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Series consists of special timber licences created by the Ministry of Forests and its predecessors. The ministry created these records to manage the process of providing applicants with the right to cut in forests. The records were created between 1911-1990 although the majority of the records in this series were created between 1963 and 1982. The records deal with all areas of the province and were created in accordance with the Forest Act and its sections on timber licences.

Special timber licences were first referred to in the 1888 Lands Act (SBC 1888, c. 16). The 1912 Forest Act (SBC 1912, c. 17) stated that a “special timber licence shall vest in the holder thereof all rights of property whatsoever in all trees, timber, and lumber cut within the limits of the licence during the term.” These licences remained in effect until the January 1, 1979 enactment of the new Forest Act (SBC 1978, c. 23). This 1978 act replaced special timber licences with a new form of timber licence.

The records are arranged by the timber licence number which begins with TL followed by a sequential number. The TL number was phased out in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with the introduction of the timber licence files. Many files have the new timber licence number, which begins with “T”, written on the front of the file. There is also a sheet in the front of the file that contains information about the file that replaced it.

The files usually consist of a copy of the licence, renewal documentation, correspondence, logging inspection reports, and termination documents.

There are also two volumes of file 18043f from the Dept. of Lands and Works’ “O” files series. These files contain documentation about multiple licences. These have been placed in the last box.

Ministries that were responsible for this series include:
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)

The series contains the executive services records of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and its successor the Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB). Records include briefing notes for distribution (including information notes and decision notes) to executives of the Ministry regarding a variety of topics related to land use planning and implementation while ILMB records have a strong focus on First Nations issues as they relate to land use planning. Records also include executive correspondence and referral replies. Correspondence is between the Ministry and the public or organizations/associations and covers mostly the same topics as in the briefing notes.

The records are classified according to the Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS) schedule 100001. The records are arranged for the most part by year and then by topic.
The majority fall under ARCS primary number 280: Executive Services. The primary numbers -20 and -30 correspond to Executive Briefing Notes and Executive Correspondence Referrals respectively. There are however a very small number of documents from accession 95-9631 that were filed alongside executive services documents that are included in this series as misfiles. These records may also be closely related to the correspondence files and complement the detailed responses from the Ministry in regard to matters concerning LRMPs in the region. Records from accession 95-9631 relate to the monitoring process of the Skeena Region following the approval of its Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMP). The majority of the records come from the Regional Director’s office of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in Smithers, B.C. Earlier records came from the Kispiox Forest District of the Ministry of Forests who chaired the implementation and monitoring process of the region’s LRMP prior to those responsibilities being transferred to the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in 2001.
Furthermore, these records document the creation of the LRMP monitoring committees and the Ministry’s involvement with monitoring and making changes to the Skeena Region’s Land and Resource Management Plans. Committee files include terms of reference, presentations and a series of invitations, nomination forms, recruitment letters, newspaper ads and contributions, correspondence, meeting minutes and draft recommendations.
There are also a small number of plans and programs for the region proposed by the Ministry, which include resource inventory, resource assessments, habitat mapping, recreation opportunities, timber, environmental assessments and other related data studies. Records relating to agreements surrounding these projects detail appointments, contracts and funding provided by the ministry.

Series consists of non-replaceable timber sale licence files. These licences provide an applicant with a one-time right to harvest timber in a specified area.

Each file documents the issuance, administration and cancellation of licences as per the Forest Act. The majority of the files in this series date from 1978-1995 although there are also some files that date back to 1968. The records are from all areas of the province.

The files consist primarily of copies of the licence, applications, maps, deletion notices, status clearance forms, correspondence and reports. The ministry assigned A numbers to the files which have been assigned sequentially. There are many gaps in the numbering since the ministry only transferred cancelled licence files to the archives.

The records were created by the Timber Management Branch and the Timber Harvesting Branch. The following ministries were responsible for forestry between 1973-1994:
1973-1975 Dept. of Lands, Forests and Water Resources
1975-1976 Dept. of Forests
1976-1986 Ministry of Forests
1986-1988 Ministry of Forests and Lands
1988-1994 Ministry of Forests

The records have been classified as 19620-25 in the Forest ORCS.