"Public trust in forestry could be threatened"

"Public trust in forestry could be threatened"

The above is a headline in Friday's Vancouver Sun, in the Business section.
The article talks about Powell River's loss of Community Values that had been enshrined in provincial law in the Stillwater Pilot until last summer. The legal protections on the Sunshine Coast Trail, on the Canoe Route, on Old Growth, Habitat and Recreation/Tourism zones are gone in the new Western forest stewardship plan, and we are now beginning to see the unwanted results of that.
The article is a result of Thursday's release of a report by the Forest Practices Board, which we have also posted. The Forest Practices Board is B.C.'s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices, reporting its findings and recommendations directly to the public and government.

http://www.fpb.gov.bc.ca/complaints/010304/129/IRC129/IRC129ml.pdf

Please read the full Forest Practices Board Report to get a complete appreciation of all the details.
Our position of promoting and defending community values has been vindicated.

Cheers,
Eagle

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=1e190060-df04-41e5-991c-2692f612de5d&k=1576

Forest plans could damage public trust: report


Forest management regime faulted for failing to protect public values
Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, November 23, 2007

An investigation into a Sunshine Coast logging plan has found that the public trust in what's going on in the woods could be compromised by planning requirements introduced by Victoria three years ago.
In a report released Thursday on the plan -- called the Stillwater forest stewardship plan -- the Forest Practices Board found that public values included in an earlier plan have been dropped and replaced with goals that appear to be obscure and are difficult to translate into on-the-ground activities.
Forest stewardship plans are a relatively recent requirement that are focused on enforcement rather than detailing on-the-ground situations. Also, licensees tend to use legalistic language to meet legislated requirements.
Forest Minister Rich Coleman said he is concerned about the board's findings.
"We have to address it," he said, but added that addressing the use of legal language could be a challenge. "We are learning as we go on some of these. I am going to sit down with my senior staff next week with the report and say, 'How are we going to improve this?'
"If there is a concern that some of the information that was put in by the parties wasn't taken into consideration, I want to know why not, I want to know how we address that in the future."
The board report sheds light on what NDP forests critic Bob Simpson said is the failure of the government's results-based forest management regime to protect public values.
He called for a review of all forest stewardship plans to find out if the issues on the Sunshine Coast are being repeated elsewhere. He said if the plans are too obscure for people to know what they mean, then it is likely to show up as well in what takes place on the ground.
"The board isn't looking at the land-based implications of this. They are just looking at the paper. But ultimately the paper is what will be used to enforce compliance. So if the paper is nebulous or misses values, then you have lost control over what happens on the land base."
The board launched an investigation in the Stillwater plan after receiving three complaints from citizens and organizations in the region.
"The public went from having a plan with clear objectives, legally endorsed by means of government regulation, to a plan with broad general objectives that did not address all of the original Stillwater objectives," the report states.
Under the Forest and Range Practices Act, implemented in 2004, companies are required to develop forest stewardship plans. The plans are results-based, replacing a regulatory regime that forest companies argued was costly to adhere to. The public is to have input through voluntary advisory committees.
Forest Practices Board chair Bruce Fraser said the earlier plan, under previous legislation was easy to read but the forest stewardship plan was obscure. Further, he said, agreements on land-use zones, protection of trails and protection of old-growth that local residents thought were in place had been dropped.
"People had every right to expect that the deal they had negotiated under the pilot would be faithfully rendered under the new product and that wasn't entirely the case. That's where a lot of the angst and confusion occurred," Fraser said.
The licensee, Western Forest Products, explained to investigators that it followed regulations but the Forest and Range Practices Act focuses less on planning objectives and more on enforcement. As a result the licensee needs to use legal language. Further, the licensee explained that public objectives that were not in the plan were included elsewhere, such as the company's forest certification program.
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© The Vancouver Sun 2007