In January 2010, the Forest Practices Board received a complaint from a Colleymount resident who farms, logs, and holds a range and a trapping tenure. The complainant believes that harvesting and road construction have reduced the available amount of wildlife habitat, disrupted the natural movement of animals and that his trapping tenure can no longer support a viable harvest of furbearers.
The investigation considered the following questions:
- Did BCTS comply with legislated requirements for biodiversity management and public consultation when it planned harvesting within the trapline?
- Has harvesting and road building affected the population of furbearers?
British Columbia is engulfed in a province-wide mountain pine beetle outbreak. Salvaging value from the dead pine trees is a government priority. To facilitate the salvage effort, government increased the allowable annual cut (AAC) by 80 percent in the three most severely affected timber supply areas; the Lakes, Prince George and Quesnel TSAs, which are also the study areas for this project.
The increased AAC led to concerns about the stewardship of non-timber values such as wildlife and biodiversity. To accommodate these concerns, the “timber uplift” (AAC increase) was to be accompanied by a “conservation uplift” (an increase in retention of mature forest structure in harvested areas).
An audit of the Burns Lake Community Forest in the Nadina Forest District has determined that the operation complied with forest practices legislation. The audit found generally good practices on the ground, but identified four cutblocks with excessive soil disturbance.
The special investigation compared reforestation efforts in the Quesnel, Nadina and Vanderhoof forest districts with the other forest districts in the Interior of B.C. The reforestation of areas most heavily affected by B.C.’s mountain pine beetle infestation is as prompt, or quicker, than in areas not affected, or affected to a lesser degree. An increase in mixed species planting, as opposed to pure pine plantations were reported along with good reforestation efforts in the three mountain pine beetle districts in these areas.
The Burns Lake Indian Band complied with forest practices legislation on non-replaceable forest licence A72919, while harvesting beetle infested stands located southeast of Burns Lake, in the Nadina Forest District. The band is focused on public awareness and is actively involved to promote Band’s harvest planning and practices among other forest users in this area.
