Columbia National Investments (CNI), the company that drew complaints from conservationists over logging around East Wilson Creek in 2007, has been found guilty of two charges under the Ministry of Environment's (MOE) Water Act.
Conservation officer Murray Smith issued a violation ticket for two charges related to installation of culverts on the work site near the base of Dakota Ridge. No one from CNI showed up to fight the tickets in provincial court in Sechelt on Jan. 7, so the company was found guilty in absence.
Smith issued charges of "makes changes in and about a stream without lawful authority" and "constructs, maintains, operates or uses works without authority," each carrying a $230 fine.
"Upon attendance, having a look up there at the site, I noticed there were a number of creek crossings in the area All the stream crossings had been put in without approval from the Ministry," Smith said, adding even if CNI had Ministry approval, the culverts themselves were not up to code. "The size of the culverts was incorrect and they were too small in diameter. It was improper installation."
Smith said CNI and the Ministry are now working on remediation for the site.
"If anybody is going to do work in a stream, whether it be a homeowner or a company, they need to get approval to do the work prior to doing it," he said. "I can't say there is a catastrophic effect. I'm just saying there is localized impact and we are working towards rectifying it."
Steve Dunton, one of CNI's owners, said the company plans to appeal the charges in a higher court.
"The problem is, they can't tell us what we did wrong, and nobody can. The conservation officer has been running around there handing fines out and he cannot tell us what's wrong," Dunton said.
He said CNI did have approvals and the culverts were installed correctly. He disputes that remediation needs to be done.
"They say we didn't get approval. Well, we hired people to get approval and I would expect that they did get approvals and now they've given the fines out," he said. "There's nothing to remediate. That's the problem. Our experts say there's nothing wrong here and [Smith] is making himself out to be an expert in installing culverts. He's never installed a culvert in his life. There's nothing installed wrong there, so what's the problem?"
Dunton said he will let a higher court decide on whether the fines should stand.
Dan Bouman, executive director for the Sunshine Coast Conservation Asso-ciation (SCCA), said he is pleased with the guilty verdict. The SCCA was one of the groups that complained to the Private Managed Forest Land Council (PMFLC) in 2007. The PMFLC, a provincial agency set up to monitor private forest land, ruled CNI did not follow best practice by removing too many trees along the creek's edge, but did not enforce any remediation or penalties for CNI.
Bouman offered praise for the conservation office.
"These guys really deserve public commendation for their work on this file," Bouman said. "They did a hell of a job. They were tenacious. I think they represented the public interest here and they did very well."
Bouman said the penalties were small, but the SCCA is pleased that remediation can now happen.
"We're not as interested in the fine as we are seeing things fixed up and the impression made that these kinds of violations are not going to be tolerated," he said.
Bouman said he saw this as something of a validation on the 2007 complaints to PMFLC, adding the agency itself is not acting in the public interest.
"I think they are in line for a bit of public scrutiny because I don't think they are fulfilling their mandate. This case is a good example of where they failed to apply the existing law," he said.
