An audit of Western Forest Products Inc. on tree farm licence 39 (TFL 39) has found Western met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, according to Forest Practices Board.
“The board commends Western for its good practices in TFL 39,” said Kevin Kriese, board chair. “This is the third time the board has audited TFL 39 since 2008, looking at a different geographic area of the TFL each time, and all three audits found full compliance with forest practices legislation.”
TFL 39 is made up of four geographically distinct blocks. Two of those blocks were the subject of this audit. Block 2 is located near Sayward on Vancouver Island and Block 5 is located on the mainland in the Phillips River watershed.
Block 5 is within the Great Bear Rainforest. There has been no logging there since 2007, but Western still retains reforestation and road maintenance obligations.
In Block 2, Western harvested approximately one million cubic metres of timber during the one-year audit period. It was also responsible for maintaining over 3,000 kilometres of road and 264 bridges in the two blocks, among other activities. All forest activities carried out between July 2017 and July 2018 were subject to audit.
The Forest Practices Board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices.
