The commission issued the decision last week, upholding the finding that Interfor committed eight contraventions of the Forest and Range Practices Act with the logging between 2012 and 2016 in the Arrow Lakes area of southeastern B.C.

The timber had a market value of about $4.4 million, and the estimated economic benefit was more than $1.8 million after subtracting the company's costs, it said.

Interfor's forest stewardship plan for the area stipulated that logging should not take place in old-growth management areas except in certain circumstances with documented rationale, said the decision posted to the commission's website.

It said Interfor's site plans for the eight cut blocks didn't meet those requirements, including a failure to provide reasoning for logging the old-growth areas.

Instead, it said the configuration of the cut blocks "indicates that the harvesting of (old-growth management areas) was a goal for Interfor, rather than confining such harvesting to exceptional circumstances," as required by the stewardship plan.

However, the panel set the fine at $280,000, down from $360,000 initially levied by a Forests Ministry district manager in 2022.

The decision notes that manager found no indication that the company based in Burnaby, B.C., deliberately ignored the requirements laid out in the plan.

The estimated volume of timber harvested from the old-growth areas was about 38,000 cubic metres, spanning 82 hectares, the decision said.