The Sunshine Coast Community Forest draft operating plan was released this week and the public has until mid September to view the plan, comment on it and suggest any changes.
"People can come to our office above South Coast Ford and view the plan at any time," lead forest manager Brian Smart said. "They can talk to our staff and take a copy of the plan and then we're asking for written comments to be sent in so that those comments can be shared with others, we can keep a record of them and make any changes necessary."
The operational plan is a more reader-friendly document than the forest stewardship plan that was released last month. It identifies items such as resources to be managed in the forest, harvesting strategies, riparian management, long range planning and policies around clear cutting and slash burning.
The plan is not a requirement of the province, however the Community Forest Advisory Group felt it would be beneficial to the public, generate discussion and help to guide operations within the Coast's 11,807-hectare community forest.The draft plan identifies eight classifications of resources to be managed within the forest including timber, water, biodiversity, trails, recreation, commercial vegetation harvest, personal harvest of food and craft supplies and aesthetics.The plan states that timber harvesting is the "main financial opportunity for the community forest," and says the 20,000 cu. m of annual allowable cut deemed appropriate by the province "will be cut in a variety of areas using a range of retention harvesting methods that are suited to the ecosystem's natural disturbance types."
Those harvesting methods may be best described as selective logging, though Smart says that description may conjure different images for different people.
"What we are saying is there will be variable levels of retention and no clear cuts," Smart said.
Through development of the draft plan a map identifying possible first areas of harvest was generated and is now available on the District of Sechelt website at www.district.sechelt.bc.ca.Those areas are outlined in red on the map and include cutblocks in West Sechelt, East Porpoise Bay and Wilson Creek.
Some of those cutblocks may be highly visible to the public, but computer generated images of what hillsides would look like after harvest show partial canopy retained and minimal negative visual impact.
The images were generated by Warren Hansen of Chartwell Consultants Ltd. who is also an operations forester. Those images will be available for the public to see at the community forest office.
"We want the cuts to look less garish. They won't be in straight edges and will only be partially logged," Smart said.Under "Aesthetics" the plan states operations will be planned to minimize their visual impact. "Not by attempting to make harvesting invisible, but by utilizing landscape design techniques to blend in the harvesting pattern with the natural forest landscape mosaic," the plan states.
It says no clear cutting practices will be used and slash burning of harvested areas "will not be undertaken."
Water is a big issue for the community forest with two watersheds running through it. Smart says plans are to stay away from the watershed as much as possible.
"We have no plans to try to manage the water or interfere with it in any way. We basically want to stay away from it and protect it," he said, noting cutting in or around the watersheds may be reviewed after "a few decades."
Biodiversity is another resource identified within the plan and in addition to planning for old growth management areas and wildlife tree retention, the plan states that large snags will be retained within wildlife tree patches, veteran trees will be retained wherever possible, only native trees will be used for reforestation and natural rhododendron patches will be retained.
"That's actually a really neat example of how we are working with a specific group to meet their needs. The president of the Rhododendron Society wanted us to write that into the operating plan because there are huge 15-foot high patches of an unusual strain of rhododendrons growing within the forest. We may organize tours to go see them and the society is coming out to collect seeds from them this year to grow more and regenerate the species," Smart said, urging other interest groups to come forward and make their needs known.
The plan states that trail networks within the community forest are a valuable resource and that they will be saved or restored where possible after harvesting takes place.
Commercial and personal vegetation harvest is identified as a resource in the draft plan, however there are no plans to manage those resources.
"If personal and commercial harvesting interests begin to clash, a management and operation plan for these resources may have to be developed," the plan states.
There may be other community values not yet identified in the plan, but Smart hopes those values will be brought to their attention during the next few weeks of gathering feedback from the community.
One such group has already stepped forward to talk about preserving portions of Hidden Grove in Sechelt and Smart says he plans to meet with the group next week.
"We'll talk about what's been going on and see what we can do. They seem to have some good plans for walking trails in the area," he said.
If you have questions or comments about the plan or would like to pick up a copy go to the community forest office above South Coast Ford in Sechelt or phone 604-885-7809.
A copy of the draft plan is also available on the District of Sechelt website and written comments on the plan can be sent to P.O. Box 215, Sechelt, B.C. V0N3A0 or emailed to [email protected].
