The application for a community forest is in and the District of Sechelt is now working with the public to decide what the forest should look like on the Coast and how it should be managed.
"What happens now is we wait to see if we get the licence, then the real work starts," said Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid at the community forest meeting in Sechelt May 30.
About 30 people came to the district's forest certification workshop at the Seaside Centre to talk about how to regulate a potential community forest and ways to ensure the public's concerns are being addressed in a management plan.
Concerns over how public complaints would be dealt with, transparency of forest management and ecological standards were brought up at the meeting, which was facilitated by Ken Zielke and Bryse Bancroft of Symmetree Consulting.
Zielke and Bancroft have been forestry consultants for over 15 years and have helped various communities with creating forest management objectives, monitoring of forest activity and completing the process of certification.
The pair lead a group of about 15 people on a forest tour earlier in the day, which answered many questions about what is possible in Coastal forests.
Scenarios like harvesting and drying mushrooms for sale were raised by the group. The consultants said there could be room for various non-timber enterprises in the new community forest.
"That's something that you will have to decide as a community," said Bancroft, noting other areas have been successful in supplementing their timber harvesting with specialized businesses such as salal and mushroom picking.
However, attendees were told that harvesting timber from a community forest is a necessity to create a profit.
"I don't look at profit as a dirty word. It will make sure your community forest lasts," said Zielke.
At the evening meeting, the consultants took participants through three different certification models that allow for varying levels of public input and ecological standards.
Certification emerged as an important tool in sustainable forest management about 10 years ago. It sets standards for timber harvesting and provides a way for the public to see what the company is doing in the forest. All certification models come with regular audits that are available to the public.
Zielke and Bancroft told the group gathered at the Seaside Centre about three models: the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Each model allows for public input and some accountability. The FSC's B.C. chapter came with the most strict environmental guidelines.
"Things like water quality and conservation are addressed in this model, and that is something I hear as very important for this community," said Zielke.
He said the forest could be designed to highlight and maintain "unique or special features" and to preserve endangered species habitat.
Reid said he was pleased with the turnout at the recent workshop and he hopes more community members will come to future workshops and open houses about the community forest.
"We want to bring all of the community values and concerns to the table before we go on in this process," said Reid.
Currently the application for a community forest is before the province, but the District of Sechelt has asked that a decision not be made on its application until the Sechelt Indian Band's forest accommodation has been completed.
The SIB have been offered an agreement to cut 32,000 cubic metres of timber per year. Chief Stan Dixon says the areas offered are not economic to log and the band is currently in negotiations with the province.
"They [the SIB] don't want to comment on our proposal until theirs is dealt with and we've asked the ministry not to process our application until that is completed," said Reid, noting the SIB has recently appointed Dixon to the board of directors of Sechelt's community forest, to "better ensure First Nations' concerns are met."
Other concerns are still on the table, however, including the possibility of logging in the watershed.
Reid said all of the community's concerns should be addressed in the working plan for the community forest, which will be finalized after the public information process is completed.
"There will be timelines associated with this, but unfortunately we don't know exactly what those will be yet," said Reid.
He expects the SIB's accommodation to be completed by June 15. Once that is finished, another public information/input session will be scheduled. For more information on the district's community forest proposal go to www.district.sechelt.bc.ca or call town hall at 604-885-1986.
