The Forest Practice Board of BC is asking the government to do a better job keeping inventory of its network of resource roads.
There’s an estimated 600k kilometres of roads created by forestry, mining and gas industry in BC and the Forest Practice Board has found that the province doesn’t know much about them. The board called resource roads a “multi-billion dollar asset & liability”
“We had to go to about 11 different databases to piece together that network of roads” Board Chair Tim Ryan said
“We need to determine what roads are open, what condition those roads are in and if there are areas of restricted use or not, because in some areas there should be restricted use to ensure that we are protecting some of our more sensitive wildlife.”
In addition to giving people access where they shouldn’t be, Ryan said that an old washed out road poses risks to the surrounding water and fish habitats.
The province has begun to slowly map out the roads using satellite and aerial imaging, but in the meantime the Board has suggested an open “wiki” portal that will allow the government to crowd source information on the roads from recreational users.
No word on if that recommendation will be adopted.
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