FOREST OPERATIONS INFORMATION SYSTEM

1. FOREST OPERATIONS INFORMATION SYSTEM FROM FOCIS TO FOIP APRIL 2004

2. WHAT IS FOIP? • Forest Operations Information Program • A modern FOCIS • Used for recording and reporting observations of forest related activities for compliance

3. WHAT’S THE SAME? • FOIP is a modernized FOCIS, maintaining: • process and purpose of inspecting • core-elements and documentation • quality care and accuracy • What did you see? • Was it compliant or not? • Why? i.e Reasons • What needs to be done? By Who? When? • Results

4. ENF 22.02.01 and ENF 22.02.02 still apply • Reporting time-lines remain unchanged for: • completion • minor/moderate non-compliance:5 working days • significant: 24 hour verbal & 5 day written report • Can print partial report or entire

5. WHAT’S DIFFERENT? • MNR has 3 types of inspections • spot-check; audit; verification • Industry has 4 types: • start-up (optional); in-progress; suspended; completed • Joint Inspections do not take the place of any of the above. The preceding must be done first!

6. Spot-Check: Is a new inspection by the MNR, of an Operation or Activity(s), undertaken as either planned, (from District Compliance Plan) or unplanned (random) inspection at any stage of a forest operation activity but before the operation/activity is completed and released by the forest industry.

7. Audit: Is a new inspection(s) undertaken by the MNR as part of its regular monitoring program to confirm the accuracy and thoroughness of forest industry submitted report(s). Essentially, a re-inspection of what was ‘signed-off’ by the forest industry.

8. Verification: Is an MNR only function where a reported non-compliance, as submitted by the forest industry, is checked/confirmed by a certified MNR inspector. This type of inspection is restricted to the non-compliant issue(s) identified by industry in its inspection report(s).

9. Start-Up: Where required in the company compliance plan, a start-up inspection is generally done prior to, or within 10 working days of the beginning of a new operation, activity in an operating block, or preferably, at the beginning of the operating season for the operating area identified in the Annual Work Schedule. A start-up report may be a notification, verbal or written, to the MNR that an activity is about to commence.

10. In Progress: Is an inspection done during the period of any operation or activity. For harvest operations greater than 500 hectares, there is an In-Progress report required after the completion of each individual 500-hectare block. Each In Progress report must indicate the part of the operation that has been completed. Also, harvest blocks greater than 150 hectares, but with different operating conditions and/or physically separated from each other, must be reported in this manner.

11. Suspended: Is an inspection done at the end of the season or the operating year, but prior to the full completion of the operation itself. It must indicate work done to date and for work yet to be completed, an expected completion date. E.g. wood movement after harvesting. Suspended operation reports must be submitted to the MNR within 10 working days of the cessation of operations.

12. Completed: Is an inspection done at the full completion of an operation or activity. It is the forest industry ‘sign-off/release’ that work is complete and available for compliance audit. It must b e submitted to MNR within 10 working days of completion of operations or activity.

13. Joint Inspection: Indicates that an MNR inspector and a forest industry inspector undertook an inspection together. Joint inspections are NOT to take the place of any other inspection type that is the normal responsibility of the respective parties. They are not to be new or original inspections. The purpose of a joint inspection is to resolve on-ground differences of interpretation; calibrate operational standards applying to a specific operation; and for learning, communications and clarification of issues.

14. Now 3 levels of significance • minor • moderate • significant • Only MNR assesses level • Expanded definitions & examples

15. In Compliance: A ‘positive’ assessment provided to an operation or activity as to its status after consideration of all applicable laws, regulations, manuals, rules and requirements. All inspected activities are consistent with standards. For reporting purposes, compliant activities will include matters, which have been assessed as less than perfect due to operational problems and accompanied by a clear explanation and rationale.

16. IN Compliance With Comments (ICWC): Is a status given to inspections, which are assessed to be not fully compliant but not severe enough to warrant a non-compliant status. While still considered to be infractions, they are characterized as being of a minor nature or a minor variance to standards without compromising the intent or integrity of the standard or value being protected. Such assessment is considered reasonable under certain circumstances in consideration of such things as complexity of forest operations, geography and physical conditions. In all cases, the compliance inspector must provide clear rationale for such assessments and indicate that measures can be taken to improve or overcome such issues in the future. Reports of ICWC are ‘counted’ in the totals for compliant reports.

17. Not In Compliance (or Non-Compliance): A ‘negative’ assessment provided to an operation or activity as to its status after consideration of all applicable laws, regulations, manuals, rules and requirements. One or more activities are found to be contrary to applicable laws, regulations, manuals, rules and requirements or standards.

18. Minor Infraction The incident of non-compliance (infraction) must be associated with an approved forest operation (FMP/AWS). Minor infractions have limited impact as single occurrences and generally do not compromise the expected results of planned forest operations. Examples could include some wasteful practices, small trespasses outside the cut approval, insignificant variation in boundary lines against the approved, slight incursions into an Area of Concern, minor/incidental site specific damage such as rutting, damage to residuals, ‘individual snag trees’, or removal of unmarked trees. Minor infractions generally have no long-term effect on the forest ecosystem or environment.

19. Moderate Infraction The incident of non-compliance (infraction) may or may not be associated with an approved forest operation (FMP/AWS). Where it is associated with an approved operation, a moderateinfraction would reduce the effectiveness of the forest operation prescription(s) in achieving desired results.

20. Significant Infraction (formerly significant and very significant) These are infractions caused by activities that were not documented in the Forest Management Plan and which negatively impact upon the objectives and strategies of the Forest Management Plan. These events would have to be specifically addressed in revisions of the Plan either as a plan amendment or in the periodic (five-year) revisions of the Plan in order to make them acceptable.

21. WHY CHANGE? • FOCIS was slow • High technical maintenance • Significant user problems • High learning curve • New technology caught up • EA Declaration Order requires new information: • separate MNR & industry non-compliance • public reporting by management unit (AR11)

22. WHAT’S SO GREAT? • Web based - interactive for anyone with internet access or stand-alone for remote entries • Uses internet browser: click, click, click…. • Produces Annual Reports ! • Tracks “issues”: non-compliant and task • Builds “history” on a defined area • No more double-counting • Separation of industry and MNR non-compliance reports

23. SPECIAL FEATURES • User friendly • No more program uploading • More drop-down boxes • Updates will be ‘seamless patches’ • Local administrators set user profiles • No more report deletion requests • disagreements solved locally

24. MAIN ATTRIBUTES • Linked to: • REGISTRATION: tracks all Inspector Data/Profiles • TREES systems: SFL, FRL, approval numbers • Future link to CAVRS (?) • Relies on location information: very geographic specific

25. ISSUES MANAGEMENT • FOIP reports let you ‘track and manage issues’ • Issue Maintainer • Issue Commentator • Issue Closure • Flagged at every start-up • Any authorized ‘viewer’ can see them

26. SECURITY? • User profiles, passwords • Local Administrator sets-up:adds, deletes • Roles dependant • Viewer only • Inspector • Inspector Proxy • Approver

27. TRAINING • No training is scheduled • FOIP has a “Storyboard”/tutorial • Self-learning tool: Computer Based Training (CBT) • step - by step • definitions

28. WHAT TO MAINTAIN? • MNR to maintain CIS (historical data) • needed for trends analysis, data management • Everyone to save all old FOCIS reports (CD- archive them) • Everyone Keep FOCIS on your computer • or you can’t read old reports

29. TECHNICAL SUPPORT • MNR will still provide support to MNR and forest industry • Marianne Ayton is alive and well in SSM @ • fistbss@mnr.gov.on.ca • (705) 945-5866

30. The Future • Spell-check • History ‘roll-up’ (chronological) by loc’n • Reporting ‘block attributes’ (e.g. by road, crossing, AOC...) • PDF (Acrobat) format documentation of issues for saving, sending • Printable Reports by ‘issue’ • Penalty Reporting and amounts