Cortes Community Forest Proposal: A Brief Summary

Goal: CES is seeking community tenure, ideally in collaboration with the Klahoose First Nation, over the forest land reserve lands on Cortes Island.

Landbase

The land area included in the proposed Community Forest has two primary components. The Crown Provincial Forest land, nearly 5,000 hectares, comprises 38% of the Island. An additional 10% of the Island, nearly 1,300 hectares, is private forest land parcels currently held by Island Timberlands of which Brascan owns 50% share, (previously held by Weyerhaeuser, and MacMillan Bloedel before them). Together, these lands comprise almost half of the island and would be managed using principles of ecosystem-based forestry.

Our vision for the proposed Cortes Community Forest includes:

• rural economic development through timber access for local manufacturers;
• a management approach that protects small watersheds, biodiversity and fully functioning ecosystems;
• all negotiations undertaken with support for, and no prejudice to, First Nation land claims; and
• a desire and intention to cooperate in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding with the Klahoose First Nation for co-management on Cortes which lies within their traditional territory.

Local Economic Stability

Benefits

• model ecosystem-based forestry;
• help establish markets for ‘green’ forest products;
• collaborate with First Nations and other local groups to find areas of overlapping interest; and
• create the potential for an educational centre on Cortes Island for ecosystem-based forestry.

Forest Management

Below are a few highlights from the community forest application.

• Landscape level connections and protected
• areas including buffers around streams and wetlands have been identified.
• Maintenance of water quality, quantity, timing and flow is a key requirement of forest management of Cortes. Activities will not have general significant negative impacts on water quality. CES has removed from the timber management landbase the portions of domestic use watersheds that fall within the proposed Community Forest.
• The forest in the proposed Community Forest is dominated by young, 40 to 70 year old Douglas fir forests. Now, old growth forests are rare. Current old growth patches will be protected, and approximately 20% of net site productivity will be directed towards full cycle trees. Priority will be given to protecting existing veteran trees, large snags & large fallen trees. Uneven aged stands will be developed where possible.
• The management goals include improving both timber quality and quantity and improving ecosystem health and resiliency. Extensive commercial thinning will be carried out which increases the radial growth rates of residual crop stems. This results in a more rapid production of more valuable product.
• Re-establishment of conifers after logging will be by natural regeneration from leave trees on the site as much as possible. The deciduous shrub layers will also be maintained on many sites as it is one of the few stages of forest growth which actually adds nutrients to the forest soil. This has significant implications for long-term site productivity. If regeneration delays are too long or reestablishment to thin, then tree seedlings from local seed sources will be used.
• Pesticides will be avoided to safeguard community watersheds and the complex native biodiversity on Cortes which is still poorly understood. As a parallel to certified organic farming, ongoing research is a key component of this ecoforestry model.
• Maintaining the visual quality of the forested landscape is a high priority for residents and visitors, and is crucial to maintaining the diversity of the Cortes economy. Because the partial cutting techniques used will favour leaving large, healthy trees, the usual visual impact will be far less severe than that of traditional forestry.
• CES is interested in potential business opportunities in the botanical forest products and wildcrafting fields. Opportunities for this are still largely being investigated. While there is already significant economic activity in using non-timber forest products, this component is not required to maintain the economic viability of the Community Forest. Initial economic activity will be based on holistic timber management which is complementary to other economic uses of the forest.

Fire Interface Management

Due to land ownership patterns on Cortes, there will be a long interface boundary between the community forest and other privately owned parcels. The fire hazard management approach within the Community Forest will have implications for community fire hazard management. The highest fire hazards currently found in the Community Forest landbase come from dense, uniform second growth Douglas-fir forests with continuous forest canopies. The partial cutting operations planned for the community forest will reduce the area of and prevent the future development of densely stocked and overstocked uniform second growth forests. The Community Forest will co-ordinate interface area and road network planning with the Cortes Island Firefighters Association and other agencies. Additionally, ecoforestry operations will lead to improved and maintained access leading to an increased ability to respond to and suppress fires.

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