Board to Audit Dunkley Lumber Ltd.

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Dunkley Lumber Ltd. near Strathnaver beginning next week.

The audit will look at Dunkley Lumber’s operations on Tree Farm Licence 53, about 80 kilometres south of Prince George and 40 kilometres north of Quesnel, just east of Highway 97. TFL 53 consists of about 87,600 hectares east of the Fraser River, in the Prince George forest district.

Auditors will examine a wide range of forest practices carried out over the past year, including logging; road construction, maintenance and deactivation; forest protection; silviculture; and planning. This tree farm licence contains a severe mountain pine beetle infestation, which has recently prompted the chief forester to increase the allowable annual cut by 109 per cent.

The Forest Practices Board carries out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the province’s forest practices legislation. Dunkley Lumber’s forest licence was chosen randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.

The five-member audit team is composed of four professional foresters and one chartered accountant. They will be in the licence area examining plans, cutblocks and roads for about one week, beginning June 16. Once the fieldwork is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will have a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and the government.

The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that reports to the public about compliance with forest practices legislation and the achievement of its intent. The board’s main roles are:

• Auditing forest practices of government and licence holders on public lands.
• Auditing government enforcement of the code.
• Investigating public complaints.
• Undertaking special investigations of code-related forestry issues.
• Participating in administrative reviews and appeals.
• Providing reports on board activities, findings and recommendations.

Jacqueline Waldorf
Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 356-1586 / 1 800 994-5899