistently value merchantable and non-merchantable timber damaged or destroyed by wildfire.
- Government provide decision-makers with the discretion to order a liable person to pay none, some, or all of the government’s fire control costs and damage to government resources and property.
- Government amend the Wildfire Act to make the statutory defences to a contravention described in section 29 of the Wildfire Act available to persons who are subject to allegations made under section 25 of the Wildfire Act for causing or contributing to the start or spread of wildfire.
- Government amend the Wildfire Regulation to make fire hazard abatement a circumstance for not seeking cost recovery.
Response to Recommendations
View ReportManagement of a Spruce Beetle Infestation near Prince George
Complaint Investigation – IRC/245
July 2022
RECOMMENDATION
The ministry should monitor and report annually to the public on BCTS’s and licensees’ performance to determine whether they are meeting government expectations and implementing beetle action plans.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportBCTS & TSL Holders: Skeena Business Area – Terrace Field Unit
Audit - ARC/253
August 2022
RECOMMENDATION
BCTS should identify the actions it will take to improve performance on crossing construction in the Coast Mountains Natural Resource District portion of the BCTS Skeena Business area. Actions may include education of TSL holders and professionals, clarification of standards and requirements, changes to EMS and improved monitoring and enforcement.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportRange Agreements – RAN077302 (grazing) & RAN077303 (hay cutting)
Audit - ARC/251
June 2022
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The range tenure holders prevent further damage this grazing season (2022) to the stream and riparian area of Newa Creek by implementing measures/practices to limit grazing in this sensitive area.
2. The range tenure holders work with the Ministry of Forests to develop a long-term plan to restore Newa Creek to a properly functioning condition.
3. The Ministry of Forests ensure this range tenure holder meets the legal requirements of FRPA in a timely manner.
DEADLINE
- The Board requests that John and Laurie Wilson respond to recommendations 1 and 2 by August 31, 2022, indicating: a) they accept the recommendations and describe how they will address or have addressed them; or b) they partially accept the recommendations and provide reasons why, and describe how they will address or have addressed them; or c) they are not accepting the recommendations, and provide reasons why.
- The Board requests that the Ministry of Forests respond to recommendation 3 by August 31, 2022, indicating: a) they accept the recommendations and describe how they will address or have addressed them; or b) they partially accept the recommendations and provide reasons why, and describe how they will address or have addressed them; or c) they are not accepting the recommendations, and provide reasons.
View ReportCheakamus Community Forest Limited Partnership – CFA K3V
Audit - ARC/249
May 2022
RECOMMENDATION
The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) amend its bylaw 2201 to create a legal requirement for timely and effective hazard abatement following industrial operations that is equivalent or better than the requirements under the Wildfire Act.
Response to Recommendation
View ReportManagement of Habitat for Species at Risk under FRPA
Special Investigation - SIR/55
August 2023
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Update the policy framework for managing habitat of species at risk.
- Provide a transparent process for how and when government makes decisions to balance timber supply and habitat protection.
Response to Recommendations
Closing Letter
View ReportForest and Fire Management in BC: Toward Landscape Resilience
Special Report – SR/61
June 2023
RECOMMENDATION
The provincial government leads the development and implementation of a vision and action plan for landscape resilience that will align policies and programs across all levels of government to enable landscape fire management.
View ReportManagement of Old Forests on Quadra Island
Complaint Investigation – IRC/252
September 2024
RECOMMENDATION
TimberWest amend its FSP to include a measurable or verifiable strategy for the recruitment of old forest that describes how it will ensure the full target amount of old forest is achieved in the Quadra LU.
Response to Recommendation
Closing Letter
View Report