The Oversight Framework for the
Forest and Range Practices Act
Ian Miller, RPF
Resource Practices Branch
Presented to SISCO Winter Workshop
Kamloops, BC
February 26, 2014
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OUTLINE
• FRPA construct review
• Oversight Framework at a glance
• Legislated components
– FRPA specific
– Non-FRPA specific
• Non-legislated components
• How do they fit or work together?
• How will we use what the OF is telling us?
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Forest & Range Practices Act & regulations
OBJECTIVES
PLAN &
PRACTICE
REQ’MENTS
C&E
EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS
PROFESSIONAL RELIANCE
Resource statutes
e.g. FRPA
Legal Realm
Professional
statutes
Common law:
civil liability
Common law: professional negligence
Non-Legal Realm
Societal
expectations
Scientific / technical knowledge
(Underpins societal expectations, and
some aspects of the legal realm)
The Oversight Framework at a Glance:
• Legislated and FRPA-specific
• Legislated, but not FRPA-specific
• Non-legislated, and FRPA-specific
• Non-legislated, and not FRPA-specific
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LEGISLATED FRPA OVERSIGHT
1. Compliance and Enforcement
2. Forest Practices Board
•
Refer to comments from previous presenters on this panel
3. Forest Appeals Commission
•
Tribunal; reports to Cabinet; hears appeals from tenure
holders and the FPBoard; decisions published on web
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LEGISLATED FRPA OVERSIGHT (con’t)
4. Forest and Range Practices Advisory Council (PAC)
•
•
•
•
Broad spectrum of stakeholders: First Nations, USW,
UBCM, Tourism sector, BC Cattlemen, ENGO, woodlot
federation, large and small forest sectors
Undertake periodic reviews of planning and practice
requirements, and related matters referred from Minister
Recommendations directly to Minister
All outputs posted on web
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Legislated oversight mandate; not FRPA-specific
• Office of the Auditor-General
• Refer to comments from previous presenter on this panel
• Audits and recommendations on any aspect of Government
programs, e.g. timber management, biodiversity
• Reports to the Legislature, publications on the web
• Government obligated to respond and take action
• Opportunities for more proactive engagement
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Legislated oversight mandate; not FRPA-specific
(con’t)
• Professional Associations
• Foresters, Engineers, Geo-scientists: exclusive right to
practice
• Agrologists, Biologists: Exclusive right to title
• Codes of ethics, complaint investigations, penalties
• Practice guidelines; advocacy, professional reliance
training, etc.
• Reports to members and the public; publications on the
web
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Non-legislated oversight of FRPA
• Forest and Range Evaluation Program (FREP)
–
–
–
–
–
Measures on-the-ground results, by value
Now tracking FPC vs FRPA, and trends
Also assesses the effectiveness of FRPA overall
10 years of data; over 8000 samples
Multiple Resource Value Assessment (MRVA) reports,
extension notes, ADM report etc; posted on web
– Developing a framework for integrated monitoring across
the NR sector
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Non-legislated oversight of FRPA (con’t)
• Silviculture and stand treatment tracking and reporting
– Delivered through RESULTS reporting
– Indicates delivery of commitments and obligations for
restocking
– Helps answer “Did we get what we expected, or what we
need?”
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Non-legislated, ad-hoc commentary on forest and
range planning and practices in BC
• State of the Forest, State of the Environment,
Cumulative Effects reports (government-led)
• Substantive public-realm commentary (UBCM
resolutions, UVIC Environmental Law Centre reports,
Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities initiative)
• Voluntary oversight and commentary (public, industry or
stakeholder groups, certification bodies, etc)
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How do the pieces of the OF link with each other?
• Generally.....sporadically, and ad-hoc
• Strong linkages do exist between some pieces
– FREP -- Forest Practices Board
– Forest Practices Board -- Practices Advisory Council
• Opportunities to strengthen linkages, create
transparency, improve access and “profile” of results
• Strong role for government
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How SHOULD the pieces of the OF link with each
other?
• Developing the linkages now
• Using outputs now to triangulate on “biggest effect for
the effort” in resolving identified issues
• Putting the “continuous” back into Continuous
Improvement for FRPA
• Weighing of evidence to provide rationale for change
• Implications for both legal (Act and regulations) and nonlegal parts of the entire FRPA framework
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Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are
most welcome......
Thanks for your attention!!!
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