Removal of Wildlife Information from a Forest Development Plan for Knight Inlet

In 2000, a member of the Sierra Club of British Columbia examined a forest development plan (FDP) that he had reviewed a year before during the public review and comment period. It was International Forest Products’ (the licensee’s) 1999-2003 FDP for Tree Farm Licence 45 at the head of Knight Inlet, 175 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

The FDP and its maps were different from what the member had reviewed in 1999. Information related to wildlife habitats and other biological resources had been removed from the FDP, apparently after the public review process was finished.

The Sierra Club filed a complaint with the Forest Practices Board because it believed that: removing the information after the end of the public review and comment period reduced the value of public review of the FDP; the information that was removed had been known to the licensee and government for many years, so it was not appropriate for a district manager to require its removal; the FDP should not have been approved because several cutblocks were proposed within sensitive areas, as indicated by the removed information; and the district manager should have obtained comments from the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks before approving the FDP.