A forestry audit on Texada Island has found a harvester had some problems with planning, road maintenance and protecting fish habitat.
The Forest Practices Board released its findings this month following a compliance audit, which covered activities from 2021 until 2023.
It says a B.C. numbered company generally followed the rules when harvesting trees on Crown land but there were some problems.
In an interview with Vista Radio, board chairman Keith Atkinson says this highlights the need for smaller tenure holders to be diligent and understand the risks and obligations.
“I think that the concern is that with a smaller volume licence, the cost of doing a good job in the province while adhering to the laws is pretty complex and costly and the scales of economy of a smaller tenure make that more challenging for those small operators,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson said there were six non-compliance findings – three of them significant. They included no assessments for building a road crossing a stream presumed to have fish and problems with visual quality of work.
“It is about how much you can see, how much the harvesting is going to impact the viewshed from more of a landscape level than an up-close level but from some key viewpoints on the water or on some public road systems,” he said.
Atkinson says the contract for Texada Island is unique as it’s a volume based contract as opposed to area. The contract is for about 20,000 cubic meters of timber a year.
The contractor was also responsible for upkeep on roads – a 160 kilometer network on the island – but there was no proof of planning available for the board to review.
“I think the uniqueness in this tenure is on Texada Island, this is the only licensee with rights to the timber on the island, the public timber harvesting and there’s quite a significant road network there,” he said.
He said the tenure has since been sold to another company. “That person is not operating in the area any longer,” Atkinson said.
About 70 per cent of Texada Island is provincial Crown land.
