The following review of the Bulkley Results-Based Forest Practices Code Pilot Project (the "Pilot Project") was prepared on behalf of the Forest Caucus of the BC Environmental Network by Andrew Gage, Barrister & Solicitor. The review focuses primarily on Draft 4 of the Bulkley Pilot Project Regulation (the "Regulation") for compliance with Part 10.1 of the Forest Practices Code (the "Code") and for consistency with the Project Proposal.
I am informed by Barry Smith, District Manager for the Bulkley/Cassiar Forest District, that Draft 4 of the Regulation is the current draft. However, he confirmed that a further draft will be developed before the Pilot Project proceeds to the public input stage. I note that the current draft was often difficult to follow and contained a number of errors and omissions. I have noted a few suggestions regarding drafting in the last section of this review, but in general have tried to restrict my review to the content of the Pilot Project. In some instances, however, the drafting of the regulation raised issues which may or may not have been intended by the proponents of the Pilot Project.
In my opinion at the Regulation, as drafted, does not meet the requirements of Part 10.1 of the Code and fails to enact some key measures described in the proposal. Moreover, I note that parts of the Regulation were poorly edited or drafted to the point of being quite unclear, and suggest that the proponents might wish to prepare a further draft before proceeding to public comment.