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 Forest
Development Plans
Page Contents
What are the changes
in December 2002?
Changes to Forest Development Plans (FDP) will
occur in both phases of the transition. They are geared to allow
industry some immediate relief from the current regulatory burden
and to ensure a smooth transition in the implementation of the
FRPA.
Term Extended
The term of all FDPs have been extended to
allow them to remain in effect until April 1, 2005. District Managers
are prohibited from providing any extensions to FDPs beyond April
1, 2005. The intent of this is to provide certainty for holders
of FDPs through the transition period to the results-based regime
and to provide adequate time for licencees to develop new Forest
Stewardship Plans (FSP).
Content
The following key changes have been made to
the content requirements of Forest Development Plans as defined
in Part 3 of the Operational and Site Planning Regulation (OSPR):
- mapping
of cutblocks — reduced degree of precision with which
cutblocks and roads must be shown. It is not necessary for the
map to show the exact size, shape and location of a cutblock;
instead, the approximate size, shape, and location can be shown.
This will reduce the administrative effort in amending FDPs
for minor changes in cutblock or road locations;
- prescribed
forest resources — specifies and limits the extent
of forest resources that require measures to protect. Section
17.1 of the new Operational and Site Planning Regulation (OSPR)
clarifies the definition of a prescribed forest resources as
those that are in the area under the FDP that may be adversely
impacted by proposed activities and are made known to the person
preparing the plan. The FDP must provide measures to protect
these prescribed forest resources;
- road
deactivation — removed requirement to show three categories
of road deactivation. Standards for soil disturbance for permanent
access structures have been defined in Division 5 of the new
Timber Harvesting and Silviculture Practices Regulation (THSPR);
and
- new
content requirements — stocking standards must now
be included in FDPs. Applicable performance standards for soil
disturbance, permanent access limits and wildlife tree retention
may be added to the FDP. Default applicable performance standards
for these elements are defined in the THSPR.
The rationale for the changes to the content
requirements of FDPs includes:
- to provide
clarity with respect to protection of forest resources while
at the same time ensuring that all significant forest resources
are covered;
- to eliminate
content elements that do not add value to the government and
the public;
- to reduce
time spent on planning activities that are time consuming for
the licencee to generate and for the government to review; and
- to make
these plans more consistent with the forest stewardship plans
that will be prepared and approved under the FRPA.
FDP Approvals and Amendments
Part 2 of the OSPR covers FDP approvals and
amendments. Forest Development Plans will be approved in the same
manner as before. Notice, review and comment provisions generally
remain the same as before, and are contained in the OSPR. A District
Manager (DM) may attach mandatory conditions to a FDP or an amendment
when it is approved.
The DM also has the authority to reduce the
standard 60-day period for review and comments for major amendments,
where original FDP review and comments indicated low concern and
there is low likelihood of concern at the amendment stage.
Joint ministry approvals of FDPs and related
provisions have already been eliminated from the Forest Practices
Code of British Columbia Act through revisions made in May
2002 under the Forests Statutes Amendment Act (No.1) 2002.
Joint decisions and joint actions have now been removed from all
FPC regulations under these amendments to the FPC (Forests
Statutes Amendment Act (No.2) 2002).
Minor amendments can be made to a FDP and not
submitted for approval. The DM may request a copy of the amendment.
Sections 7.1 through 7.3 of the OSPR specify what can be amended
without requiring DM approval.
The intent of the changes to approvals and
amendments is to provide some reduction in administration for
holders of plans desiring to make minor amendments to their plan,
and to eliminate the need for every minor (non-approved) amendment
to be submitted to the Ministry of Forests. At the same time,
this allows the Government to retain control of critical environment
and other standards that are approved in current operational plans.
These changes also streamline the review and comment process for
major amendments by allowing the DM to reduce review periods where
only a few stakeholders are affected.
A new requirement in sections 18.1 and 18.2
of the OSPR that will involve some immediate work by licencees
is the addition of stocking standards to the FDP (e.g., stocking
requirements, regeneration and free growing dates, minimum allowable
horizontal distance). The inclusion of stocking standards is considered
a major amendment and will require review and approval by the
DM. The DM must use the following criteria to determine whether
or not to approve the stocking standards—the stocking standards
must be consistent with:
- any higher
level plan for the area;
- establishing
a healthy, ecological suitable stand of trees that are commercially
valuable; and
- the current
and future timber supply for the area.
However, these amendments are exempt from notice,
review and comment provisions of the Act (see OPSR 18.4). Details
on stocking standard requirements are contained in OPSR 18.1 and
18.2.
Licencees may include information in an FDP
related to stand level biodiversity, limits on permanent access
structures, limits to soil disturbance and maximum allowable soil
disturbance for roadside work areas. However, this additional
information is considered a voluntary amendment and there is no
requirement for review and comment. Details on voluntary amendments
are contained in OPSR 18.3.
Applicable Legislation
Appendix
A ( 
269 Kb) summarizes the amendments to the Forest Practices
Code of British Columbia Act that impact forest development
plans.
The applicable regulations for Forest Development
Plans include the following:
- Operational
and Site Planning Regulation (replaces Operational Planning
Regulation); and
- Timber
Harvesting and Silviculture Practices Regulation (replaces Silviculture
Practices Regulation).
Lists of changes in these regulations can be
found in Appendix B
(
388Kb) of this Primer.
Downloads
Recorded Presentations
Audio and slide presentations were made to
provide information to session participants from subject matter
experts. For
more information about the format and use of these files, click
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to return to this page).
We have provided the Powerpoint overheads,
a transcription of the session, a PDF file of the overhead handouts
(3 slides per page), and the full presentation with audio.
- Planning
and Forest Development Plans (see
Errata)
- FDP
Question and Answer
- Tenure
Administration Question and Answer
Written Materials
This page
last revised:
February 4, 2003 9:18 AM
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