VICTORIA – Planning and forestry activities on a woodlot in the Quesnel Forest District, in central British Columbia, met all legal requirements, according to an audit report released today.

As part of the Forest Practices Board's 2009 compliance-audit program, the board selected five woodlot licences in the Quesnel Forest District for audit. This report is for the final woodlot licence; results for the other four woodlot licences are provided in separate audit reports.

“While we found two areas requiring improvement related to harvesting waste and regeneration obligations, the findings were not considered significant as they were limited in scale,” said board chair Bruce Fraser. “Since the audit, the licensee burnt some of the harvesting waste and has said he will address the remaining obligations.”

It is important to ensure harvesting waste is removed in a timely fashion as it can be a fire hazard. It is also important to know if previously harvested areas now have enough healthy trees growing on that site. Ensuring post-harvest and reforestation obligations are met on the woodlot is the legal responsibility of the licence-holder, and is necessary for sound forest management.

In this case, the licensee was not aware of all of his obligations, so some were not met. The board has recently published an information bulletin for woodlot licensees describing their obligations.

The audits of woodlot licence W1050 took place in June 2009, and looked at forest practices going back to January 2007 for compliance with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act, Wildfire Act, woodlot licence forest management regulation, and woodlot licence planning and practices regulation.

The audit examined the woodlot licensee’s planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, and silviculture activities and obligations, such as planting harvested sites and achieving free-growing stands of new trees.

The Forest Practices Board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices, reporting its findings and recommendations directly to the public and government.

More information can be obtained by contacting:

Helen Davies
Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 213-4708 / 1-800 994-5899