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Red Mountain Resort passes audit

An audit of forest planning at Red Mountain has found that the resort meets the requirements of provincial legislation

Alicia Wallace

Rossland News

An audit of forest planning, harvesting and road practices at Red Mountain Resort (RMR), released by Forest Practices Board (FPB) dated November 13, has found that the resort meets the requirements of provincial forestry legislation and that RMR had effectively planned for and protected resource interests during its ski hill expansion activities.

The audit was conducted in regards to the Grey Mountain expansion area that occurred between July 1, 2012 and July 9, 2014. Audit fieldwork was then carried out on July 8 and 9 of this year.

As part of the FPB’s 2014 compliance audit program, the Board randomly selected the Selkirk District as the location for a full scope compliance audit. Within the district, the Board selected occupant licence to cut (OLTC)#1 L49318, held by RMR Acquisitions Inc. An OLTC provides a resort operator with authority to remove Crown timber from a controlled recreation area.

Over the past two years, approximately 52,000 cubic metres of timber was harvested from the OLTC as part of the ski hill expansion plan. Harvesting focused mainly on ski hill design objectives, but also addressed forest health.

RMR constructed 2.2 kilometres of road to access the open cut patches. The same road was then deactivated upon completion of harvest. RMR also constructed 2.1 kilometres of temporary access roads, which were in various stages of rehabilitation at the time of the audit.

“In my opinion, the operational planning, timber harvesting, road construction, deactivation and maintenance, and fire hazard abatement activities carried out by RMR, complied in all significant respects with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act (WA),” explained Christopher Mosher, Director of Audits for FPB.

There were no active operations during the field audit so it was not possible for auditors to audit the firefighting equipment requirements of the WA. However, auditors reviewed RMR’s fire preparedness plans to assess compliance with the administrative requirements for fire preparedness. These audits all passed.

“We were pleased to find that Red Mountain Resort fully met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act,” said Board Chair, Tim Ryan.

 

The Forest Practices Board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices, reporting its findings and recommendations directly to the public and government.