Forest Practices Code of BC Act

PART 1 - DEFINITIONS

NOTE: This is not the current version of the Forest Practices Code. This document is available only as a reference for those sections repealed when the Forest and Range Practices Act came into force January 31, 2004.

For the current version click here

1. Definitions

1. (1) In this Act:

"agreement under the Forest Act" means an agreement in the form of a licence, permit or agreement referred to in section 12 of the Forest Act;

"agreement under the Range Act" means an agreement in the form of a licence or permit referred to in section 3 of the Range Act;

"bladed trail" means a bladed trail as defined by regulation;

"board" means the Forest Practices Board established under section 190;

"botanical forest product" means a prescribed plant or fungus that occurs naturally on Crown forest land;

"commission" means the Forest Appeals Commission continued under section 194;

"community watershed" means a community watershed under section 41 (8);

"compacted area" means a compacted area of soil as defined by regulation;

"corduroyed trail" means a corduroyed trail as defined by regulation;

"council" means the Forest Practices Advisory Council referred to in section 221;

"Crown forest land" means forest land that is Crown land;

"cutblock" means an area, in which timber is to be harvested or has been harvested, identified in a forest development plan, licence to cut, cutting permit, road permit or Christmas tree permit;

"deactivate", when used in relation to a road, means deactivation of the road as prescribed;

"designated energy and mines official" means a person employed in the Ministry of Energy and Mines who is designated by name or title to be a designated energy and mines official by the minister of that ministry for the purpose of a provision of this Act or the regulations that is set out in the designation;

"designated environment official" means a person employed in the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks who is designated by name or title to be a designated environment official by the minister of that ministry for the purpose of a provision of this Act or the regulations that is set out in the designation;

"designated forest official" means a person employed in the Ministry of Forests who is designated by name or title to be a designated forest official by the minister of that ministry for the purpose of a provision of this Act or the regulations that is set out in the designation;

"determination" means any act, decision, procedure, levy, finding, order or other determination made under this Act, the regulations or the standards by a reviewer, official or senior official;

"dispersed disturbance" means a dispersed disturbance as defined by regulation;

"excavated trail" means an excavated trail as defined by regulation;

"forest practice" means timber harvesting, road construction, road maintenance, road use, road deactivation, silviculture treatments, botanical forest product collecting, grazing, hay cutting, fire use, control and suppression and any other activity that is

(a) carried out on land that is

(i) Crown forest land,

(ii) range land, or

(iii) private land that is subject to a tree farm licence, community forest agreement or a woodlot licence, and

(b) carried out by

(i) any person

(A) under an agreement under the Forest Act or Range Act,

(B) for a commercial purpose under this Act or the regulations, or

(ii) the government;

"forest resources" means resources and values associated with forests and range including, without limitation, timber, water, wildlife, fisheries, recreation, botanical forest products, forage and biological diversity;

"free growing stand" means a stand of healthy trees of a commercially valuable species, the growth of which is not impeded by competition from plants, shrubs or other trees;

"grazing schedule" means a schedule that sets out the class and number of livestock that can use an area described in the schedule, the dates the livestock can use the area and other prescribed information;

"higher level plan" means an objective

(a) for a resource management zone,

(b) for a landscape unit or sensitive area,

(d) NOT IN FORCE.

"interpretive forest site" means an interpretive forest site established under section 6 or designated under the Forest Act before the coming into force of this Act;

"livestock" means livestock as defined under the Range Act and those species designated by regulation as being livestock;

"maintain", in realtion to a road, means to carry out any activity realed to the repair of, or physical change to, the road, but not its deactivation, and includes any modification related to the repair of the road;

"master licence to cut" means a licence to cut in the form of a master agreement referred to in section 51 (3) of the Forest Act;

"minister" means the member of the Executive Council charged by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council with the administration of this Act;

"ministers" means the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks and the Minister of Energy and Mines;

"minor salvage operation" means minor salvage operation as defined by regulation;

"modify", when used in relation to the repair of a road or to a physical change to a road, means to carry out any of the following activities:

(a) replacing or adding a stream culvert;

(b) replacing or adding a bridge, or providing structural repairs to a bridge or major culvert;

(d) re-establishing road subgrade stability;

(e) re-establishing cut slope stability by resloping, buttressing or erecting a retaining structure along the cut slope;

"natural range barrier" means a river, rock face, dense timber or any other naturally occurring feature that stops or significantly impedes livestock movement to and from an adjacent area;

"net area to be reforested" means

(a) the portion of the area under a silviculture prescription that does not include

(i) an area occupied by permanent access structures,

(ii) an area of rock, wetland or other area that in its natural state is incapable of growing a stand of trees that meets the stocking requirements specified in the prescription,

(iii) an area of non-commercial forest cover of 4 ha or less that is indicated in the silviculture prescription as an area where the establishment of a free growing stand is not required,

(iv) a contiguous area of more than 4 ha that the district manager determines is composed of non-commercial forest cover, or

(v) an area indicated in the silviculture prescription as a reserve area where the establishment of a free growing stand is not required, and

(b) if there is no silviculture prescription for a cutblock, the portion of the cutblock that does not include

(i) an area occupied by permanent access structures,

(ii) an area of rock, wetland or other area that in its natural state is not capable of supporting a stand of trees that meets the stocking requirements specified in the regulations,

(iii) an area of non-commercial forest cover that is indicated on an operational plan or in the prescribed manner as an area in which the establishment of a free growing stand is not required, or

(iv) an area indicated on an operational plan or in the prescribed manner as a reserve area in which the establishment of a free growing stand is not required;

"official" means

(a) a designated forest official,

(b) a designated environment official, or

(c) a designated energy and mines official;

"operational plan" means a forest development plan, logging plan, range use plan or silviculture prescription, or a site plan for a woodlot licence or for a community forest agreement;

"permanent access structure" means permanent access structure as defined by regulation;

"range development" means

(a) if related to the management, for range purposes, of range land or livestock, a structure, excavation or constructed livestock trail, and

(b) a practice, excluding grazing, that is designed to improve range conditions or facilitate more efficient use of range land for range purposes;

"range land" means Crown range and land subject to an agreement under section 18 of the Range Act;

"recreation feature" means a biological, physical, cultural or historic feature that has recreational significance or value;

"recreation resource" means

(a) a recreation feature,

(b) a scenic or wilderness feature or setting that has recreational significance or value, or

"recreation site" means a recreation site established under section 6 of this Act or designated under the Forest Act before the coming into force of this Act;

"recreation trail" means a recreation trail established under section 6 of this Act or designated under the Forest Act before the coming into force of this Act;

"reviewer" means the person or majority of persons assigned by a review official for the purpose of a review of a determination under section 129;

"senior official" means

(a) a district manager or regional manager,

(b) a person employed in a senior position in the Ministry of Forests, who is designated by name or title to be a senior official for the purposes of this Act by the minister of that ministry,

(c) a person employed in a senior position in the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, who is designated by name or title to be a senior official for the purposes of this Act by the minister of that ministry, and

(d) a person employed in a senior position in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, who is designated by name or title to be a senior official for the purposes of this Act by the minister of that ministry;

"site plan" means

(a) in relation to

(i) a holder of a forest development plan other than a holder of a woodlot licence or a community forest agreement, or

(ii) a holder of a timber sale licence that requires its holder to prepare a site plan,

a plan under section 21.1, and

(b) in relation to a holder of a woodlot licence or a community forest agreement, a site plan prepared by the holder under a regulation made under section 217.1;

"soil disturbance" means

(a) disturbance to the soil that occurs, on an area covered by a silviculture prescription or by a site plan under section 21.1, because of

(i) excavated or bladed trails that are of a temporary nature,

(ii) corduroyed trails,

(iii) temporary access structures,

(iv) compacted areas resulting from a forest practice, or

(v) dispersed disturbance of the soil resulting from a forest practice, and

(b) if there is no silviculture prescription for a cutblock in a woodlot licence area or a community forest agreement area, disturbance to the soil that occurs, on an area covered by a site plan prepared by the holder of the licence or agreement, because of

(i) excavated or bladed trails of a temporary nature,

(ii) corduroyed trails,

(iii) compacted areas resulting from a forest practice, or

(iv) dispersed disturbance of the soil resulting from a forest practice;

"standard" means a standard established by the chief forester under section 8;

"unfenced grazing land" means unfenced private land used for grazing in common with Crown range to which an agreement under the Range Act applies;

"wildlife" means

(a) a vertebrate that is a mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian prescribed as wildlife under the Wildlife Act,

(b) a fish, including

(i) any vertebrate of the order Petromyzoniformes (lampreys) or class Osteichthyes (bony fishes), or

(ii) any invertebrate of the class Crustacea (crustaceans) or class Mollusca (mollusks) from or in the non-tidal waters of British Columbia, and

(c) an invertebrate or plant listed by the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection as an endangered, threatened or vulnerable species,

and includes the eggs and juvenile stages of these vertebrates, invertebrates and plants.

(1.1) In this Act, a reference to section 22 is a reference to that section as it was immediately before it was repealed and, for the purpose of a provision of this Act that refers to section 22, section 22 is deemed to continue in force despite its repeal.

(2) Words and expressions not defined in this Act have the meaning given to them in the Forest Act and Range Act except where the context indicates otherwise.

(3) A reference in this Act to the minister or his or her designate, or the minister or a person authorized by the minister, or any similar reference, does not mean that a reference to the minister alone requires the minister to deal with the matter personally, and a reference to the minister alone means a reference to the minister or an appropriate official of the Ministry of Forests.

(4) Section 14 (2) of the Interpretation Act does not apply to this Act.

(5) Sections 117, 119, 143 and 157 do not apply to the government.

(6) If a regulation is made under subsection (7), a district manager may, in accordance with the regulation, delegate any of the district manager’s powers or duties to a person employed in the Ministry of Forests.

(7) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation

(a) authorize one or more district managers to delegate any of the district manager’s powers or duties under the regulations, or under the provisions set out in subsection (8), to a person employed in the Ministry of Forests,

(b) limit the powers and duties that may be delegated, and

(c) limit the persons or classes of persons to whom the district manager may delegate.

NEW (8) A regulation under subsection (7) may authorize the delegation of powers and duties under the regulations or under sections 18 (7), 19, 20 to 33, 35 to 41, 44, 48.1, 49, 50, 52, 54, 59 to 61, 63 (5) and (7), 64, 65, 69, 74, 101 (1) or (1.1), 228, 230, 232, 236, 238 or 240.

(9) With respect to a power or duty exercised by a delegate under subsection (6), the provisions of this Act or a regulation or standard made under this Act apply to the delegate as if the delegate were the district manager.

(10) For the purposes of a provision that refers to a higher level plan, an operational plan or a consent being consistent or inconsistent, NEW

(a) an operational plan is consistent with a higher level plans or another operational plans if the operational plan does not materially conflict with the higher level plan or the other operational plan,; (b) a higher level plan is consistent with another higher level plan if the higher level plan does not materially conflict with the other higher level plan, and; (c) a consent is consistent with a higher level plan or an operational plan if the consent does not materially conflict with the higher level plan or the operational plan.

Nisga'a Final Agreement

1.1 (1) In this section, "Nisga'a Final Agreement" has the same meaning as in the Nisga'a Final Agreement Act.

(2) Forest development plans required under the Forest Resources Chapter and Appendix H of the Nisga'a Final Agreement by the holder of a licence referred to in paragraph 5 (b) of that chapter are deemed to be forest development plans under this Act and the regulations.

(3) Silviculture prescriptions required under the Forest Resources Chapter and Appendix H of the Nisga'a Final Agreement by

(a) the holder of a licence referred to in paragraph 5 (b) of that chapter, or

(b) the district manager

are deemed to be silviculture prescriptions under section 22 of this Act and under the regulations.

(4) Section 21.1 does not apply for the purposes of the Nisga'a Final Agreement.

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