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March 2004
Newsletter #16

CES Vision

Tenure Re-allocation on the Sunshine Coast Coming Soon!

As part of the Liberal government’s market reforms to address international trade disputes, the realities of tenure reallocation will become more apparent to logging companies, First Nations and communities in the Sunshine Coast Forest District in the next few months. As part of these reforms, 20% of timber company license areas will be subject to a take-back by the provincial government in order to create more tenure diversity and to provide opportunities particularly for First Nations and communities. The target date for this take-back is December 31, 2004.

Nearly all of Cortes Island’s Crown Lands were allocated to Canfor a few years ago, which caused quite an uproar. It is CES’ understanding that Canfor would like to be off the island. In its stead, we’re

working to see a more socially acceptable re-allocation of “take-back” volume in this timber supply area for a Community Forest tenure on Cortes Island, as one logical outcome of this process.

The Liberals have only consulted with current licensees in deciding on the proportionate distributions of these take backs. Communities and First Nations have not been included in these negotiations, which also involve compensation.

Cortes Island Woodworkers Directory Is Complete

A woodworkers directory has long been talked about and now finally exists. It is intended to serve as a reference for anyone who is embarking on a building project and for newcomers who aren’t sure where to begin. Most of all, it encourages the purchase of wood products made on Cortes, an excellent way to nourish our local economy, as the following article (which is also the introduction to the Directory) describes. Watch for the Directory at the CES table and other places! It costs $1, to help cover printing.

Why Buy Local Wood Products?

Excellent reasons to buy local wood and wood products abound. The more time and craftsmanship that goes into a wood product, the stronger these reasons be-come. A comprehensive list of “value added products” is available upon request.

•It’s good for the local economy

When island-made items are purchased, more money is kept in the community and re-circulated among islanders. This sustains local jobs and businesses. In addition, because there are no middle people, products cost less and therefore, benefit both the purchaser and the seller.

•It’s good for the community

The many independent workers and small businesses help make this community distinctive. One-of-a-kind businesses contribute to Cortes as a unique place. Because small business owners and local entrepreneurs are often involved in community activities, support for them supports the community as a whole. Also, when we choose to conduct business with other islanders, instead of choosing the impersonal exchange of box or web stores, we have an opportunity to know each other better. This strengthens community fabric.

People who study communities note that civic engagement (activities such as sports clubs, volunteer fire departments, non-profit societies, choral groups, and craft circles) result in “civic solidarity” which provides the foundation for economic prosperity. Such a variety is also a measure of community health and resilience.

•It’s good for the environment

Buying locally means less road transport and less carbon dioxide in the air. Because the impacts of our purchases are local, we are better able to enjoy the benefits and work to minimize the negative impacts. The path between the cause and effect of our choices is more easily traced.

•It bucks the globalization trend

Free trade is based on money that seeks maximum investment return, with no ties to place. Firms and nations may benefit from this ability to move capital around, but communities and places suffer. While we all enjoy cheap goods from far away, these consumer choices ultimately limit people’s ability to find interesting work for fair wages. The impacts eventually make their way back to us.

Buying local wood, wood-related services and wood products means knowing where the wood comes from and who processed it. You can get to know your neighbours better and support their ability to make a living. You protect a diversity of jobs and a diversity of neighbours by ensuring that small-scale manufacturing continues to evolve at the local level. The island would benefit greatly from having a reliable and sustainable source for lumber to fill all our building needs. That’s what a community forest is all about. Until that day, let’s make the most of the wood we have. It may challenge your notions of the on-the-spot purchasing because it requires you to think and order ahead. But it will satisfy your desire for competent labour, good materials, craftsmanship of rare quality, and one-of-a-kind pieces that meld function with art. In addition, you may learn about whale sightings, fishing spots, recent births, fisticuffs and cougar incidents. You can’t get that at Ikea.

Mycoforestry Restoration Initiative

Paul Stamets, author of The Mushroom Cultivator, and Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, recently purchased the Weyerhaeuser parcel just east of Frabjous Day near Mary Point (the NE ¼ of Section 11), to use for research into restoration of forestlands using mush-room mycelium. (Mycelium are the white webby threads that give rise to the mushroom fruit.) About 50% of that parcel is a clear cut, with a huge number of felled trees left lying on the ground.

Paul is the founder of Fungi Perfecti (www.fungi.com) which sells mycelium for gourmet and medicinal mushroom cultivation. His research projects include using mycelium for bioremediation of petroleum, heavy metal contamination, and use of mycelium inoculated wood chips on decommissioned roads to reduce stream siltation at industrial logging sites.

Mushrooms are either parasitic, saprophytic (subsisting on dead or decaying matter), or mycorrhizal. Mycorrhizal mushrooms form a mutually beneficial relationship to the rootlets of plants, thereby increasing the plants’ ability to take up moisture and nutrients.
The tree planters on Paul’s land are dipping half the trees in an inoculation of mycorrhizal mycelium prior to planting. The other half of the trees will be planted without any treatment. All of the trees are being planted on opposite sides of the road, as the road is inhospitable to mycelium, and thus forms a barrier to travel. Ten years from now, a person walking down the road will be able to observe any differences resulting from the two treatments. Paul will use the results of his research to encourage mycological restoration at other locations.

In addition, local people are chipping the woody debris left behind by the logging. The wood chips will be inoculated with saprophytic mushroom mycelium using a strain native to the property. Paul will collect naturally occurring wild mushrooms from the land in the spring, clone the mushrooms, and then grow out spawn in his laboratories in Washington State. In June, he will then re-introduce this native species using the wood chips as the carrier. The wood chips, mixed with this 'spawn', will be applied as a top dressing around 1/2 of the mycorrhized trees.

The adjacent parcel, the S ½ of the SE ¼ of Section 14, has been purchased by long time associates of Cortes for inclusion in this project.

More Logging by Norm Tapp

Logging in Von Donop Watershed This Spring

There will be an approximate 6 Ha (14 acres) of shelter wood logging near Von Donop this spring. John Marlow, RPF of Heriot Bay, has sent CES a copy of a Site Plan for logging and silviculture activity to commence, "in the near future and to be fully completed this spring”.

Ministry of Forests allocated a 74ha Crown Land Chart Area in 1999, for Timber Sale licence A20493 (Jim Guthrie) in the SE quarter section of Section 45. The proposed harvest on this year’s Cutting Permit, (CP6 Block 1) only covers 5.9Ha, along the north boundary. This timber licence is currently in the process of being sold by Jim Guthrie, to Bryan Mills of Storey Creek Trading Company, Campbell River, who will be doing the logging.

Another Timber Sale licensee, (A20503-Probyn) was also allocated Chart Area on two-quarter sections to the west of this area. At the same time, Canfor was granted the whole remainder of the island’s public forestry lands, though no plans have been publicised, and as mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter, some mysterious reallocations are underway.

Representatives for both licensees and MoF, met on site with Klahoose, CES and FOCI reps, in a wet snow during December of 2001. CES raised concerns about watershed and creek protection. As well they addressed what seemed a governmental planning conflict with the Community Forest Pilot Agreement, that had been kindly offered to the Klahoose First Nation in March 2001 as an Interim Measures for these same high-priority Treaty lands. According to Brian Kukulies, Tenures Forester at the Sunshine Coast Forest District, “the consultation process has been completed”.

The approved plan for CP6 is for irregular shelter wood, using hoe forwarding/feller processor methods, retaining 25 of the largest diameter class and oldest age class co-dominants per hectare as over story and indigenous seed trees. Although the area will also be planted afterwards with fir/cedar. Logs may be hauled to the existing log dump in Von Donop Inlet. There will be no activity within 30m of Von Donop Creek, and the area is not visible from the inlet.

What is Ecoforestry?

Ecoforestry is a long-term ecologically sustainable and economically sound alternative to current conventional forest management. It is predicated on maintaining the “natural capital” of the forest ecosystem, while allowing a wide range of value and benefits to be derived from the “interest” of the forest. Ecoforestry favours value-added manufacturing and local jobs by providing a continuing, diverse and local supply of forest products.

The New Code

On January 31st, the new Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) came into force. The Act and the new abbreviated regulations replace the Forest Practices Code, and were developed “in order to promote innovation and provide for balance and flexibility in managing the development of the province's forest and range resources.”

The Forest Practices Code introduced by the NDP, helped create a level playing field for tenure holders across the province. It increased some measures of environmental protection, but showed hesitation to impact the rate of over cut. The code also focused on landscape planning and precautionary process, including reasonable means for public input, but deregulators have since insisted all this hampered innovation, flexibility and professional independence, and increased costs for both industry and government.
The new Liberal regime reduces “rule-based” process to “results-based” goals, not necessarily a bad thing, but there’s been a worrying reduction in realistic opportunities for public involvement and accountability created by handing over the planning process to tenure holders. The FRPA theoretically maintains “high environmental standards”, but still legitimizes the Sustained Yield paradigm that has seen successful and productive native ecosystems converted to plantations all over BC. The FRPA contains strong penalty clauses for non-compliance, and government has the authority to intervene to prevent “imminent environmental damage”, but when we see how this present BC government has gutted the ability of MoF to actually monitor forest practices, and has recently rewarded such non-compliance in salmon farming, we have to question whether the stick will ever be as big as the carrots.
Changes within CES

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Carrie Saxifrage was hired as the Executive Director this fall. Carrie was formerly the President of CES and stepped down to accept this position in order to focus on the steps necessary to obtain community tenure over Cortes Crown lands.
Although Suzan Denis has now been with CES for six months as our Office Manager, we wish to extend our appreciation for the work she does to keep us organized.

•CES Office Hours

The Cortes Ecoforestry Society office is open on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s from 1pm to 4 pm. Feel free to drop in for information about CES activities or to check out the new Resource Library. T-shirts and hiking maps can also be purchased here.

Note: Hiking maps are also available at Trude’s Café and islanders are invited to draw on trails they know about and/or make revision suggestions to the posted copy.

•Email Address Updates Needed

A few times a year, CES emails members information about local or provincial forest developments. Email is an easy, paperless way for CES to keep you informed. When we last sent out an email announcement concerning the provincial forestry policy, it became clear that many email addresses need updating. Please help us keep your data current. Send us an email at ces@oberon.ark.com, so we can update your email address. All your contact information is kept confidential. The newsletter will continue to be sent by regular mail due to difficulties some members have with downloading.

•Lumber Grading Scholarship Recipient

CES is pleased to announce that Dean Beaulieu has won the scholarship to the North Island College lumber grading course. Dean is a very well qualified applicant, and we wish him best of luck in college!

•Community Forests Conference

Would you like to know more about the process of securing and managing a community forest? CES would like to sponsor a member to attend this important conference in Revelstoke from April 15-17th. Call the office for more information.

CES Board of Directors

President: David Shipway
Vice President: Kristen Scholfield-Sweet
Secretary: Sue Bannister
Treasurer: Jennifer Rowse
Directors:
Gregor Robertson
Bob Tracy
Ralph Garrison
Tor Ellingsen

"The real enemy of sustainability is aggression toward nature and toward human communities. This enemy cannot be defeated by greater aggression"

~Jim Drescher, ecoforester

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