Logging near Cottonwood Lake conducted by Sunshine Logging of Kaslo has progressed considerably over the past month. The private land encompasses all areas that are visible on both sides of the highway from the Giveout Creek area to beyond the Apex Ski area. It is unknown how much of this land will be cut because the company has not shared logging plans with the public and is not required to do so because the land is privately owned. Some of the timber is being purchased by the Bell Lumber and Pole Company, a U.S. company with a B.C. office in Vernon.
The land is owned by the Nelson Land Corporation headed by Mike Jenks and Bernie van Maren. Jenks is known in the Kootenays and on Vancouver Island for buying up large tracts of private land, logging it, and then selling it, using several company names.
Provincial government records show that Nelson Land Corporation in the first six months of 2018 logged 29,924 cubic metres of wood in the Selkirk Natural Resource District, all on private land, amounting to about 750 truckloads of logs. The Selkirk district consists roughly of the West Kootenay Boundary area to north of Revelstoke and Golden.
Related story in the Nelson Star:
The logging plan no one wants to talk about (May 2018)
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
