Time to pause and consider forests’ futures
It’s decision time for our municipal forests; the future on our six mountains is about to be set by the 2019 North Cowichan municipal budget. Citizens who want to pause the clearcutting to allow time for public consultation must please show up at the special council meeting on Friday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m. This may be your last chance to be heard before it is too late.
Many people in North Cowichan are only now realizing that the forests on the six mountains belong to the public.
Concerned for their future, hundreds of people attended a recent council meeting to speak to forest planning and management, and hundreds of comments have been submitted to council. This has become a major community priority.
Four narrowly-defined budget scenarios will be presented at the meeting, but we have not yet had a public dialogue about the ecological, economic and social values of the forest. Until this occurs we should not be making decisions about how to spend the income from future logging. That puts the cart before the horse. The community and our councillors must first have the opportunity to discuss broad possibilities for the way we use and manage our forests.
The agenda notes the need for a long term forestry strategy. It is logical this is completed before the forests are considered as a budgetary item. As such, we believe now is the time to engage a skilled consultant to help our community determine the future of our forests.
The Coastal Douglas fir Conservation Partnership is a partnership of 51 organizations including two provincial government ministries, the CVRD, the Cowichan Valley Land Trust, the Cowichan Valley Naturalists Society and the Chemainus Residents Association. It agrees that the Coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone in which our forests grow is the most at-risk zone in B.C. with the highest number of species and ecosystems at risk, many of which are ranked globally as imperiled or critically imperiled. As well as the Douglas firs our forests contain enormous arbutus and maple trees. If logged and managed appropriately the whole forest will eventually return to an old growth condition.
In the recent wind storm many trees fell which can be gathered for income. With ecological and social assessments, low impact harvesting will allow time to hear different forest experts and to consider the future of our forests. It is time to pause to consider, before another clearcut occurs.
Special council meeting for forest budget 2019, Friday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m., North Cowichan municipal hall, 7030 Trans-Canada Hwy.
Where Do We Stand