The Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) says illegal firewood cutting is on the rise again.
In a Jan. 29 release, SCCF officials said, “There is evidence of significant unauthorized timber harvesting activity in the vicinity of our tenure area.”
SCCF operations manager Dave Lasser told the organization’s 2019 annual general meeting, held last May, that the problem of firewood poaching was already reaching “epidemic proportions,” with hundreds of trees being felled illegally every year.
And on a tour through the SCCF tenure area with Coast Reporter on Jan. 30, Lasser was able to point to dozens of examples of trees that were fallen using dangerous and wasteful cutting practices because the poachers try to get in and out quickly with their loads.
This time last year, SCCF issued a warning about “danger trees” after a partly cut tree, likely the target of firewood poachers who abandoned it when it didn’t fall easily, ended up dropping on a roadway near John Phare Lake.
The SCCF release goes on to say the Community Forest has made an effort “to connect with individuals in the act of committing offences under the Forests and Range Practices Act to ensure they understood the activities are illegal.”
Community Forest employees do not, however, have the authority to intervene in those cases, but they do report them.
Sunshine Coast RCMP, working with provincial Natural Resource Officers and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (COS), have had some success catching suspected firewood poachers.
RCMP say they seized a pickup truck loaded with illegally cut firewood in Madeira Park last June after reports of an unusual amount of truck traffic up and down Mason Road in Sechelt, which is one of the main routes into the Sunshine Coast Community Forest tenure.
The truck was also written up as not roadworthy, and RCMP said at the time the use of unsafe and even uninsured vehicles by firewood poachers is a concern.
Staff Sgt. Poppy Hallam said in a more recent incident a man is facing fines after police pulled over a pickup in downtown Sechelt on Nov. 15 because of concerns about the truck’s mechanical condition. It had a load of firewood in the back and the driver was unable to produce a permit and, according to Hallam, would not say where the wood had come from. COS was called in, the firewood was seized and a ticket was issued under the Forests and Range Practices Act.
Hallam said another ongoing concern around firewood poaching is when the cutting happens at times of high wildfire risk.
The SCCF makes firewood permits available to people who want to take wood from the designated areas for personal use, and has set aside “logging waste” and already fallen trees. The province issues permits to people who want to gather firewood for personal use from Crown land as well as commercial harvesters.
“We understand there are many in the community who heat their homes with wood and we want to facilitate the gathering of firewood in a safe and legal manner,” the SCCF release said.
The Community Forest is also reminding people that falling standing trees within its tenure is not permitted and is encouraging residents who purchase firewood to do so responsibly and know where it comes from.
The province offers this advice for people purchasing firewood:
• Anyone buying firewood should ask where the firewood comes from, Crown land or private land, and ask for a record of purchase.
• For firewood harvested on private land, the buyer should ask the seller for the district lot number and timber mark number.
• For firewood harvested on Crown land, legitimate commercial firewood producers should have a Forestry Licence to Cut document signed by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
Anyone who sees illegal firewood cutting or other illegal forest uses should report it using the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277 or through the Sunshine Coast RCMP non-emergency line at 604-855-2266.
