With a March 14 statement that “it’s not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction,” Sunshine Coast Regional District chair Leonard Lee closed discussion on BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) notification on the pending auction of harvesting rights to cutblock TA0521.
Also known as the Joe Smith Creek cutblock, the area had been the subject of a board appeal to BCTS for a halt to forest harvesting activities on the slopes of Mt. Elphinstone pending further review of the potential impacts on downstream residents and infrastructure.
TA0521 to auction this spring
In correspondence included on the board's meeting agenda the ministry said, “BCTS has committed to uphold best management and stewardship practices within the planned TSL for Mount Elphinstone (TA0521) by adopting Partial Cutting methods and conducting terrain, stream, visual, and hydrological assessments led by qualified professionals. These assessments have yielded insights that have influenced the refinement of the design of TA0521.”
The BCTS document explained that cutblock’s auction was to be scheduled by April. It also noted that in a hydrological study for the Mt. Elphinstone area, its contractor “observed infrastructure downstream of the proposed TSL [Timber Sales Licence] including water intakes and crossings on urban Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure [MOTI] roads. Some of these crossings were identified as being potentially undersized in light of climate change projections. These observations were made independent from the harvesting recommendations for future TSLs and this information has been shared with MOTI."
Provincial ministry 'finger pointing'
In discussion of the two letters and the shifting of responsibilities related to stormwater drainage management between ministries, Roberts Creek area director Kelly Backs said, “I really have trouble with finger-pointing at the provincial level.”
In a similar tone, Elphinstone area director Donna McMahon stated that when it comes to “which provincial ministry overall is responsible for stormwater, as far as I can see, it is none."
But all directors in attendance at the board meeting expressed views that BCTS’ approach to local concerns voiced about TA0521 was an improvement over its past practice.
Sechelt Area director Alton Toth pointed out that BCTS had stated its plans for auctions will allow for “harvesting half of what Mount Elphinstone can sustain."
“We have some level of oversight as it is BCTS tenure,” Toth remarked. He noted that if the cutblock was part of a private forest company’s tenure, the board “would have no oversight at all."
