Independent Forest Audits

Introduction

Independent forest audits strongly support and reinforce sustainable resource management in the province. Ontario has a comprehensive independent forest audit process closely tied to provincial legislation and policies.

Forest audits are a requirement of:

• the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA)
• the Forest Management Class Environmental Assessment on Crown Lands in Ontario

Every forest management unit in Ontario is audited at least once every five years.

The purpose of the independent forest audit is to assess:

• compliance with the Crown Forest Sustainability Act,
• compliance with the Forest Management Planning process,
• a comparison of planned versus actual forest management activities,
• the effectiveness of forest management activities in achieving audit criteria and management objectives, and
• where applicable, a licensee’s compliance with the terms and conditions of the Sustainable forest licence

The Audit Team

Each audit team has a trained lead auditor with current auditing experience. The lead auditor must be a Registered Professional Forester or an associate member of the Ontario Professional Forester’s Association. The lead auditor is supported by an audit team. One member of the audit team must be a Registered Professional Forester. In addition, the audit team must posses experience in the following areas:

• Forest ecology, wildlife biology, or environmental studies
• Forest management operations (access, harvest, renewal, and maintenance)
• Forest management planning
• Forest estate modelling and analysis
• Socio-economics
• Public and Aboriginal consultation
   

All audit team members must be free of conflict of interest and be independent of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the operations they audit.

The Audit Process and Protocol

An audit process and protocol document sets out the forest management principles, criteria, and procedures for undertaking independent forest audits.

The audit protocol identifies eight guiding principles:

1. Commitment - Commitment is reflected in vision, mission and policy statements of the company. Vision and mission statements are intended to provide long-term guidance for the organization. Policy statements reflect how the organization’s vision and mission will be achieved. These statements must be reflected in the day-to-day operations of the organization.

2. Public Participation - The process of sustainable forest planning, implementation and monitoring is conducted in an open consultative fashion, with input from all members of the planning team, Local Citizens Committee, native communities, and other parties with an interest in the operations of the forest unit.

3. Forest Management Planning - The forest management planning process involves the input of a number of individuals and groups to describe the current condition of the forest, the values and benefits to be obtained from the forest, the desired condition of the forest in the future, and the best methods to achieve that goal. Certain minimum standards and procedures have been established upon which all management units are evaluated.

4. Plan Implementation - Verification of the actual results of operations in the field compared to the planned operations is required to be able to assess achievement of the plan objectives and compliance with laws and regulations. In conjunction with the review of operations, the reporting tables are tested to ensure accurate results are reported.

5. System Support - System support concerns resources and activities needed to support plan implementation so as to achieve the desired objectives. Appropriate control, documentation and reporting procedures must be in place and operational. Planned action should occur at planned times, in planned places and to the planned degree.

6. Monitoring - The activities and the effects of these activities in achieving management objectives must be regularly measured and assessed. In particular, the indicators of achievement must be assessed and their effectiveness reviewed.

7. Achievement of the Management Objectives and Forest Sustainability - Periodic assessments of the management of the forest unit operations and the forest unit must be made in order to determine whether forest sustainability and other management objectives are being achieved. This includes comparing the actual values of the predetermined indicators against the planned values and assessing the reasons for any significant deviations.

8. Contractual Obligations - The licensee must comply with the specific licence requirements.

The Response to Audits

The licensee and MNR are required to jointly develop an action plan for each audit. The action plan must state:

• the required action for each recommendation in the audit

• the organization and individual responsible for the work
• the deadline dates
• the method of tracking the progress of the action plan.

A status report on the action plan is required two years after it is approved to ensure that progress is occurring as specified in the plan.

Recommendations that are not specific to the management unit being audited are addressed in a separate provincial level action plan and status report.

Review of the Independent Forest Audit Process

Every five years the independent forest audit process is reviewed to ensure that it continues to be efficient and effective. Reviews of the process have taken place in 2001 and 2006. The audit process and protocol is updated in response to the review.

Forestry Futures Committee

Independent forest audits are funded by the Forestry Futures Trust Fund. The Forestry Futures Committee has played a prominent role in the Independent Forest Audit Process since 1997. The Committee independently selects audit firms to conduct the audits, oversees the management of the audit contract, reviews draft final reports, funds the activities of the audits and makes recommendations to the Minister of Natural Resources regarding the audit process.

Audit Results

Results of forest audits are required to be reported to the Legislature. Once tabled in the Legislature, published versions are available on this website.

MNR also records a summary of the forest audits in the Provincial Annual Report on Forest Management.
 

• Sustainable Forest Licences
• Forest Management Plans
• Forest Renewal and Forestry Futures Trusts
• Annual Reports on Forest Management