A Review of the Forest Development Planning Process in British Columbia

The Forest Development Planning Special Project is a broad-based review of the current status of forest development planning throughout BC. The purpose of the project is to provide a public report about the state of forest development planning and the resulting forest development plans (FDPs) in the province.

Eighteen forest development plans were randomly selected for review: one FDP from each of three forest districts within each of the six forest regions in the province. Included in the three FDPs from each region is one Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP) plan. The plans were all approved or in effect during 1999. Data were collected through review of the FDP content and review and comment input contained in the FDPs, as well as from interviews. The project did not include field inspection or verification.

The project methods included:

• comparison of each of the 18 FDPs to an FDP content checklist to assess the degree of Code compliance;
• interviews with 361 individuals including the FDP preparers, legislated FDP approvers, review agencies, First Nations, licensed users, interested parties and the public; and
• review of findings from other Board work (compliance audits, investigations, and reviews) related to forest development planning.