Community Forest's five-year operations plan open for comment

Twenty-three cutblocks in the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) tenure area are slated or proposed for harvest from 2023 to 2028 according to SCCF’s 2023-2028 Forest Operations Plan released last week. Eleven blocks are new to the list. 

This is the first time in two years the SCCF has had new proposed blocks on its plan, said executive director Sara Zieleman at the plan’s launch, hosted at Sechelt’s Seaside Centre on Nov. 20. 

The official comment period for the plan is open to Dec. 20 on the new provincial Forest Operations Mapping (FOM) portal – SCCF offered to be early adopters of the portal and test the system. Zielman clarified that comments will be accepted after Dec. 20, it’s just FOMs requires SCCF document every phone call and email anyone in the organization receives during the comment period, which is laborious. She also said that most of the blocks will appear on the list again next year for comment, as most are at least two years out from the permit stage. 

Three cutblocks (AN3A in the Angus Creek area and AN03 and AN15 in the East Gray Creek area) have cutting permits issued for work this year.

Nine blocks have been engineered (so limited changes are possible, according to the block list) and are planned for harvest between 2024 and 2026. 

Engineered blocks include:

• HM66-1A, Halfmoon Bay area, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2024
• AN27, Angus Creek area, Age Class 3 trees, planned for harvest in 2024 (new)
• HM64, Wakefield/Crowston, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2024
• EW16, Chapman Creek, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2025.
• AN5A, Angus Creek area, Age Class 3 trees, planned for harvest in 2025. 
• AN20, Gray Creek area, Age Class 4 trees, planned for harvest in 2025 (new)
• AN12A, Burnett Creek, Age Class 4 trees, planned for harvest in 2026. 
• AN20A, Angus Creek area, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2026. 
• AN14, Gray Creek area, Age Class 4 trees, planned for harvest in 2027. 

Eleven blocks are newly proposed this year with estimated harvest dates between 2025 and 2028. New blocks are in the Angus Creek, Burnett Creek, East Wilson, East Wilson Creek and Halfmoon Creek areas. 

Proposal stage blocks include:

• AN27A, Angus Creek, Age Class 4 trees, planned for harvest in 2026
• EW19, East Wilson Creek, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2026
• AN28, Burnett Creek, Age Class 5 trees, planned for harvest in 2026 (new)
• EW25, East Wilson Creek, Age Class 6 trees, planned for harvest in 2027 (new)
• AN29-CT, Angus Creek, Age Class 3, planned for harvest in 2027 (new)
• EW31-CT, East Wilson, Age Class 3, planned for harvest in 2027 (new)
• EW31A-CT, East Wilson, Age Class 3, planned for harvest in 2027 (new)
• HM69, Halfmoon Creek, Age Class 4, planned for harvest in 2028 (new)
• HM54-B, Halfmoon Creek, Age Class 4, planned for harvest in 2028 (new)

Not open for comment, marked as wildfire risk reduction, but newly proposed are:

• TA-6, East Wilson area, Age Class 2, planned for harvest in 2025 (new)
• FA-1/2,  East Wilson area, Age Class 2, planned for harvest in 2025 (new)

Overall, the block list eyes an estimated 124,495 cubic metres over more than 200 net hectares of land. However, the volume of harvest will get whittled down as SCCF has voluntarily set a cap of 75,000 cubic metres over five years in consideration of ecosystem-based management, according to the cutblock list. 

In several blocks, SCCF is planning on doing commercial thinning, a type of selective harvesting, and there’s a particular focus on wildfire risk reduction, operations manager Warren Hansen told the Seaside Centre crowd. 

Hansen and Zielman fielded crowd questions about climate change and old-growth recommendations on maintaining preserving forests, highlighting that 41 per cent of their tenure area is outside of operational consideration. 

Several crowd members including Elphinstone Logging Focus spokesperson Ross Muirhead, disagreed with their assertion that SCCF is following old growth recruitment recommendations. 

Among, other requests from the crowd, was an ask that SCCF advertise and do more walks of cutblocks with the public. 

Find the full operations plan and map at sccf.ca/post/2023-2028-operating-plan-feedback-period.
 

Forest landscape plan

On another note, the province is inviting public input on its Sunshine Coast forest landscape plan (FLP), to replace industry-produced stewardship plans. The FLP area includes the Sunshine Coast Timber Supply Area and portions of the Pacific Timber Supply Area, from Howe Sound to Mount Waddington. A questionnaire is available online and a public information session will be held Dec. 6 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Chatelech Secondary School. A questionnaire is available online as well.