Forest Management Certification Assessment Report for - Rainforest ...

3. ASSESSMENT FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS3.1. Comments received from Interested Parties During the Assessment 4As described in Sections 2.5 and 2.6, the assessment team conducted 96 interviews with a broadrange of interested parties and received 43 written submissions. The comments received covereda huge array of subjects and ranged from very positive to very critical about Tembec’smanagement of a variety of social, environmental and community issues. The following tablebriefly summarizes comments that suggested non-conformance with the FSC Standard andbriefly provides the team’s response. Most of these issues are complex and are dealt with inmore detail in the auditors’ findings section (Appendix III), which is not included in the publicsummary. It is impossible to list and respond to every single specific issue that was raised.However, the team believes that the Table below identifies the general topics of comment thatwere raised and addressed during the assessment.The assessment team received many positive comments about Tembec’s forest managementpractices and operations. Positive comments were particularly made about: ongoing consultationwith the Ktunaxa Nation Council; dedicated, competent and respected planning staff; extensiveand thorough safety and environmental training programs; and a low accident frequency.The following Table lists comments and assertions that were made by various interestedparties to the assessment team during the assessment. The comments in the middle columnreflect the views of those who made them. They are NOT the views of the assessment teamand are not presented as factual. The left hand column provides the assessment team’sresponse.FSC PrincipleP1: FSCCommitment andLegal ComplianceComments from InterestedParties• Motorized recreation vehiclesdamage forest management areas andlaws to control such activities are notenforced by government.• There may be potential “conflicts”between the law and FSC-BCrequirements involving otherauthorized activities such as oil andgas, coal and coal-bed methane.Assessment Team Response• There has been some vehicle activity inareas closed to vehicle traffic. Thedamage from such activities was notconsidered significant. Tembec istaking steps to prevent illegal activities.Based on the steps taken by Tembec,there is no non-conformance with theStandard.• There are no areas within Tembec’soperating areas that involve timberremoval for coal development or oil andgas or coal bed methane. In the eventthat government approves theseactivities, the area would be excluded4 The assessment team prefers not to use the term “stakeholder” to describe those interested individualsand groups who provided comments to the team either in interviews or in written submissions during theassessment. The term “interested parties” is used in place of “stakeholder”.Page 15 of 89