The Sechelt Community Forest has joined the Coast's major forestry operators in voicing serious concerns about the Strategic Land and Resource Plan (SLRP) now being pursued between the provincial government and four Sunshine Coast First Nations.
The community forest, formerly called Sechelt Community Projects Inc. (SCPI), signed on to a letter written in late November by Al Blattler, production manager for International Forest Products (Interfor) Sechelt division. The letter was presented publicly for the first time at the Jan. 4 meeting of the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society. Other signatories include Terminal Forest Products, Western Forest Products and Weyerhaeuser Hardwoods Timberlands Division.
The letter, addressed to Minister of Agriculture and Lands Pat Bell, states the companies involved will support the SLRP only if forest sector representation at the SLRP's 15-member Technical Planning Workshops increases from one member to three. They're also requesting no reduction in the timber harvesting land base on the Sunshine Coast, no interim measures while the SLRP is implemented and no adoption of ecosystem-based management, as has been carried out on B.C.'s Central and North Coast.
Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid said SCPI is operated by its board, not by its sole shareholder - the District of Sechelt - and as such, is within its mandate as a community forest to weigh in on the SLRP.
"We expect SCPI to respond to forest issues as they see fit," said Reid. "We as government have also expressed our concerns about the process."
Kevin Davie, SCPI operations manager, said the community forest supports "a land use planning process that further defines the timber supply." Implementing ecosystem-based management, he said, could be risky.
"It's an unknown, and until it becomes quantified, we really can't support it," he said. The letter points out forest companies were involved in the 1996 Lower Mainland Protected Area Strategy (which includes the Sunshine Coast), which was based on the understanding that no new protected areas would be established. However, George Smith, the former national conservation director for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) said the 1996 process was flawed due to the Coast's meagre political influence compared to communities in the Lower Mainland - the reason, he said, the agreement left the Coast with few parks, no land and resource management plan (LRMP) and among the least amount of protected forest land in any B.C. forest district (less than 1.5 per cent).
Dan Bouman, executive director of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, sees the forestry operators' letter as an "ignorant stance" on the part of SCPI.
"We were very clear at the beginning of the community forest application process that [SCPI] had to respect First Nations rights and privileges and in general be honourable in their dealings with First Nations," he said. Davie said the letter is not a shot to First Nations and points out the Sliammon Indian Band and Tsain Ko Logging company are part of the Sunshine Coast timber supply area.
Bruce Seiffert, an Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) director who is facilitating the process on behalf of the provincial government, said the two primary concerns for the SLRP now are fostering agreement amongst the First Nations involved and gaining a provincial mandate to create a budget for the process.
"We will continue to work with the four First Nations [on the Sunshine Coast] with the goal of a planning agreement that will be the framework for the next two years," he said.
Sechelt Indian Band council was unable to speak to Coast Reporter by press deadline.
