Managing Recreation Conflicts in a Forest Development Plan

On August 13, 1998, the Forest Practices Board received a complaint from a mountaineering school operator in the Bulkley/Cassiar Forest District. The complainant was concerned about impacts of proposed forest practices on his business and on an historic trail. The complainant asserted that Pacific Inland Resources (the licensee) failed to recognize and plan for recreation under the 1998-2003 Forest Development Plan for Forest Licences A16830, A46054, A57077 and Timber Sale Licence A16858.

The complaint had two parts. The first part asserts that the licensee did not locate the Moricetown-Cronin trail correctly on forest development plan maps and that proposed cutblocks were too close to, or on, the trail. The parties to the complaint met several times and resolved this issue. The Board encourages settlement of complaints at the local level and is pleased that the parties resolved this part of the complaint.

The rest of this report concerns the second part of the complaint, involving the same forest development plan, but in a different area. The licensee proposed roads and cutblocks in the upper Blunt Creek area that would allow snowmobile access to the alpine.