Audit announcement of BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence holders in the North Island-Central Coast Natural Resource District.
Forestry licensees and BC Timber Sales (BCTS) have a legal obligation under the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) to regrow stands of trees after logging. Reforestation efforts must result in successful regeneration of trees and growth to healthy maturity. This is important both to ensure a sustainable flow of economically valuable timber into the future and to maintain broader environmental and community values in BC’s forests.
Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) forests in BC’s southern interior support a number of different uses and values, including timber, range, wildlife and species at risk, recreation, and visual quality. Some IDF ecosystems are often dominated by Douglas-fir trees of mixed age and size with a grassy understory. A common species for planting after logging is lodgepole pine because seedlings have a high survival rate and grow quickly above competing vegetation. Tree species composition in these ecosystems is reported to be shifting from fir to pine with potential implications for timber and non-timber values.
The investigation examined tree species composition trends, assessed licensee compliance with reforestation requirements and assessed the effectiveness of reforestation choices and government direction in establishing and maintaining resilient stands. Focus is on reforestation activities in the Cariboo, Thompson-Okanagan, and Kootenay Boundary Natural Resource Regions in areas logged under FRPA between 2008 and 2017. It includes forest licences, tree farm licences, woodlots, First Nations woodland licences, and community forests.
Elphinstone Logging Focus (the complainant), an environmental group based on the Sunshine Coast, asserted that several good candidates for wildlife trees in Timber Sale Licence (TSL) A93884 were cut down, while others retained as wildlife trees were of poorer quality. The complainant believes that this practice will result in diminishing biodiversity.
The complainant would like BCTS to retain all good quality wildlife trees and wants government to amend the Forest and Range Practices Act to require a two to three tree- length buffer around dead standing wildlife trees.
For more information:
http://www.bcforestsafe.org/node/3460
Audit announcement of the forest service roads (FSRs) maintained in the Campbell River, Okanagan-Shuswap and Peace natural resource districts.
Audit announcement of the BCTS and timbe sale licence holders in the Nadina Natural Resource District portion of the Babine Business Area.
In June 2019, the Board audited BC Timber Sales' (BCTS) forestry operations in the Quesnel Natural Resource District portion of BC Timber Sales' (BCTS) Cariboo - Chilcotin Business Area. The audit was a full scope compliance audit that included those operations that took place over a one-year period starting in June 2018. During this period BCTS harvested about 450,000 cubic metres.
With respect to BCTS activities, the audit identified a significant non-compliance for not ensuring a road and three bridges were structurally sound and safe for industrial use; a significant non-compliance for not reporting silviculture activities; and an unsound practice due to inadequate record documents for constructed bridges.
The audit also identified a significant non-compliance for not having a water delivery system on two cutblocks; an unsound practice for not following the recommendations in a terrain field assessment; and an opportunity for improvement for not completing fire hazard assessments. All these findings are related to timber sale licensees’ activities.
With the exception of these findings, the audit found that 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 October 2018, the Board received a complaint about planned logging in the Glade community watershed, near Castlegar, BC. The Glade Watershed Protection Society was concerned that a watershed assessment was incomplete, outdated, and inconsistent with forest stewardship plan strategies to meet community watershed objectives.
The Board considered whether the watershed assessment is consistent with the expected professional standards, and whether the licensees complied with legal requirements in the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA).
In its two-part project on conserving fish habitat under FRPA, the Board describes how the effective protection of fish habitat on the forest and range landbase is dependant on detailed planning of forestry and range activities, ensuring that practices on the ground protect fish habitat and that comprehensive monitoring is in place to continually improve practices. The part 1 report, published in 2018, describes government’s role in the protection of fish habitat.
In part 2, Board investigators selected five watersheds across the province known to provide important fish habitat. Investigators looked at planning for the protection of fish habitat, monitoring and how well forest licensees and ranchers are providing for the protection of fish habitat on the ground. Practices examined include maintaining fish passage, sediment management, riparian management and range use.
As part of its 2019 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected forest licence A30171, held by Cooper Creek Cedar Ltd. in the Selkirk Natural Resource District for audit. This was a full scope compliance audit of activities carried out between September 1, 2017, and September 26, 2019.
Cooper Creek complied with most of the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. However, the audit did find a non-compliance involving an excavator that crossed a bridge that was not rated to handle the weight of the machine, and that Cooper Creek needs to prepare site plans for roads built outside of cutblocks.