BC Timber Sales will continue with plans to log within the disputed 1,500 hectares on Mount Elphinstone’s lower slopes, despite the shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation’s declaration that the portion of the area within its territory would be protected from industrial development.
After a meeting in Victoria on Nov. 26 between shíshálh Nation Chief Calvin Craigan, members of his council and two cabinet ministers, a provincial spokeswoman said Mount Elphinstone is not part of the reconciliation talks between the Band and the province.
“Government’s understanding is that Sechelt First Nation has not requested the Mount Elphinstone area be included in the reconciliation framework agreement currently being negotiated,” Vivian Thomas, communications director for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said in an email.
Thomas noted the current 140-hectare Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park was established in 2000 as an outcome of the Lower Mainland Protected Area Strategy.
“The area in which BCTS is operating is considered part of the provincial timber harvesting land base,” Thomas said. “BC Timber Sales did consult with the Sechelt and stakeholders on its latest timber sale and made some adjustments as a result, excluding one-third of the original timber sale from harvesting.”
Consultations with the Band on the timber sale, she said, were carried out as per an April 2012 revenue sharing agreement.
When asked directly if the province was not recognizing the shíshálh Nation’s declaration regarding Elphinstone’s lower slopes and would allow BCTS to log within the area, Thomas replied: “BCTS is continuing with plans to harvest within the area.”
Attending the Nov. 26 meeting on behalf of the provincial cabinet were Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation.
Last month, Band leaders announced they were moving to protect shíshálh Nation territory within the proposed 1,500-hectare expansion of the provincial park, which environmentalists have been lobbying for years to establish.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District hailed the move as a major breakthrough, and a meeting was being set up in the new year to ask Squamish Nation chief and council to similarly protect the portion of the 1,500 hectares that lies within their traditional territory.
Earlier this year, BCTS said it intended to advertise a 28-hectare cutblock of second-growth forest near the historic Trailfest Wagonroad above Cliff Gilker Park, but to date the timber sale has not been advertised and Thomas said the block is being reduced in size.
