Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) director Lorne Lewis says 2018 will be a critical year for the future of one of the last stands of large, old trees in Elphinstone.
The property, known as DL 1313 or A91376, is part of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) tenure on the Sunshine Coast.
During an April 2017 review of BCTS’s plans, SCRD representatives heard that BCTS was putting off the auction of that cutblock to 2018 to “enable the SCRD to continue dialogue with the Squamish Nation and FLNRO [Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations] to determine how to protect the lot from timber harvesting.”
The SCRD board also voted to indicate its opposition to logging on DL 1313 as part of its feedback on the BCTS five-year plan.
Lewis told Coast Reporter it’s his understanding that BCTS is still looking to auction the cutting rights on the 48-hecatre (118-acre) plot this year, and the community remains “quite strongly opposed.”
“It’s a parcel with a wonderful stand of Douglas fir on it. There’s a hiking trail through it that Elphinstone Logging Focus put through a few years ago… It’s absolutely unique, there’s hardly a property like this on the Southern Sunshine Coast,” Lewis said.
He also believes logging could have a negative impact on the people who live nearby.
Lewis was scheduled to host a community meeting on Jan. 10 (after Coast Reporter’s deadline) to brainstorm ideas that include a letter writing campaign. “How aggressively we’re going to go after that as a community will depend on the appetite of volunteers to pursue this. If I gauge the people right, people want it saved, and if they want it saved, they’re going to have to work to save it.”
Lewis said the possibility of the SCRD purchasing the land or similar strategies are also on the table.
He also said the SCRD has been in touch with the Squamish Nation, which includes DL 1313 in its traditional territory, and School District No. 46.
Anyone interested in the future of DL 1313 but who missed the Jan. 10 meeting can contact Lewis directly at [email protected] or [email protected].
