Chief Forester may establish stocking standards

Amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) and the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation (FPPR) will provide the chief forester the authority to issue an Order requiring the holder of a Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) to comply with the stocking standards set out in the Order.

This authority is intended to allow the chief forester to respond to emerging information related to management for values such as wildfire risk, cultural heritage, forest ecology and resilience to change. The circumstances under which the chief forester may use this authority are limited by the criteria set out in the regulation and cannot be delegated to another person.

This new authority does not apply to Woodlot Licence Plan holders.

Making an order

The chief forester may issue an Order to revoke, vary, or replace a stocking standard when forest health, natural hazards or ecological conditions have changed since the FSP stocking standards were approved and continuing to manage to those standards will produce unacceptable results to our public forests’:

• Ecological resiliency
• Wildfire risk
• Non-timber stewardship values
• Timber supply sustainability

A stocking standard Order would apply to new harvesting only and could be made at any time during the term of the FSP.

Amended sections of the Forest and Range Practices Act and Forest Planning and Practices Regulations

Added:

• FRPA s. 31.1
• FPPR s.16.1