Victoria - The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Qwa’eet Forest Products near Merritt this summer.
The audit will look at Qwa’eet’s operations on Forest Licence A55525, north of the Nicola River and Merritt and in drainages south of Merritt. Auditors will examine operational planning, harvesting, roads, silviculture and fire protection activities carried out over the past year.
The Forest Practices Board carries out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the Forest Practices Code. Qwa’eet’s forest licence was chosen randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.
Two professional foresters, two chartered accountants, a harvesting specialist, an engineer and support staff make up the audit team. They will be in the licence area examining plans, cutblocks and roads for a week beginning Aug. 13. Once the field work is done, the auditor will report the results to the board. Anyone who may be adversely affected by the audit results will be given a chance to respond directly to the board. The board will then prepare its final audit report and release it to the public and government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 41 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two audits were qualified, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Bill Cafferata,Chair
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
Nicky Cain
Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 387-7964
1 800 994-5899
Victoria - Those who build logging roads in the public forests need to make sure they’re inspecting and maintaining their bridges, says a report released today by the Forest Practices Board.
The report calls on forest companies and the forest ministry to ensure their inspection and maintenance programs are up-to-date and repairs are undertaken, consistent with the Forest Practices Code. During the course of regular audit work over the past two years, the board has found over half the bridges audited did not comply with the code in some way. In three cases, the board found the non-compliance to be significant.
"Given the large number of bridges on logging roads in British Columbia, the high level of industrial use and the increasing number of backcountry enthusiasts using logging roads to get to their destination, the potential for harm to people and the environment is significant," said board chair Bill Cafferata.
The report provides examples of problems board auditors have seen, including bridges with no signs to clearly indicate the load limits for the bridge, and bridges with missing or broken guardrails.
Of the 19 compliance audits conducted by the board in 1999 and 2000, auditors physically reviewed 277 bridges. Just over 50 per cent – 140 bridges – turned up some level of non-compliance. Half of those problems fell under regulations about public safety.
"We’re hoping this report will make government and forest companies aware of the issue so they can take any actions needed on bridges under their responsibility," said Cafferata.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Bill Cafferata,Chair
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
Jacqueline Waldorf
Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 387-7964
1 800 994-5899
Victoria -The Forest Practices Board will conduct its first set of audits of compliance and enforcement on Nisga’a lands this summer.
The Nisga’a lands cover about 2,000 square kilometres in the Nass River Valley on both sides of the river about 90 kilometres north of Terrace. The operating areas for the auditees are in various parts of the Nisga’a lands.
The Nisga’a audits will examine compliance with the Forest Practices Code by licensees who are winding down their operations on Nisga’a lands. The Nisga’a final agreement requires the board to undertake a compliance audit of all existing forest licences in each year of the five-year transition period.
These full-scope audits will look at operational planning; construction, maintenance and deactivation of roads; timber harvesting; silviculture; fire protection activities; and district manager obligations. The purpose is to determine whether the following auditees complied with the code and with forestry-related Nisga’a final agreement requirements:
Skeena Cellulose Inc., Forest Licence A64298
SimGan Forest Corp., Forest Licence A64299
West Fraser Mills Ltd., Forest Licence A16882
Kalum forest district small business forest enterprise program
North Coast forest district small business forest enterprise program
Forestry Transition Committee
Kalum forest district (compliance with district manager obligations)
North Coast forest district (compliance with district manager obligations)
The audit will also examine the appropriateness of government enforcement of the code by:
Kalum and North Coast forest districts
Former Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Skeena region
Ministry of Energy and Mines, Northwest region
The eight-member audit team of professional foresters, biologists, engineers and chartered accountants will be in the licence areas for up to two weeks beginning July 16. Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will be given a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 41 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen were clean audits, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two were qualified audits, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code.
The board is undertaking nine groups of audits this year, which include area-based and range auditing and audits of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Bill Cafferata,Chair
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
Nicky Cain,
Communications
Forest Practices Board
Phone: 250 387-7964
1 800 994-5899
Victoria -The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Tembec Industries Ltd. (formerly Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd.) near Creston this summer.
The audit will look at Tembec’s operations on Forest Licence A20212 in the Kootenay Lake forest district along Highway 3 east of Creston.
This is a full-scope audit that will look at operational planning, harvesting, roads, silviculture and fire protection activities.
The Forest Practices Board carries out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the Forest Practices Code. The forest licence was chosen randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.
The seven-member audit team of professional foresters, biologists, chartered accountants and geo-scientists will be in the licence area for about 10 days beginning July 23. Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will be given a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 41 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two audits were qualified, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
Victoria -The Forest Practices Board will audit forest planning and practices of RFP Timber Ltd. on Forest Licence A20016 about 50 kilometres northwest of Alexis Creek.
RFP Timber Ltd. is wholly owned by Riverside Forest Products Ltd.
This is a full-scope audit that will look at operational planning, harvesting, roads, silviculture and fire protection activities.
The Forest Practices Board carries out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the Forest Practices Code. The forest licence was chosen randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.
The seven-member audit team of professional foresters, chartered accountants and engineers will be in the licence area for one week beginning July 16. Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will be given a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 41 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two audits were qualified, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
VICTORIA - Ainsworth Lumber Company Ltd. is generally complying with the Forest Practices Code but needs to pay more attention to keeping logging road bridges in good order, says a report released today by the Forest Practices Board.
The report concludes an audit of Ainsworth’s forest planning and practices for compliance with the code. Ainsworth’s Forest Licence A18690 is in the Kamloops forest district, near Cache Creek and Ashcroft.
The audit examined the following activities, carried out between July 1, 1999, and July 19, 2000:
The audit identified deficiencies in the frequency of bridge inspections, the content of bridge inspection records and the scheduling and completion of recommended repairs identified during bridge inspections. The company has repaired bridges since the audit and has developed a system to track bridge inspection and maintenance.
"I’m pleased to see how quickly Ainsworth has responded to our audit findings, even though the individual bridge issues weren’t putting the public or environment in any danger," said board chair Bill Cafferata.
Ainsworth’s forest licence was chosen for audit randomly, not on the basis of location or level of performance. Since the time of the audit, this forest licence has been transferred to West Fraser Mills Ltd.
This is the 41st compliance audit completed by the board. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-two audits were qualified, meaning there was some significant non-compliance with the code. Most non-compliance was related to logging practices near streams and the construction, maintenance and deactivation of logging roads.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
VICTORIA -The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices in Tree Farm Licence #1 held by Skeena Cellulose Inc. The operating areas for this licence are north and south of Terrace in the Kalum forest district.
This is a full-scope audit that will look at operational planning, harvesting, roads, silviculture and fire protection activities to determine levels of compliance with the Forest Practices Code.
The Forest Practices Board is required to carry out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the code. The Skeena Cellulose licence was chosen randomly, not on the basis of location or level of performance.
The eight-member audit team of forestry, engineering and audit professionals will be in the licence area beginning June 4 to do office and field examinations of Skeena Cellulose’s timber harvest areas and hundreds of kilometres of logging roads.
Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will receive a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and the government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 40 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen were clean audits, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-one were qualified audits, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
fpboard@gems9.gov.bc.ca
Victoria - The Forest Practices Board will conduct its first area-based audit this summer in the Fort Nelson forest district.
"Until now our audit program has focused on single licensees or government forestry programs," said Bill Cafferata, Forest Practices Board chair. "This audit will examine all the licences in an area to give us a broader sense of how a full range of forest practices interact with and affect forest resources."
The area chosen includes the Eskai, Big Beaver and Klua landscape units, which form a 385,000-hectare triangle directly south of Fort Nelson between the Prophet and Fort Nelson Rivers, extending to the southern border of the district.
This full-scope audit will determine the compliance of operational planning and forest practices with all Forest Act and Range Act agreements. It will also examine government’s enforcement of the Forest Practices Code.
Companies being audited include major and small tenure licence-holders. Auditors will look at a wide range of forest practices including logging; road construction, maintenance and deactivation; fire protection; silviculture; planning; recreation management; oil and gas; and range activities.
The audit will also examine the enforcement practices of the Ministry of Forests; the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks; and the Oil and Gas Commission to see if they have appropriately enforced the Forest Practices Code.
The Forest Practices Board is required to carry out periodic independent audits to see if government and forest companies are complying with the Forest Practices Code. This is the board’s first audit of all activities in a given area. The audit area was chosen randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.
The eight-member audit team of professional foresters, chartered accountants and engineers will spend two weeks this June working in the field. Once the field work is done, the audit team will report its findings to the board. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will receive a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and the government.
To date, the board has completed compliance audits of 40 forest companies and Ministry of Forests small business forest enterprise programs. Nineteen audits were clean, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-one audits were qualified, meaning that there was some significant non-compliance with the code. The board is undertaking nine audits this year, which include one area-based audit, a range audit and an audit of forest practices on Nisga’a lands.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
VICTORIA -More operators in British Columbia's publicly owned forest are complying with the Forest Practices Code than in previous years, according to the Forest Practices Board's 2000 annual report, released today.
Six of the 13 compliance audits reported on by the board last year were clean - up from one in four in the board's first year. This trend continues from previous years, with the number of operators meeting and exceeding the code's requirements growing. When it does occur, non-compliance with the code usually involves construction and maintenance of logging roads, or harvesting trees near streams.
The board also received a record 37 complaints from the public in 2000, of which 23 became formal investigations. Twelve of the 13 investigations completed in 2000 found that the code had been followed appropriately. Four also noted room for improvements, and the board made recommendations about better consultation with the public and the need for strategic land-use planning.
"The information presented in this annual report shows definite, measurable improvements in the way forestry is being carried out in the province," said board chair Bill Cafferata. "Better forest practices benefit British Columbians at the community level and in the way global market pressures affect our economy."
The board once again stressed the need for government to complete strategic land-use planning to guide forest development plans, a common theme in many of its reports. This would help ensure that all resources in the publicly owned forest - such as recreation, wildlife and biodiversity - are considered before a plan to develop forest land is approved. Strategic land-use plans must be completed if the code is to ensure that all forest resources on public lands are adequately managed and protected.
"The code has the capability to improve the management of all forest values on public forest lands, and to move those practices toward ecosystem-based forest management," said Cafferata.
Overall in 2000, the board published reports on 13 compliance audits, 13 investigations of complaints, three special investigations, two special reports and two administrative reviews. For the first time, the board was able to resolve one complaint without a formal investigation, using alternative dispute resolution procedures.
The board made almost 40 recommendations to government and licensees in 2000. For example, recommendations were made to change the code to better protect soils to support the regrowth of trees. The board also made recommendations for improving government's system for enforcing the code and improving the public's opportunities to review harvesting plans.
The 2000 annual report also sets out the board's strategic direction for the coming years. This includes a greater focus on the consequences of forest practices on the land base, becoming more involved with the evolution of the code, and informing - and being informed by - the public.
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
VICTORIA - The Robson Valley forest district’s small business forest enterprise program complied with Forest Practices Code requirements in all significant respects, says a report released today by the Forest Practices Board.
The program operates within the Robson Valley forest district in east-central B.C. It has an annual allowable cut of 105,000 cubic metres. Carried out between Sept. 27, 1999, and Sept. 20, 2000, the audit examined the following practices:
"We’re seeing a definite trend toward improvement in forest practices in recent audits of the small business forest enterprise program – a trend I hope to see continue," said board chair Bill Cafferata. "It’s also worth noting that this program implemented key elements of the code’s biodiversity strategies in its operations."
Robson Valley’s small business forest enterprise program was selected for audit randomly and not on the basis of location or level of performance.
This is the 40th compliance audit completed by the board. Nineteen were clean audits, meaning the forest planning and practices met code requirements in all significant respects. Twenty-one were qualified audits, meaning there was some significant non-compliance with the code. Most non-compliance was related to logging practices near streams and the construction, maintenance and deactivation of logging roads.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog, established in 1995, that publishes reports about compliance with the Forest Practices Code and the achievement of its intent.
The board's main roles under the Forest Practices Code are:
Forest Practices Board
Phone: (250) 387-7964
1-800-994-5899
