Concerns over logging in the Wilson Creek watershed and possible harvesting of old growth yellow cedar in the Gray Creek watershed dominated the question and answer period at the Sechelt Community Projects Inc. (SCPI) annual general meeting April 14.
SCPI is responsible for running the Sunshine Coast community forest, and at their annual general meeting they outlined their accomplishments over the past year.
It was shown that the net profits earned by the company in 2010 were $151,538, nearly double the $84,692 made in 2009. There were 31,545 seedlings planted in 2010, more than triple the number planted in 2009 (8,360), and once again $1.7 million was invested in the community. On top of that investment, the sole shareholder for the community forest, the District of Sechelt, was once again given a $25,890 dividend cheque from SCPI.
But those waiting for the opportunity to ask questions were not impressed by the company's performance; rather, they were upset at the logging practices proposed for SCPI's next year of operations. The main source of contention was cutblock EW002, which is an area in the Wilson Creek watershed.
Forestry consultant Brian Smart showed that the company now plans to cut about 40 per cent of what was originally going to be harvested in the cutblock, which is bordered by two old growth management areas.
But those in attendance at the meeting felt any more cutting in the watershed, which has been devastated by other logging companies and the clear cutting undertaken by Columbia National Investments a few years ago, would have a detrimental effect on the water.
It was asked that SCPI undertake a full watershed assessment before any logging takes place to ensure water quality in the area.
John Henderson, who was still the chair of SCPI at the time of the meeting, said the company has already done a full hydrological study and found that logging would not negatively affect the water quality.
"The key thing in all of this when you talk about the hydrological health of the forest, I think it's a little bit too easy to just say 'it's forestry, it's cutting down trees.' In fact, the damages that occur within the watershed are many, but one of the big ones, I'm sorry to say to my friends who own them, is off-road vehicle use. The damage that they do in the forest going on the trails and so on is dramatically worse than any impact that can occur from modern logging," Henderson said, noting the company is not prepared to undertake another hydrological study of the entire watershed.
Smart added that roads and ditches negatively affect hydrology and that currently the company is monitoring hydrology in the area.
"If what you have done is the better way and is the whole thing, I accept that, but I don't believe it is," said resident John Benton. "CNI's property is 2,000 acres up there, and being private land, they logged a lot of trees. It's like a moonscape up there, and I'm sure you didn't walk on private land examining. I understand some of those streams were so damaged by that logging they were fined. Have we really done a thorough examination? Because once we log the trees, we're done."
Smart fielded the question.
"In answer to your question, yes. We made it very clear to them [the company hired to do the hydrological study] that we want to make sure our operations as we have planned are not going to cause any further degradation in the Wilson Creek watershed and they said 'you're conservative approach and your practices, I don't think there's going to be any problem,' is the finding of the report. I don't want to see those kinds of problems. I don't want my name on something that's going to cause problems, and I'm confident we can go forward having seen this review and talked a lot with the hydrologist," Smart said.
Moving from the issue of the watershed to how reporting by SCPI is done, one member of the public asked to see more detail in the reports, specifically showing how much wood is being purchased for what price, who is buying it and where it's going once it leaves the community forest.
Henderson said the board would look into providing more detail in next year's report.
Looking to future cutblocks, resident Hans Penner asked for clarification on SCPI's plan to log old growth yellow cedar in Gray Creek by helicopter.
Smart said the selective logging is proposed in the five-year plan.
"If you look at the map you will see that it is not in the community watershed," he said. "There's quite a large area up there, and what we're looking at is a proposal for single tree harvesting of mid-size yellow cedar for temple logs. This is put on to do exactly what it's done, is get people's input on it, and this will be discussed with the community forest advisory committee and it is out there for public knowledge and to generate a public discussion."
The idea of logging old growth yellow cedar created a stir amongst those in attendance.
Jason Hertz said the District of Sechelt, which is the sole shareholder for the community forest, has gone on record saying they are against old growth logging of yellow cedar and asked how SCPI could do something the District is against.
"There are a lot of situations in the world where somebody makes a declaration and it's beneficial to look at the other side, so we're looking at the other side," Henderson said. "We're simply adding ideas for people to discuss."
Benton took the mic saying the idea was discussed by the public when it was raised by the community forest a couple of years ago, and the feeling of those who responded was that they didn't want any logging of old growth yellow cedar.
"You have heard from the public on that issue, you really, really have. And if you guys keep talking about that again, you're not honouring your message of listening to the public. They sent you that [message] two years ago," Benton added.
