The Sunshine Coast Community Forest has passed an audit of its operations, the Forest Practices Board (FPB) announced Feb. 8.
Sechelt Community Projects Inc. (SCPI) manages the community forest licence on behalf of the District of Sechelt.
Sechelt's community forest was randomly selected to have its operations audited, along with community forest operations in the Sliammon and Klahoose First Nations and Powell River Community Forest.
"We look strictly at their forest planning and practices," said FPB chair Al Gorley. "We'll take a look on the ground, do they have plans in place for where they're going to build roads, where they're going to harvest, how they're going to go about their harvesting to protect streams, wildlife, that kind of stuff."
FPB audits, which target operational practices rather than financial aspects of a community forest, are carried out roughly a dozen times per year. Targets are randomly chosen by the board, and auditors tend to focus on aspects that may have gone unchecked for a length of time.
In this case, the board had selected the geographic area while auditors chose to give their attention to its four relatively upstart community forests, Gorley said.
During the two-year audit period that examined SCPI, a total of 11 cutblocks were reported as harvested, or a total land area of 114.5 hectares.
Some 7.5 km of new road access was constructed and monitored for compliance.
"The field components of the fire preparedness requirements of the [Wildfire Act] were not audited," as there were no active operations during the field audit, the report states.
Planting in nine cutblocks was also examined for compliance and a variety of silviculture practices were also put under the microscope.
"There was nothing formally identified where we said 'you should improve this,'" Gorley said. "They'll often find really minor stuff that they don't report on, they'll tell the operators 'look, you can do this a little bit better.'"
During the two-year period, the four community forest agreements harvested 384,872 cubic metres, or roughly the volume of 154 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Field work took place during the summer months of 2011.
The Sunshine Coast Community Forest recently had its licence renewed to a 25-year term, ending the mandatory five-year probationary period.
The group is hoping the extension will clear the way for a host of new long-term projects, including a watershed assessment that is currently underway.
Glen Bonderud, chair of the Community Forest, said the results of the audit "gave us the confidence that we've done a good job.
"Last year, after we had the deferral on Wilson Creek, there were people asking us to make sure we did our due diligence," Bonderud said. "We thought, 'well we don't have to do it, but let's just satisfy the folks and opinions and make sure we've covered our bases.'"
The Coastal Watershed Assessment Procedure will apply a forestry and fisheries perspective to an analysis of the vital resource. A consultant has been hired to undertake the process, Bonderud said.
"In the meantime, we'll be supplying some jobs and hopefully getting some of the areas that are closer to the urban centres ready for some interface," he added.
