Prince George, BC – The Forest Practises Board is raising concern over the management of the McBride Community Forest, after a two-year audit found four cases of significant non-compliance with provincial forestry legislation, and one additional area requiring improvement.

The Board’s findings include several site plans that did not show all road locations on the site plan maps and, in one instance, this led to a poorly constructed road near a fish stream that cause environmental harm; the annual reporting requirement for forest cover information was not submitted; and accurate silviculture information for cutblocks was not maintained.

Board Chair, Al Gorley, says, "Each of these findings has potential implications for the overall sound management of forest resources, and collectively they raise serious questions about the community forest corporation’s diligence and attention to detail."

"In our opinion," he says, "The management of the McBride Community Forest is not up to the standard required by provincial forestry legislation and expected by the public, nor is it reflective of the generally good management of other community forests we have audited in the past."

Gorley says the Forest Practises Board has audited 10 other community forest in the past few years and 80-percent had a clean audit.  "The other 20-percent, each had one non-compliance.  So this is a unique case where, in one community forest, we found a cluster of situations where this isn’t compliance."

The Chair says the Forest Practises Board does not have the authority to issue penalties, but he anticipates the provincial government will now examine the community forest to determine if further action is necessary.

The McBride Community Forest Corporation is wholly owned by the Village of McBride.  It’s overseen by a five-member board appointed by Village Council and has been in operation for the past 10-years.

In a news release issued in response to the audit, Board Chair, Rick Thompson, says, "MCFC accepts full responsibility for the findings of the Forest Practises Board."

"MCFC takes very seriously the findings of the FPB and has already undertaken steps to improve in all five cases outlined in the FPB report."  Thompson says the corporation has acquired new forest planning and reporting technology to assist in filing reports to the Ministry of Forests and other agencies and has worked with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure there was no environmental harm created when the access road was built in an area not originally identified.

He says MCFC staff will provide "greater oversight and supervision to all its operations in future."

McBride Mayor Mike Frazier says the community forest has provided much needed jobs and economic activity in the decade following the community’s mill closure – supporting dozens of jobs, creating $30-million dollars in economic activity, and providing $2.5-million directly to the community through dividend payments to the village. "I don’t see where our community would be today without our community forest."

Frazier says he’s confident staff will use the findings of the FPB audit to improve forest planning and management and have the MCFC provide numerous benefits for generations to come.