Woodlot Licensee Guides & Tools

Interest in commercial thinning has been on the rise in British Columbia. Practiced appropriately, commercial thinning can increase the value of forest land by improving tree growth and timber quality while at the same time, providing additional fibre to sawmills, pulp mills and pellet mills. As small managed area-based tenures located close to communities and wood processing facilities, BC woodlots are logical areas to practice commercial thinning.

In 2021, the Ministry of Forest released the Interim Guidance for Commercial Thinning – Interior British Columbia. Effective April 1, 2025, Thinning Guidance for British Columbia replaces that interim guidance and is applicable to all of British Columbia.

The intent of this thinning guidance is to provide a science-based foundation that fosters collaboration and trust among industry, First Nations, and government staff; promotes innovation; reduces administrative complexity; and is a part of an adaptive management framework that leads to increased opportunities and benefits in our forests.

Thinning Guidance for BC (2025)

The following guide was prepared for the Prince George Woodlot Association with funding from Woodlots BC. The information provided here is not intended to provide legal or professional advice and the opinions expressed herein are those of the author and may not reflect the opinions of Woodlots BC or the Ministry of Forests (MoF). Licensees are responsible to manage their woodlots in accordance with the forestry legislation.

Commercial Thinning Guide (PGWA, April 2024)

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The woodlot licence provides for an allowable annual cut. It is regulated by cut control rules and actions as set out in the Forest Act and the Cut Control Regulation. Cut control ensures that the volume of timber harvested under the licence is consistent with its harvesting rights.

Cut Control Administration Guide

Resources:

Buckle Up: Let’s Talk Cut Control (January 2024 by M. Steidle)

Section 136(3)(a) of the Forest Act requires Woodlot Licence (WL) holders to keep accurate records with respect to timber harvesting including:

• the volume of timber harvested,
• the nature and extent of silviculture carried out, and
• the costs of each of the following:
• timber harvesting,
• transporting, by any means, harvested timber,
• constructing and maintaining logging roads and bridges,
• forest management administration, and
• silviculture carried out.

Section 136(4) requires a Woodlot Licensee to report this information (when requested) to the ministry in a form, manner and at the times required by the minister.

The following document and accompanying Woodlot Cost Calculator spreadsheet are provided to assist Woodlot Licensees keep accurate records and documentation:

Financial Record Keeping_Aug 29, 2022

Financial Record Keeping – WL Cost Calculator

The Woodlot Licence Timber Resources Inventory Handbook provides the holders of woodlot licences, their service providers, and FLNRORD staff with guidelines and information for the preparation and presentation of timber resource inventories for woodlot licences in British Columbia.  An inventory of timber resources is required by the Forest Act as part of a Woodlot management plan, and will be submitted with a completed management plan.

Woodlot Licence Inventory Handbook

What is LiDAR and how can it help you? Many licensees know their land base intimately and may ask why LiDAR is of value to them. LiDAR supports your knowledge of plans and maps which other users – contractors, consultants, MoF, and public – can make use of.

LiDAR Primer (Ken Dodd, 2023)

The Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP), the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations (FBCWA) and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) developed a matrix to guide the use of Professional Reliance (PR) for woodlot licences. The matrix is intended as interim guidance and is expected to be a positive contribution to the work plan being developed by the PR steering committee. The matrix does not represent legal advice and is not intended to fetter the discretion of the Association of BC Forest Professionals, the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations or delegated decision makers. In the event of a conflict between this guidance document and the relevant acts, such as the Foresters Act, the Forest Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act, etc., the wording of the Acts will prevail.

Interim Guidance: Roles and Responsibilities of Woodlot Licensees, Government Staff and Forest Professionals (2011)

Woodlot Safety Plan

Each small tenure holder in BC has a responsibility to have a safety plan in place to guide forest management activities on their tenure area. Recognizing that tenure holders manage those operations in a range of ways, the Woodlot Licence and Community Forest Safety Committee has developed three safety plan templates based on two main criteria:

1. Who conducts the activities (e.g. the tenure holder and/or their employees or contractor(s)
2. The nature of those operations (e.g. higher risk activities – road building, harvesting, log hauling vs. lower risk activities – planting, surveys, layout)

The following descriptions will help you evaluate your situation and choose which scenario is most relevant.

Scenario 1

Intended for tenure holders who contract out all activities carried out on the tenure area. However, this does not preclude the tenure holder from conducting administrative tasks and/or visiting the tenure for general or site inspection purposes.

Scenario 2

Intended for tenure holders who use contractors to conduct higher risk activities (i.e. road building, harvesting, log hauling, etc.) and the tenure holder conducts ONLY lower risk activities (i.e. basic silviculture, layout, etc.).

Scenario 3

Intended for tenure holders who directly conduct low and high-risk activities in the tenure area (i.e. planning, harvesting, silviculture, etc.). The tenure holder may also periodically use contractors to perform some of these activities.

Safety Plan Templates

Each template provides guidance and resources (checklists, example forms, links) to help woodlot licensees build a new safety plan or enhance their existing program. If you are interested in becoming Safe Certified, these templates will also assist you in pursuing that objective.

Safety Plan Template – Small Tenure Scenario #1
Safety Plan Template – Small Tenure Scenario #1 – fillable

Safety Plan Template -Small Tenure Scenario #2
Safety Plan Template – Small Tenure Scenario #2 – fillable

Safety Plan Template –  Small Tenure Scenario #3
Safety Plan Template – Small Tenure Scenario #3 – fillable

For more information or inquiries, contact the following Woodlot Licensees, who are members of the Safety Committee:

Rick Walters: rickwalters@xplornet.com

Ken Dodd: okisollo@shaw.ca

Hugh Watt: hwatt@truenorthforestry.com

Woodlot Licence and Community Forest Agreement Safety Committee

The committee was established in 2015 to improve safety performance within woodlot and community forest operations. It targets the specific needs and challenges of small to medium sized tenure holders and is supported by the BCFSC. The committee is chaired by a representative from the BC Forest Safety Council with joint representation by BC’s woodlot license program and community forests.

Terms of Reference
WL-CFA Safety Committee terms of reference

Plans
WL-CFA Safety Committee Communications Plan
WL-CFA Safety Committee Workplan

The Committee has produced the following series of articles and bulletins.

Safe Woods – Worker
Safe Woods – Owner
Safe Woods – Prime Contractor PLUS Mgmt of Prime Contractor: Risks, Liabilities & link to BCFSC Prime Contractor Guide
Safe Woods – Supervisor
Safe Woods – Employer
Safe Woods – Testimonial OH & S
Safe Woods – Licensee liability
Safe Woods – Know Your Responsibilities Wrap Up
Safe Woods – Post Wildfire
Safe Woods – Fire Responsibilities
Safe Woods – Logging Near Powerlines
Safe Woods – Trail Use and Licensee Liability in BC
Safe Woods – Rainfall Shutdown and Resumption Procedures
Safe Woods – Rainfall Shutdown Procedures – Overview for Licensees
Safe Woods – Rainfall Events – Operational Considerations

href=”https://woodlotsbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Extreme-Heat-and-Worker-Safety.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Safe Woods – Extreme Heat and Worker Safety
Safe Woods – Extreme Wind Events and Planning for Worker Safety
Safe Woods – Fire Responsibilities

Roads

Resource Road Orientation Video

Posters
As reminders when working on your woodlot licence, the following posters are available. For a larger size, higher res versions are available on request admin@woodlotsbc.ca.

Licensee Liabilities poster
Licensee Safety Responsibilities poster

Prime Contractor

If you hire more than one contractor to work on your woodlot licence area at the same time, it’s important to make sure you assign one of them prime contractor responsibilities. Learn more at: http://www.bcforestsafe.org/resource/prime-contractor-resources/

Safety in the Forest Industry

There are 2 regulatory bodies overseeing forest safety in BC. WorkSafeBC and the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC).

• WorkSafeBC administers the Workers Compensation Act for the B.C. Ministry of Labour. For more information go to worksafebc.com
• BCFSC has developed a forest safety infrastructure across BC, providing safety management systems leading to SAFE (Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise) Company certification. Participation in the BC Forest Safety Council’s SAFE Companies program is recommended but optional. For information on how to register, audit category, and other requirements and benefits to being SAFE Certified, go to bcforestsafe.org.

Safety and Resource Roads

The Resource Road User Safety Guide, developed by FLNRORD and the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC), can be found at http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/tk_pdfs/gde_resrd.pdf.

WL licensees must ensure that standard radio communication protocols are followed on all roads for which they are responsible.  More information can be found at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/radio-communications.

WorkSafeBC Guideline for Landslide Risk Assessments

WorkSafe BC has developed a guideline for acceptable standards for landslide risk assessments and safe work procedures for forestry operations.

G26.18 Acceptable standards for landslide risk assessments

To address the standards for the risk assessment and development of safe work procedures acceptable to WorkSafeBC, the guidelines reference professional practice guidelines produced by the Joint Practices Board of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals.  Links to the three relevant professional practices guidelines as follows:

Management of Terrain Stability in the Forest Sector
Professional Services in the Forest Sector – Forest Roads
Professional Services in the Forest Sector – Terrain Stability Assessments

The CP Reminders list provides guidance, tips and hints to help licensees meet their pre and post-harvest obligations. It has been prepared for woodlot licensees and may not list every commitment or obligation on every licence. Licensees are encouraged to amend it to meet their own circumstances.

Three versions are provided:

CP Reminders List (Word version)

CP Reminders List (PDF version)

CP Reminders List (Excel version)

Resources:

Check It Out: Cutting Permits (January 2024 by M.Steidle)

Section 45(f) of the Forest Act allows the woodlot licence agreement to specify the information required in a woodlot licence management plan. The woodlot licence agreement indicates a woodlot licence management plan must be prepared in accordance with any applicable handbook.

This is the applicable handbook which must be followed when preparing a management plan for a woodlot licence.

Woodlot Management Plan Handbook

Management Plan Template

A template has been developed to provide guidance to licensees, consultants and ministry staff with respect to the legal requirements and government expectations regarding new Woodlot Licence Plans (WLPs) and WLP extensions. The template does not cover every situation, circumstance or question.

It is a woodlot licence holder’s responsibility to ensure their WLP meets the legal and regulatory requirements. They may wish to engage the assistance of a qualified person to complete this plan as and when required.

Woodlot Licence Plan Memo (April 20, 2018)

Woodlot Licence Plan Template (April 5, 2018)

A reference guide has been produced by the FBCWA to assist with the management and administration of a Woodlot Licence.

Woodlot Licensees and other users of this reference guide are encouraged to consult the Ministry of Forests and to engage qualified professionals and other persons, as necessary, to ensure compliance with all applicable legislation and licence obligations.

WL Reference Guide – July 17, 2021

A guide with supporting documents has been prepared to assist woodlot licensees with the transfer of a Woodlot Licence.

Woodlot Succession and Tax Planning Guide revised

PDFs accompanying the Guide:

Options for WL Transfer (pg. 15 of Guide)

Questions to ask Qualified Professionals (pg. 42 of Guide Appendix)

Woodlot Licence Transfer Flowchart (pg. 43 of Guide Appendix)

In addition, refer to Forest Tenures Branch’s Woodlot License Disposition Guide (2022) 

You can further information from the Ministry of Forests here, including the Request for Approval of Intended Transfer form.

Woodlot for Windows (Woodlot) is timber supply modelling software that is used to calculate a sustainable harvest rate on Woodlot Licences. The software and user guide are available at no charge.

Woodlot 4.4 (released March 19, 2019), the most recent version, has a number of upgrades and enhancements.

Woodlot 4.4
Woodlot 4.4.msi

It is important that you use the most recent version. Using an older version can lead to errors in some situations.

Woodlot flashes the version number when it starts, or click <Help> <About> inside the program to see the version number.

Installing a new version may require a few steps:

• First, the original version 4.1 must be installed. This is a standard Windows install process.

• Second, the upgrade must be installed.

For more information and downloading the most recent version, go the MoF link below:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/forest-tenures/timber-harvesting-rights/woodlot-licence/allowable-annual-cut-calculator-tool?keyword=woodlot&keyword=for&keyword=windows

 

Reference Guide

User’s Guide – Version 4.4