Operational plans must be prepared by those who hold "major licences" under the Forest Act; woodlot licences; community forest agreements; and, agreements under the Range Act. For the Small Business Forest Enterprise Program, the Ministry of Forests both prepares and approves the operational plans.

Most of the operational plans in the province are prepared by major licensees, due to the extent to which timber rights were historically allocated to major licence holders. Under section 1 of the Forest Act, a major licence is:

• a timber sale licence that is replaceable under this Act and that has an allowable annual cut greater than ten thousand cubic metres, or issued under section 23(1)(a) to satisfy the obligations of the government under a pulpwood agreement;
• a tree farm licence;
• a timber licence; and,
• a forest licence.