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This series consists of wildfire mapping records including fire atlas maps and fire reports from the Prince Rupert Forest District. The records date from 1921-1980. Collectively these records provide a comprehensive image of the amount and extent of forest fires in the area.

The Prince Rupert Forest District was divided into smaller Ranger Districts. These Ranger Districts changed over the years, but included: Burns Lake, Hazleton, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Kitwanga, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), Ocean Falls, Francois Lake, Smithers, Telkwa, Houston, Pendleton Bay, Kitimat, Lower Post, Topley, Bella Coola, Southbank, Telegraph Creek and Atlin.

Annual fire reports are oversized handwritten tables that provide detailed information on individual fires for the years 1921-1967. The tables list: name of the fire; name of officer in charge; date; district fire number; fire origin; cost of fighting and source of funds; area burned; total area of damage done; amount of merchantable and unmerchantable timber burned; amount of range land burned; amount of property or other damage caused; and the cause of the fire. Possible causes include lightening, recreational activities, railroad clearing, smokers, brush or range burning, construction, industrial activities, incendiaries, miscellaneous known causes and unknown causes. The pages are arranged by year, with one page used per Ranger District. Each year includes a summary sheet with the totals for all Ranger Districts.

Fire atlas maps and overlays show the location and type of fires, as well as the extent of some burned areas. The majority of the maps are forest cover maps which have been annotated or had overlays added with this additional information. Many of the maps have been cut to fit in the bound volume they were originally stored in. This can make it difficult to determine the precise year the maps were created and annotated.

The series also includes one scrapbook of newspaper clippings related to forest fires, fire protection and firefighting for the years 1988-1991. This item was created by the successor of the Prince Rupert Forest District, the Prince Rupert Forest Region.

Ministries responsible for the creation of this series, and their dates of the responsibility, are:
Dept. of Lands (1908-1945)
Dept. of Lands and Forests (1945-1962)
Dept. of Lands, Forests and Water Resources (1962-1975)
Dept. of Forests 1975-1976
Ministry of Forests 1976-1986
Ministry of Forests and Lands 1986-1988
Ministry of Forests 1988-2005

This series consists of records related to forest tenures from the Prince Rupert Forest Region, 1968-1980. It had been previously known as the Prince Rupert Forest District. The Prince Rupert Forest Region has included a variety of different Ranger Districts or smaller Forest Districts over time. The records in this series relate to the Burns Lake Ranger Office, South Bank Ranger Office and Lakes Forest District (near Ootsa Lake or the Nechako Reservoir). Note that the names and boundaries of districts and regions varied over the years.

These records include the following types of forest tenures: cutting permits, timber sale harvesting licences, timber sale licences and special use permits. Each file relates to one forest tenure.

The records regard the issuance, evaluation, administration, monitoring, planning, replacement, cancellation and extension of forest tenures. Many of the records consist of waste assessments, logging inspections and maps. There is also correspondence, permits, licences and other operational and legal records.

The ministries responsible for Forest and Range Districts, and the years that they were responsible, are:
Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
Dept. of Forests (1975-1976)
Dept. of Lands, Forests and Water Resources (1962-1975)

These records were created before the implementation of ORCS, but have been retroactively scheduled under ORCS number 19500-45 of the Ministry of Forests schedule (881261).

The series consists of records created by the Ministry of Forests (1976-1986), the Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988) and the Ministry of Forests (1988-). Records date from 1977-1994.

The series includes nine different types of computer output microfiche (COM) reports that are arranged by year. Within each year, each type is filed separately, and subdivided by forest district (1977-1978) or forest region (1979-present), if applicable. Districts/regions include: Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Kamloops, Prince George, Nelson and Cariboo.

The records include the following: piece scale invoices, weight scale invoices, weight scale ratio report, appraisal code sheets, mark rate report, mark royalty reports, road ledger, scaler ledger and species ledger. These records are generated by scale and royalty billing activities. It is a requirement of the Forest Act ( SBC 1978, c. 23) that all timber be scaled.

There are two primary methods of scaling used in the Province: piece scale and weight scale. Piece scale involves the measurement of each log harvested. This method is normally used in coastal areas where the logs are larger and not uniform in size. Weight scale is a sampling method where selected loads of logs over a period of time are piece scaled and this data is then used to estimate the volume of all other weighed loads. This method is used primarily in the interior of the Province and was introduced in 1963. It is generally used for large volumes of smaller logs that are uniform in size. Other scaling methods may be used for small volumes of special products, for example, Christmas trees or fence posts.

Until 1985, scalers were employees of the Ministry of Forests, with some limited exceptions. After privatization, the Ministry retained responsibility for examination, appointment, and licensing of scalers. The Ministry is now responsible for authorizing scale sites and conditions, designating which scale timber should go to, establishing scale computation and data controls and ensuring compliance with regulations. The requirements for scaling are outlined in part 6 of the Forest Act and the Scaling Regulations. Additional information is contained in the Scaling Manual and Ministry of Forests scaling policies. The Scaling Manual provides specific instructions on how scale will be measured and calculated and which records must be submitted.

Piece and weight scale invoices are generated from the data collected from the two different types of scaling. They document the amount of royalties owing by each account holder. The two types are kept separately and arranged by forest district/region and consecutive account number. Piece scale invoices are identified with a code beginning with P followed by a letter for the region. Weight scale invoices are identified with a code beginning with W followed by a letter for the region. The letters used for the regions are: V or W (effective May 1982) for Vancouver; R for Prince Rupert; K for Kamloops; G for Prince George; N for Nelson and C for Cariboo. Invoice numbers which are missing were used for manual billing, a practice which ended in the early 1980's.

Ratio reports are the ratios in effect for the month and that are used for processing Weight Scale billing. Ratios are determined by the sample loads that are scaled.

Appraisal code sheets contain information about timber marks. This information is used to determine stumpage rates for billing purposes. These records date from 1979-1982. They have been replaced by the General Appraisal System.

Mark reports include information about rates, appraisals, and other administrative information about each timber mark. These are monthly reports.

Mark royalty reports include rate information for each class of royalty by species/product/grade. Combined with scale data this will determine which rates are used for each royalty type.

Road ledgers were set up to amortise, over time, specific forestry and road costs as part of the timber the late 1970 's and 1980's. These invoices reflect a credit to stumpage associated with the amortisation amount related to either a piece or weight scale invoice.

There are separate ledgers for piece scale invoices and weight scale invoices; each ledger is subdivided by forest district/region. The code used to identify a piece scale road ledger is K followed by a letter representing the district/region. The codes used to identify a weight scale road ledger is L followed by a letter for the district/region. The records date from 1979 to 1985.

There are two types of species ledgers, monthly and yearly. These reports list the log volumes billed by species on each invoice. The monthly report is organized by district/region and timber mark. The yearly report is organized by region and timber mark. The yearly report also includes year to date reports.

A timber mark indicates the property on which the logs were cut. The scalers' ledger is a list of the volume and value scaled by each scaler and is arranged by scaler licence number.

These records are found in secondaries 20340-20, 20390-20, 20390-50 and 21330-20 in the Ministry of Forests ORCS, schedule number 881261.