Forestry Consultant Who Warned of Timber Overcutting Continues Court Battle

Despite a legal setback, Martin Watts is vowing to continue his crusade against what he believes are inaccuracies in provincial data used to determine the annual cut allowed each year in B.C. forests.

Watts, owner of FORCOMP Forestry Consulting Ltd., claims he was blacklisted by the provincial government after he went public with concerns that corrupted data and unvalidated computer models were being used in the Timber Supply Review Process, which is used by the Chief Forester to set the Annual Allowable Cut.

Problems became apparent after budget and staff cuts started in 2002, the year the former Liberal government was elected, according to critics.

Some timber inventories are now more than 20 years old and fail to take climate change or beetle infestation into consideration, Watts said.

Forestry Consultant Who Warned of Timber Overcutting Continues Court Battle https://t.co/Bpaupy69QZ #bcpoli #Forestry pic.twitter.com/92PjIdEfel

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But, when he complained about systemic shortcomings, he claims he found government contracts were written in ways that excluded his company from bidding and that he was unable to access provincial date he needed for private sector consulting contracts.

“The fields I work in — growth and yield, data management and the analysis of data — are mainly controlled by government,” Watts told DeSmog Canada.

FORCOMP now exists only on paper because of the problems, he said.

“Most importantly, the government controls the data I require. Prior to pointing out problems with the government’s models and data analysis, I had no problem getting access to data. Since I have pointed out the problems, I have been denied access to data and any information I require. I usually have to make an FOI (freedom of information) request,” he said.

Watts launched a civil suit against the province and four Forests Ministry employees, and a hearing to determine whether the case could proceed was held in May.

In a decision released this month Master Carolyn Bouck ruled that the Notice of Civil Claim was likely to fail at trial because the pleading was “verbose and confusing.”

The claim cannot stand in its present form, but the plaintiffs ought to be given an opportunity to plead their case, Bouck wrote, giving Watts an opportunity to file an amended notice of civil claim before Aug. 31.

The Crown, on behalf of the province, had asked for the case to be dismissed saying there “is no such cause of action as blacklisting in B.C. law” and emphasizing that government can hire whoever they believe is most qualified to perform consultancy services.

Watts said he will resubmit the claim.

“My choice is either to keep going or to give up on forestry,” he said.

Watts is funding the legal challenge from his retirement savings and estimates that, so far, it has cost about $20,000.

“There is no way to tell what the final cost will be. It depends how things play out,” he said.

Watts hopes that the newly elected NDP government and Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, will consider changes in forest policy and put more emphasis on sustainable development instead of a sole focus on maintaining the Annual Allowable Cut.

“I don’t know how much effect a new government can have on changing the culture within the Forest Analysis and Inventory Branch,” he said.

“They have to be more transparent about the uncertainty with the models they use and learn to accept criticism, as opposed to treating it as an attack on them,” he said.

Image: Dru! via Flickr