Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

Changes to B.C. forest policy 'a start': watchdog

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Oct, 2021 04:47 PM
  • Changes to B.C. forest policy 'a start': watchdog

VANCOUVER - The chair of British Columbia's forest watchdog says he was pleased to see a bill introduced with proposed changes to the Forest and Range Practices Act that could "reassert the public interest" in forestry decisions.

Kevin Kriese of the Forest Practices Board said the amendments are overdue and "only a start," given the complexity of implementing new forestry policies on the ground. He's keen to see a timeline, a fast pace and details on how and when the changes will take effect, he said in an interview Thursday.

Forests Minister Katrine Conroy told the legislature Wednesday that a new system of forest landscape plans developed alongside First Nations and local communities would replace the existing forest stewardship plans that had been developed largely by industry.

The existing system tends to be "industry driven" and doesn't plan for the health and makeup of forest ecosystems in the long term, Kriese said.

The new proposed framework would make it possible to manage forests based on longer-term predictions of what a forest would look like with a particular rate and pattern of logging and how that might affect the surrounding ecosystem, he said.

"That doesn't exist today," he said.

With the proposed changes, Conroy said companies with harvesting licences would be required to develop and submit their operational plans for ministry approval, and they would have to meet the requirements of the broader landscape-level plans.

The landscape and operations plans would be posted publicly, she noted.

Such transparency also marks a change from the existing regime, Kriese said.

The current system "doesn't actually show you where you're going to log, so how does the public review and comment when they can't actually see?" he asked.

Earlier amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act passed in 2019 are meant to give the public the ability to weigh in on proposed activities, such as logging roads and cut blocks, but those changes have yet to take force, he said.

The latest proposed changes would also give B.C.'s chief forester the power to create mandatory "stocking standards" or reforestation requirements, he added.

"Sometimes (harvesting) licensees choose a stocking standard based on some short-term objectives," he said. "Sometimes that's not the (forest) stands you really want 30, 40, 50 or 100 years from now, so, the chief forester could step in and say, actually, on these kinds of sites, we've decided that we want a different trajectory."

Another key change would allow for the public disclosure of penalties and fines levied under the Forest and Range Practices Act, said Kriese, explaining that the public doesn't find out what happened if someone has broken the law.

Conroy said the province has been working with the forest industry on the changes, which are expected to come into effect through regulation over the next year.

The province has also been working to implement recommendations from an independent review of B.C.'s old-growth forest management released last year, including the deferral of logging in ecosystems at risk of irreversible loss, she said.

Kriese said he hopes additional amendments expected later this fall to the Forest Act, which is separate from the Forest and Range Practices Act, would address what he called an "unusual" level of constraint on government decision-making.

The existing act limits the ability of Forests Ministry officials to refuse authorization of a cutting or road permit when the forest tenure holder meets certain conditions, even when there are public interest concerns around the proposed work, he said.

The board has previously found instances "where it was apparent that if that discretion had existed, that authorizations might not have been issued," he said.

A series of "policy intentions" released in a report earlier this year signalled that the province would "explore options to provide discretion in authorization decisions based on important forest values, such as water, wildlife and Indigenous heritage."

Decision-makers must be able to reject permits or to approve them with conditions, if there are concerns the work could irreparably impair other forest values, it said.

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Charges approved against 4 people including Harman Parmar in kidnapping investigation: VPD

Charges approved against 4 people including Harman Parmar in kidnapping investigation: VPD
On September 8, four suspects kidnapped the victim from a vehicle at gunpoint in Richmond, B.C. The victim suffered significant, but non-life threatening injures after being assaulted and restrained.    

Charges approved against 4 people including Harman Parmar in kidnapping investigation: VPD

Vulnerable industries must accept change is coming

Vulnerable industries must accept change is coming
The Canadian Institute for Climate Choices is warning in its publication Sink or Swim, that if these industries and federal and provincial governments don't acknowledge that change is coming and prepare for it, there could be devastating consequences.

Vulnerable industries must accept change is coming

Canadians largely content with democracy: survey

Canadians largely content with democracy: survey
The new Pew Research Center survey found 66 per cent of respondents in Canada were satisfied with how democracy is working, while 33 per cent said otherwise. Only Singapore, Sweden and New Zealand scored higher on the satisfaction scale.    

Canadians largely content with democracy: survey

Doctors group calls on B.C. to amend COVID-19 plan

Doctors group calls on B.C. to amend COVID-19 plan
The group, called Protect our Province B.C., is made up of a range of doctors and medical researchers, and held a panel discussion Wednesday highlighting how the virus is spread through aerosol transmission.

Doctors group calls on B.C. to amend COVID-19 plan

Health workers seek immediate sick-leave policy

Health workers seek immediate sick-leave policy
Trudeau has said an early priority of his newly re-elected government will be to give all federally regulated workers 10 days of paid sick leave, and work with provinces and territories on better sick-leave policies for all Canadians.

Health workers seek immediate sick-leave policy

696 COVID19 cases for Wednesday

696 COVID19 cases for Wednesday
There are 4,888 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 192,189 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 370 individuals are in hospital and 139 are in intensive care. 

696 COVID19 cases for Wednesday