It has been a slow process for the Chinook Community Forest project, but the board is now confident that harvesting should begin in the 2015/16 winter season.
Mayor Luke Strimbold explained that several steps are necessary to get a community forest operational, which sometimes could take longer than expected.
“The Chinook Community Forest board recognizes that the process has been slower than anticipated, but we are making significant progress,” said Strimbold. “There are tasks that the Ministry of Forest must carry out and there are tasks that the new community forest organization must complete.”
Steven Zika, Chief Executive Officer of Hampton Affiliates, agrees that the process has been slow. However, it still hasn’t had a significant impact in the operations of Babine Forest Products.
“The unfortunate part of this going so slow is that the beneficiaries of that community forest could have been harvesting timber and creating jobs for their communities,” said Zika. “We are hoping by next winter there’s wood coming off the Chinook Community Forest because we are going to desperately need it going forward.”
Greig Bethel, Public Affairs Officer for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said it’s not surprising that this process would take some time considering that there are six different First Nations involved, and in addition to the proposed community forest, areas for First Nations’ woodland licences also needed to be identified.
“The Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations has officially made the offer of the community forest, now the First Nations need to submit their plans to the ministry, in order for the community forest to become operational, which should happen this spring” said Bethel.
Karen Ogen, interim chair for the Chinook comfor board, said the board hopes to have their business plan signed off by mid February 2015; the management plan that is required for issuance of the license should be completed by March 1, 2015.
“This should give the Ministry of Forests Land and Natural Resources time to approve by April 15,” she said. “The next step would be to identify blocks and complete the First Nations consultation and referral by July 31, 2015.”
The Chinook Community Forest project started when stakeholders at Hampton Affiliates were deciding whether or not to move forward with the rebuilding of the Babine Forest Products sawmill after the explosion in 2012.
One of the main concerns was the amount of timber available to supply the mill. The stakeholders stated that, to justify a rebuild, enough timber in the Lakes timber supply area (TSA) needed to be available. The need for enough timber to supply the mill led to officials in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, the village of Burns Lake and the six First Nations groups in Burns Lake to propose to the provincial government that a second community forest be added to the area.
The proposed community forest would be run with the same legal structure as the Burns Lake Community Forest, with an annual allowable cut of 150,000 cubic metres per year.
“The Chinook Community Forest is unique in many ways,” said Strimbold. “It is currently the largest community forest in the province and it is the only community forest in the province to have a partnership between six First Nations (Burns Lake Band, Lake Babine Nation, Cheslatta Carrier Nation, Wet’suwet’en, Skin Tyee Nation and Nee Tahi Buhn Indian Band) and two local governments.”
Strimbold said this community forest is a unique agreement not only locally, but provincially.
“This is the first time in history that we have a partnership between the six local First Nations and the two local governments,” he said. “Forestry has been the economic driver for our community for decades and it will continue to support the success of local businesses in our community. This partnership will promote local decisions on the land base and support jobs for people that live here.”
