A recent audit of 7 wood-lots in the Burns Lake area didn’t go quite according to plan.
The audit, conducted by the BC Forest Practices Board, took place in the Nadina Natural Resource District and found the 7 licensed wood-lots all had some sort of non-compliance issue in regards to both the Forest and Range Practices Act and/or the Wildfire Act.
“The auditors found the wood-lot licensees did not meet obligations related to reforesting previously logged sites on three woodlots, and did not meet requirements for reporting their activities to the government on four woodlots,” said Bruce Larson, vice-chair, Forest Practices Board.
On three of the lots, the licenses did not meet the proper fire-hazard assessments, although they did attempt to reduce fire hazards by piling and burning logging debris.
One wood-lot neither assessed or decreased fire-hazards and thusly failed to meet the requirements of the Wildfire Act.
“Assessing fire hazard is a legal requirement, and must be completed at required intervals after harvest has started,” said Larson. “Any identified hazards must be abated to reduce the risks of a forest fire starting or spreading.”
There is a positive to this release though.
All of the locations met requirements of the Forest and Range Practices act for operation planning and timber harvesting. This included road and bridge construction and maintenance.
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