The Forest Practices Board has started examining forest planning and practices on 11 woodlots in the Nadina Resource District, which includes the Burns Lake and Francois Lake areas.
According to Darlene Oman, a spokesperson for the Forest Practices Board, the Nadina Resource District was “randomly selected.” The board then selected woodlots as the focus of the audit.
The woodlots are located in the Lakes Timber Supply Area - seven are near Burns Lake and four are near Francois Lake.
Auditors will examine whether harvesting, roads, bridges, silviculture, fire protection and associated planning - carried out between October 2015 and October 2017 - met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.
Once the audit work is completed, the Forest Practices Board will report their findings to the public and government, and may make recommendations to woodlot owners to improve their practices.
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The audit began on Oct. 10, 2017 and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2018. However, it might take longer depending what the findings are.
“If there are no issues, it is usually a fairly quick process – three to six months; however, if the auditors see any potential issues, they will need to do more work and that will extend the duration of the audit,” said Oman. “It could go as long as a year before the final report is published.”
If the auditors find any non-compliance, the board does not issue penalties.
“It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations to take any enforcement action, if they think it’s appropriate, once they see our results,” explained Oman.
The mountain pine beetle epidemic has killed a significant amount of harvestable timber, leaving many of the woodlot licensees in this audit with challenges to salvage the dead timber.
The Forest Practices Board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices. The board audits forest and range practices on public land, as well as appropriateness of government enforcement.
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