Board to audit Tembec Industries Ltd.

Victoria – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Tembec Industries Ltd. (formerly Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd.) near Creston this summer.

The audit will look at Tembec’s operations on Forest Licence A20212 in the Kootenay Lake forest district along Highway 3 east of Creston.

This is a full-scope audit that will look at operational planning, harvesting, roads, silviculture and fire protection activities.

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

The seven-member audit team of professional foresters, biologists, chartered accountants and geo-scientists will be in the licence area for about 10 days beginning July 23. Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will be given a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.

To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 41 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two audits were qualified, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.

The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.

The board’s main roles under the Forest Practices Code 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.

Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899