Whereas many areas of rural BC have significant holdings of forested private land which are not constrained by the requirement to plan for impacts of forest harvesting including those related to terrain, hydrological and slope stability; And whereas these forested private land holdings, if harvested, may affect municipal infrastructure, crown land, adjacent private property, and water sources: Therefore be it resolved that the Ministry of Forest Lands, Natural Resources Operations and Rural Development develop and implement tree removal regulations for the planning and harvesting of trees on forested private land where there is a harvesting of an area greater than 4 hectares in order to protect the adjacent property, infrastructure or natural resources from incremental damage caused due to the large scale harvesting of trees.
Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development There has been an increase in the number of private land timber mark applications, as land owners respond to high timber prices. Private land logging is not regulated to the same standard or extent as Crown land logging. However, Ministry natural resource officers monitor for violations on private land that occur under the Water Sustainability Act, Heritage Conservation Act, Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act. Natural resource officers in the Kootenays have received a number of complaints regarding private land logging; however, inspections to date have found no infractions. At this time, the Ministry is not considering additional regulations for logging on private land. If the public is witness to any suspected acts of non-compliance, they are encouraged to call BCs RAPP violation reporting system, which can be found online.