Road and Bridge Practices – Board Audit Findings 2005 – 2011: Special Report

This special report takes a look at the results of Board audits under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act over the last seven years, specifically focusing on forestry roads and bridges. For all compliance audits carried out between 2005 and 2011, most roads and bridges met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, but a surprisingly large number did not, especially since 2009.

More than 55 percent of the issues found in audits since 2005 involve roads and bridges. The other 45 percent involve regenerating harvested sites, reporting information to government, and a few findings involved soil disturbance, protection of fish streams and range practices. This report focuses on road and bridge practices because poorly constructed or maintained roads and bridges create the highest risk to the environment and to safety for road users.