Forest Management Certification Assessment Report for - Rainforest ...

December 1-Jan 31,2006June 9, 2006 – June23, 2006Assessors officesdoing interviews. KM, TL and JG conductinginterviews by phone, and reviewing documentsfrom officesAssessors preparing draft report. Additionalinterviews with Tembec staff and additionaldocuments requested and reviewed. Fourconference calls to review material collectivelyand reach decisions. First draft of Appendix III,sent to SmartWood for review. Complete firstdraft sent to Tembec on January 31, 2006Assessors reviewed Tembec comments on firstdraft. Team leader met with Tembec, and theteam prepared revisions to report, Pre-Conditions,CARs and observations in response to Tembeccomments. A complete draft for peer review sentto SmartWood and Tembec for further review.Total number of person-days used for the assessment: 60 person days of preparation and fieldwork. Total level of effort for the whole assessment (including additional stakeholder outreachand report writing) is 123 person days.A full list of sites visited is in Appendix VI.A full list of persons interviewed during the assessment is in Appendix VII.2.5. Evaluation strategySmartWood and the assessment team had conducted assessments of Tembec’s other forestryoperations in the East Kootenay area of British Columbia in 2003 and 2004. Team memberswere familiar with Tembec’s personnel, sustainable forest management plan (SFMP) and forestoperations, as well as the geography of the assessment area, the First Nations, community,economic, social and environmental issues and many of the interested parties.The assessment planning began in the early summer of 2005, with frequent interaction betweenthe team leader, SmartWood task manager and Tembec staff regarding the use of the 2005version of the BC standard, public notification requirements and assessment planning. Threemembers of the team met with Tembec staff in Cranbrook between August 23 and 25, 2005 for amini-scoping and pre-assessment planning meeting. Team members interviewed Tembec staffand representatives of some major interest groups during this period to identify issues expected toarise during the assessment and to understand the scope and nature of some recognized majorissues – including contractor and worker issues, safety and employment standards issues, FirstNations, mountain caribou and high conservation value forests. The team addressed many detailsof the assessment plan with Tembec and began to compile and review documents. Several otherimportant tasks were completed including:• Selection of sites for field assessment;• Completion of the data base of tenure and rights holders, customary users and directlyaffected persons for notification purposes;Page 9 of 89