Last summer鈥檚 wildfires continue to affect the family of cattle farmer Harold Moroski even though the flames near their property by Ootsa Lake were put out months ago.

In October a letter arrived in the mail that took Moroski back to a set of incidents in August when almost $450,000 of his timber went up in flames.

However, it wasn鈥檛 compensation for that loss. Rather it was a bill from the provincial government requesting almost $4,000 in stumpage fees, a payment levied for harvesting timber on Crown land.

鈥�$3,743.48,鈥� specified Harold鈥檚 wife Bonnie, 鈥渨e鈥檙e not happy with it at all,鈥� she told Lakes District 亚洲天堂.

What makes the situation even stranger is that, according to Harold, the timber was destroyed in fires lit by BC Wildfire Service personnel while trying to suppress the wildfires.

鈥淥n my own property I lost about $400,000 worth of timber from other backburns lit by BC Wildfires,鈥� Harold said.

Assessors from the service later saw the results of that backburn and said, 鈥溾�榃e鈥檝e never seen this before. There鈥檚 no reason to do this,鈥欌�� Harold remembers.

He said he will probably be compensated for that timber after he completes large amounts of paperwork, but the situation with the stumpage fee is more complicated.

Harold had successfully made a bid on some timber that was cut, decked and lined up on the edge of the road near his house, ready to be loaded and taken to the mill.

But another backburn set by BC Wildfire Service hit the timber and burned it up.

鈥�12 loads of 60 metres worth of timber ready to be sent to the mill. $40,000 worth burned up, but I was still charged almost $4,000 in stumpage fees,鈥� Harold said.

Under the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development rules, stumpage fees - in normal circumstances - are charged by cruise-based tenure or scale-based tenure.

However, 鈥渋f the tenure [is] damaged by wildfire, the licensee must apply to the ministry for their tenure to be assessed. The ministry evaluates all requests for compensation and each request is evaluated on its own merits,鈥� Vivian Thomas, Communications Director with the Ministry told Lakes District 亚洲天堂 in an email.

Harold was initially told by an assessor that it might be possible to have the stumpage fee waived but he wouldn鈥檛 be compensated for the rest of the $40,000 worth of timber.

His hope lies in settling the issue with the Ministry of Forests, with whom he was consulting as of Nov. 16.