Editor:
The following letter was addressed to Kathleen Suddes, chair of Sunshine Coast Community Forest and shared with Coast Reporter.
Stewardship of our forests and leaving a legacy of standing lush forests to protect our watersheds, especially in our current climate of drought, is imperative. On the SCCF website, I love how you are about the balance of forests and harvesting.
Does this mean that our community forests will no longer be clearcut? As the clear cut method of harvesting has been shown to leave destruction of downstream areas, landslides and tinder for forest fires.
RE: Proposed cutting of HM64 Wakefield/Crowston Lake. I’m writing to you today to implore you to remove HM64- Wakefield Creek/Crowston Lake from your harvest plans.
I live in West Sechelt in an old neighbourhood bordered by Wakefield Creek, West Sechelt Elementary, Norwest Bay Road and Mason Road.
I am very, very concerned.
Wakefield Creek is a fast-flowing creek, roaring like a waterfall in spring and early summer. It has been known to ravage its banks in the past – undermining Norwest Bay Road where it passes over Wakefield Creek, just west of the elementary school. And where the creek ends its journey, meeting the Salish Sea, salmon make their way up to spawn.
Please explain how clear cutting a forest in a watershed will not create havoc downstream. Erosion of soil, water no longer slowed by the forest will occur. Will the Community Forest and the District of Sechelt pay for the road damage, the property damage to all the residences bordering Wakefield Creek? Or will this be added to our property tax burden and our personal costs?
How with all we know about the huge value of standing, living forests can our Community Forest group be planning to cut it down?
What will the impacts be on Crowston Lake? On water movement in the Wakefield Creek watershed? On forest fires in a dry clear-cut area that was once a lush forest.
I implore you to leave this proposed area HM64 off the cut block in 2024. Please advise at your earliest. Sincerely,
Maryann Kamphuis
West Sechelt
