VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board released its 2016/17 annual report today, which summarizes the board’s work over the past year and highlights current projects underway.
“We produce this annual report to show what the board sees in forest practices and forest management performance, what the board is finding in our work, and to give the public an idea of the state of stewardship of our forests and where improvement can be made,” said board chair, Tim Ryan. “The board’s work illustrates a picture of forest stewardship today.”
During 2016/17, the board published 28 reports, carried out 10 new audits, received 13 new complaints from the public, and started work on two new special projects. Topics reported on this year range from maintenance of a forest service road, to protection of visual quality, to maintenance of grassland ecosystems. The board also issued a bulletin regarding fire hazard assessments to raise forest industry awareness of this common finding in board audits.
The annual report also highlights responses to recommendations from previous reports, including Forest Stewardship Plans: Are They Meeting Expectations? and District Managers’ Authority Over Forest Operations.
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.
Contact:
Darlene Oman, Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 213-4705 / 1 800 994-5899
