Darlene Oman, in charge of Communications, says they will be taking a look at the forestry activities of the licensees in the BC Timber Sales program…
“They will be out on the ground in the field having a look at road construction and maintenance, timber harvesting, replanting, fire protection, those sorts of activities, and they are here to check and ensure that the activities are complying with the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.”
Oman says audits normally take three to five days to complete and a final report will then be issued anywhere from 6 months to a year after that…
“The Board will produce a report that describes what was found, and the board can make recommendations on improvements that they think need to happen, if that’s appropriate, but the Board doesn’t have the authority to issue fines or penalties, that is the responsibility of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. So if that’s appropriate the Ministry could follow up and do that.”
Oman says the last audit in Quesnel was done on West Fraser’s Tree Farm License #52 back in October of 2017.