Editor:
I’m responding to a full-page ad that Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) ran in last week’s paper. They led with “Community First’’, followed by: “A look under the canopy of our shared Community Forest.” The one thing that they didn’t share was: Where is SCCF planning on logging next?
The last we heard from SCCF about future logging plans was an ad in this paper (on March 25) asking logging contractors to submit tender packages for Blk EW24, with a sped-up deadline of April 4.
At the time, SCCF hadn’t received final sign-off from the shíshálh Nation before asking contractors to submit bids. SCCF’s Operations Manager was quoted in the April 1 edition that he expected “to have the work completed before the end of May.” But that never happened because the shíshálh Nation was not prepared to provide SCCF with the final sign-off on EW24.
ELF then organized a “Walk-in-the-Woods” into EW24 giving people their first chance to see this beautiful forest. SCCF is hungry to log here due to the good timber (6,300 cubic meters), which translates into hundreds of big trees supporting a structurally-diverse “canopy.” SCCF attempted to fast-track Blk EW24 before the community could see first-hand its forest ecology and other values of interest. Will SCCF invite the public to come on out to see their next proposed cutblock, or will we just see an ad in the paper inviting contractors to bid on the work to bring it down?
Ross Muirhead Elphinstone Logging Focus
Forest Campaigner
