Audit of Forest Planning and Practices: BCTS and Timber Sale Licence Holders – Kamloops Business Area, Kamloops Field Unit

As part of its 2014 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Kamloops field unit portion of BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) Kamloops Business Area for audit, located in the Thompson Rivers District. BCTS operates in 30 operating areas in the Kamloops field unit. They are located within the Thompson River drainages and near the communities of Kamloops, Cache Creek, Chase, Little Fort and Barriere and includes Kamloops, Bonaparte and Adams lakes.

The audit identified one area requiring improvement with respect to a TSL holder maintaining natural drainage along a road and trail it had constructed to access timber. Auditors found that the TSL holder did not maintain natural drainage patterns along the length of the road and trail, causing water to flow down the ditch-line and into the forest, where the water and sediment settled on an old trail located 10-metres upslope from a small fish-bearing stream. After the audit, the TSL holder deactivated the road and rehabilitated the trail to restore natural drainage.