In late July, the Forest Practices Board audited the forest activities of Western Forest Products Inc. in Blocks 2 and 5 of tree farm licence 39. Block 2 is located near Sayward on Vancouver Island, and Block 5 is located on the mainland coast in the Phillips River watershed.
This was a full scope compliance audit and all activities carried out between July 1, 2017, and July 27, 2018, were eligible for audit. The Board found that Western complied with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. This is the third audit of the TFL since 2008, and all have shown good results.
As part of its 2017 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the North Island Central Coast Natural Resource District as a location for a full scope compliance audit. The Board selected forest licences (FL) A93095 and A93096 and non-replaceable forest licence (NRFL) A75918, held by Gwa’Nak Resources Ltd. for audit.
The activities audited are located approximately 46 kilometres north of Port Hardy, along Belize Inlet and within the Great Bear Rainforest. The audit area is remote and can only be accessed by water or air. Rugged mountains, lakes and numerous inlets, which create operational challenges, characterize the area. It is ecologically complex, supporting a rich and diverse array of wildlife, and contains a mixture of hemlock, balsam and western red cedar tree species.
From May 29 to June 2, 2017, the Forest Practices Board audited the activities of BC Timber Sales and timber sale licensees in the South Island Natural Resource District. This was a full scope compliance audit and all activities carried out between June 1, 2015, and June 2, 2017, were subject to audit.
All activities complied with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, with two exceptions—a significant non-compliance related to the safety of new road construction, and a significant non-compliance related to the maintenance of natural surface drainage patterns and the disturbance of stream channels and banks.
A government mapping error lead residents of Granite Bay (the complainants), on Quadra Island, to believe that the area across the bay from them was a park and would not be logged. When the Granite Bay residents discovered that the area could be logged they asked the district manager to establish a visual quality objective of retention so that any logging will be difficult to see. This letter reports the resolution of this complaint.
In May 2016, Sierra Club BC submitted a complaint about logging practices in the East Creek Valley. This valley is just north of Mquqwin / Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park on northwest Vancouver Island. Sierra Club BC (the complainant) was concerned with a wide range of issues related to forest planning and practices.
The Board examined the licensee’s forest operations on the ground in the East Creek Valley, their planning activities relating to the operations, and whether the licensee provided adequate access to site plan information when requested by the complainant.
In August 2016 the Forest Practices Board audited the activities of Husby ‘s Forest Licence A16869 in the Haida Gwaii Natural Resource District. Husby is part of the Husby Group, a privately held forest products company with operations mainly located on Haida Gwaii. The licence permits it to harvest 192,044 cubic metres of timber each year within the district.
Husby passed the audit with operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, and fire protection activities complying in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Wildfire Act and related regulations. However, because Husby did not complete fire hazard assessments on time, the audit found an area requiring improvement for fire hazard assessments.
In April 2015, Board staff noticed logging near Port Alberni that appeared to exceed the government’s visual quality objectives for the area. After making some initial enquiries, the Board decided to investigate the issue—looking into compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act, the licensee’s consideration of visual impacts, and appropriateness of government’s enforcement.
The Board found issues with the licensee’s management and government’s enforcement of visual quality, and makes recommendations to the government and the Association of BC Forest Professionals.
In January 2015, Spirit of the West Adventures, a guided adventure tourism company that has a base camp at Boat Bay, complained that proposed harvesting by TimberWest Forest Corp. would adversely affect their clients’ kayaking experience. The complainant was also concerned that neither TimberWest nor the district manager of the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations, North Island Central Coast District, addressed its concerns about visual quality in a reasonable manner.
Because the concern did not focus on the licensee’s compliance with government’s established visual quality objective, this report focuses on whether TimberWest and the district manager addressed the visual concerns in a reasonable manner.
As part of its 2015 compliance audit program, the Forest Practices Board randomly selected the Forest Licence A19231, held by Western Forest Products Ltd. (WFP) in the Campbell River District, for audit. WFP’s operations are mainly located on Nootka Island, but also extend northward on Vancouver Island to the Zeballos area, with a few outlying areas north of Gold River. Limited access to Nootka Island creates operational challenges for WFP staff, so they contract Nootka Sound Timber Co. Ltd. to manage operations on the island.
The audit identified two notable practices; one is an electronic bridge ledger system and the other is a terrain risk management strategy. WFP kept a very detailed bridge ledger, recording and digitally linking construction, inspection and maintenance documents in one central, easy to follow location. This bridge database is the most user friendly, comprehensive collection of bridge information the Board has seen yet. In addition, WFP developed a terrain risk management strategy that informs and guides its forest road and harvesting activities. It was developed with terrain and hydrological expert assistance, and has been in use by the company since 2013. The Board has not seen this type of strategy elsewhere.
The audit also identified an area requiring improvement related to road construction and maintenance at a fish stream crossing. While constructing a road to access timber WFP installed a box culvert to cross a fish stream (S3). During construction, WFP placed angular rock on the stream banks to stabilize them and to provide a foundation for the culvert. The rock constricts the stream channel and could potentially accelerate stream flow and erode the channel when stream flow is high. A fish biologist assessed the potential impacts on fish and fish habitat and determined the constriction will likely have a minimal impact.
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a forest management approach intended to maintain ecosystem integrity while providing for societal needs in the Great Bear Rainforest of Coastal BC. Ecological (old growth forest) representation and protection of at-risk plant communities are two key elements of EBM to help maintain ecological integrity and promote fully functional ecosystems on the BC Coast. Government set out the legal objectives for implementation of EBM by enacting the South Central Coast Order and the Central and North Coast Order in 2007. In February 2014, concerned residents complained that TimberWest was harvesting old forest, harvesting in areas with at-risk plant communities, and not abiding by the spirit and intent of the South Central Coast Order.
This report explores compliance with the South Central Coast Order for EBM, the clarity of both the Order and associated government direction and, the importance of understanding and managing to the spirit and intent of EBM in the Great Bear Rainforest.
