The District of Sechelt (DOS) officially signed their community forest licence on Wednesday at a luncheon at the Driftwood Inn.
Sechelt's licence is the first community forest to be approved under the new process put in place by the Ministry of Forests this year.
"For us at the Ministry of Forests, this is significant," said Sharon Hadway, acting regional staff manager for tenures, engineering, aboriginal affairs and revenue, Coast forest region. "Provincially this is the first community forest licence signed under the new process. We've been working under a pilot project for some time." The changes in process were difficult for the DOS to adapt to. They have spent the last year finalizing the appropriate paperwork for the 11,807 hectare community forest on the lower Sunshine Coast.
"When we started the venture, the rules were changing and almost every month there was a new rule, a new procedure, and it was very fluid. We were very frustrated because the criteria was changing," Mayor Cam Reid said, who thanked the ministry and local forest district manager Greg Hemphill for their help and support through the process. "Everybody was trying to find a way to make the community forest work and were very accommodating as we went into the processes to finally complete the documents."
Reid acknowledged the process has come under intense scrutiny by some, and the District's intentions have been questioned. He hopes the creation of a new community advisory group and operational plan will prove the venture worthy to the community.
Brian Smart will lead the process for the newly formed community forest. He is currently working on assembling the advisory group and creating an operational plan.
"One of the most exciting things about a community forest like this is the opportunity to really include the community," Smart said. "Forestry has been very controversial on the Coast forever. That's because all the values we have in the forest are very high. Everybody has a really strong attachment to the forest for recreation, for water, for aesthetics, for our community setting, and everybody has an important view of what should be done there."
The community advisory group will identify what values the community wants to see managed in the forest and create an action plan to incorporate those values.
"There are parameters the community forest has to operate under. It has to be a realistic business case, but there are a lot of things we can do here, and do it the way we want to do it," Smart added. "I think we'll see a lot of the controversy fall by the wayside and see this has all been done totally with honesty and integrity. The whole thing is based on involving the public to make this a real community forest."With the announcement of the licence, Reid also introduced the new board of directors that will now take the reins from the DOS.
"This board will manage the new company and Sechelt's interests in it," Reid said. "The members were selected by Sechelt council from a number of very qualified individuals who responded to advertisements calling for volunteers to serve on the board. The individuals identified bring vast amounts of business, community and forestry management experience to the company."
The board members are Brian Carson, Robert Corlett, Kevin Davie, Dale Eichar, Peter Moonen, Ron Nelson, Len Pakulak, Ray Parfitt and Wayne Rowe.
"The board of directors will direct the operations of the company," Reid added. "In the management of the community forest licence, there will also be a number of advisory committees that will help this board develop policies and practices to ensure the Sunshine Coast community's interests are represented and respected."
