Series GR-3659 - Tree farm forest management plans from the Port Alberni Forest District

The series consists of tree farm forest development plans and forest management plans and created for tree farm licences (TFLs). The records were created by the Port Alberni Forest District, and its successor the South Island Forest District, between 1971 and 2005. Many of the records relate to the forestry management in the Barkley Sound, Clayoquot Sound, Walbran and Fairy Creek areas. Including forest that was the focus of protests and acts of civil disobedience in the 1990s, known as the Clayoquot protests or War of the Woods.

TFLs are a type of timber tenure which grants a virtually exclusive right to harvest timber and manage forests in a specified area. They are issued for a term of 25 years, but can be replaced every 5-10 years.

These files document the management of TFL 20, TFL 21, TFL 22, TFL 25, TFL 44, TFL 46, TFL 47, TFL 54 and TFL 57. Over the years, TFL boundaries and rights holders may have changed. For example, in 1984, TFL 20 and 21 were combined to form TFL 44, and TFL 44 was later divided to create TFL 57 in 1999.

TFL holders are required to submit a management plan every five years to the Chief Forester (RSBC 1996, c. 157, s. 35, and BC Reg. 23/2013). The Forest Act requires that the plan must:

1. Be prepared by a professional forester;
2. Include inventories of forest, recreation, fisheries, wildlife, range and cultural heritage resources in the area;
3. Be consistent with the tree farm licence, legislation and regulations;
4. Propose objectives regarding the management and utilization of timber resources, the protection and conservation of non-timber values, forest fire prevention and suppression, forest health, silviculture, and road construction and deactivation;
5. Include proposals for meeting proposed management objectives;
6. List measures to identify and consult with persons using the licence area for purposes other than timber production;
7. Include a timber supply analysis that analyzes the short term and long term availability of timber for harvesting;
8. Include an operational supply projection for the licence area, in support of the timber supply analysis that indicates the availability of timber.

These records include draft and final management or development plans; revisions or amendments to existing plans; correspondence between the ministry and licence holders, as well as correspondence with ministry staff; records related to public review of the development plans; consultation and correspondence with First Nations; reasons for why a plan or amendment was or was not approved; advertisements in newspapers and the Gazette; and maps and map overlays. The series also includes some records related to the construction, maintenance and deactivation of forest service roads in the TFLs.

The records have been classified as 19710-20 and 19710-30 in the Forestry Operational Classification System (ORCS).

The ministries responsible for these records, and the years that they were responsible, are:
Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988)
Ministry of Forests (1988-2005)