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Cortes Ecoforestry Society Ph. 250.935.6888 |
»Back to Newsletter & Snapshot Menu Snapshot #1“Why is Community Forest Good for Cortes Island?”Bruce: I think a community forest is the best option for Cortes because the people who will live with the results of activities in the forests are going to be involved in making the decisions about what happens in them. In addition, if we utilize an eco-system based approach, as were intending to do, there are broad environmental, social, and economic benefits that result. Potential economic values apart from the actual harvesting of timber are value added and non-forest timber products. David: Values like a community watershed, clean water year-round, magnificent biodiversity, the shared respect for beauty and small creatures, these are harder to quantify than dollars, but few people on this island would place timber profits above them. Good forestry’s a long slow dance, a real balancing act, one that distant bureaucrats or politicians aren’t that good at. It’s just common sense to me that to have good land and resource stewardship, we must also shift the balance of decision-making more towards the local level. This is how we white folks have to evolve beyond BC’s colonial era, and also return what’s due to First Nations. Bruce: I see too, that community control in the decision-making process can open up the opportunity for eco-tourism. The forest land we’re managing will be increasingly attractive to both island residents and non-residents for hiking, horseback riding or educational visits. David: Yes, I think a community forest is successful if everyone in the whole community feels included in the planning process, and feels some benefit. I know I have very high expectations. It should help solve some economic problems, create certainty for capital investment in processing wood, and address some biological realities that are mostly legacies of previous harvest patterns that we still have to deal with. A Community Forest Licence should be an expansion of the island’s identity and pride, and something to truly celebrate over a long time if it is managed really well. I also expect it not to lose money in the short term, but also make our descendants and future generations glad we learned to leave them lots of economic options standing in their forests. Bruce: One of the challenges that the community will face is how to allocate the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC). My inclination is to set up some sort of a system whereby we spread the benefits as broadly as we realistically can to as many people as possible. I know the management of it is difficult because it gets more complex than just handing it over to one operator. At the same time, it gets a lot more peoples minds involved in how to get this valuable wood out of the forest as cheaply as possible, what to do with it after its out and how much value can be added to it before it is sold on or off Island. David: This year’s reallocation of tenures is the biggest change in the system since the 1950’s. I just hope folks don’t think this is a power or land grab by CES. We’re plodding along very deliberately, working to deliver a Community Forest to this whole community. It’s a big task. We’ve just started the ball rolling with mapping, planning and economic forecasting. Once a CFA is established, a Community Forest Board representing the full range of interests on the island helps guide the management and programs, and the licensee, the “shareholders” of the Cortes Community, keeps the legal, social and ecological promises spelled out in the plan. If we blow it, we lose it. It’s also something we can only accomplish with the support and consent of the Klahoose people, who have the deepest connection to this island, it’s forests, it’s past and it’s future. |
