This is the Board’s report on the area-based audit of government’s enforcement of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and related regulations (the Code), and forest planning and practices in the eastern portion of the South Island Forest District.

This report deals with a complaint that the amount of harvesting in a forest development plan (FDP) was insufficient to meet the requirements of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and its regulations (the Code). On February 13, 2002, a resident of Ucluelet (the complainant) submitted a complaint to the Forest Practices Board. The complainant asserted that a company's 2001-2005 FDP did not meet the requirements of the Code. Specifically:

1. the FDP did not propose five years' worth of timber harvesting as required by the Code;
2. the licensee did not address the comments that the complainant had provided during the public review and comment period; and
3. the statutory decision-makers did not give adequate consideration to social and economic factors when approving the plan.

The Carmanah Forestry Society submitted a complaint to the Forest Practices Board on February 27, 2001, about the 2000-2004 forest development plan (FDP) for the Cowichan operating area under the South Island Forest District Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP). On March 22, 2001, the Sierra Club of British Columbia (Sierra Club) asked the Board to pursue an administrative review of the same FDP. The Board declined that request, but decided to investigate the Sierra Club's concerns as part of this complaint investigation. The Board also received a complaint from Shawnigan Lake Watershed Watch in May 2001, part of which concerned a similar issue. The Board decided to include the relevant part of that complaint in this investigation.

The Forest Practices Board has released its report on a compliance audit of Forest Licence A52027 (FL A52027) held by the Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-operative (CLCFC). The licence area is located southwest of the community of Lake Cowichan and southeast of TimberWest's Gordon River Camp on Vancouver Island. The audit assessed compliance with the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and related regulations (the Code).

On July 26, 1999, the Board received a request for an administrative review of the determination to approve the South Island Forest District’s 1999-2001 Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP) forest development plan (FDP) for the Brand operating area, near Barkley Sound on southwestern Vancouver Island. The Sierra Legal Defense Fund made the request on behalf of the Sierra Club of British Columbia. The Board decided it could not request a review. Instead, the Board decided, at the request of the complainant, to investigate the matter as a complaint in July 2000.

The complainant believes it was unreasonable for the district manager to be satisfied that the FDP adequately manages and conserves marbled murrelet. The complainant asserted that the district manager’s failure to ensure that the plan adequately manages and conserves marbled murrelet has placed the species in jeopardy.