As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2018 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Peace Natural Resource District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected five woodlot licenses near Fort St John for audit: W0604, W1780, W1781, W1950 and W2101. This report covers W2101.

W2101 is located approximately 120 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John and about 55 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope.

The audit found that the licensees’ practices mostly complied with FRPA and the WA, but found a significant non-compliance for harvesting within a riparian reserve area.

As part of the Forest Practices Board’s 2018 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Peace Natural Resource District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected five woodlot licenses near Fort St John for audit: W0604, W1780, W1781, W1950 and W2101. This report covers W0604, W1780, W1781 and W1950.

Two of the woodlots (W1780 and W1781) were affected by the Beaton Airport Road fire in 2016 and have had significant salvage harvesting.

The audit found that the licensees’ practices complied with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.

In June 2018, the Board audited BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) forestry operations of the Dawson Creek Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of Peace-Liard Business Area. The audit includes those operations that took place over a two-year period starting in June 2016. The Dawson Creek TSA covers about 2.3 million hectares in Northeastern BC and the main communities within the TSA are Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge, and Hudson’s Hope.

The audit found an area requiring improvement related to BCTS’s bridge maintenance, an unsound practice for two timber sale licence holders for excessive soil disturbance, and an area requiring improvement for timber sale licence holders for not completing hazard assessments. With the exception of these findings, operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations.

In September 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited the Little Prairie Community Forest Inc. in the Peace Forest District. The community forest is a cooperative venture between the District of Chetwynd, the Saulteau First Nation and West Moberly First Nation.

The community forest’s operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations.

This was a full scope compliance audit with a two-year timeframe from September 1, 2014, and September 27, 2016.  Community Forest Agreement K2O is held by the Tumbler Ridge Community Forest Corp.

The operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction, deactivation and maintenance, silviculture, or fire protection activities carried out by Tumbler Ridge Community Forest Corp. complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations. All activities were well done including harvesting fire interface areas adjacent to the town of Tumbler Ridge.