Small-scale salvage programs and licence holders in the Cariboo Chilcotin region met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act in a recent audit by the Forest Practices Board.
The audit looked at timber harvesting, silviculture, fire protection and associated planning between September 2017 and 2018.
“Our audit found that salvagers did a good job dealing with trees infested with Douglas-fir bark beetle in the district,” said Kevin Kriese, chair, Forest Practices Board. “Auditors saw a couple of practices that need improvement, but nothing significant.”
FINDINGS RELEASED - Board audit of the Small Scale Salvage program in the Cariboo Chilcotin Natural Resource District - https://t.co/wp0ROROMgl #forest #BCforest pic.twitter.com/A7jEsoFp3r
— BC FPBoard (@BC_FPBoard) May 9, 2019
One salvage licensee harvested some trees just outside the boundary of the licence and several licensees did not document fire hazard assessments following logging.
However, as a result of the audit process, one of the licensees has already improved boundary marking procedures to prevent a similar error in the future.
Small-scale salvage is the harvest of single trees or small patches of dead or damaged timber. Salvage licences are limited to 2,000 cubic metres or less.
In the past year, most salvage activities in the district took place near Williams Lake, Horsefly and McLeese Lake and involved beetle infested trees, with a few areas of burned or wind-thrown trees.
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