The Burns Lake Community Forest Ltd. (BLCF) board held a regular public meeting on March 27, 2013.
Resource negotiations with PTP
Clearing for the Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP) right-of-way within the boundaries of the Burns Lake Community Forest (BLCF) is expected to begin soon.
Burns Lake Community Forest Ltd. is negotiating a resource utilization agreement regarding timber use and road building. This season, PTP will remove approximately 1200 m3 of timber volume from within the community forest.
Part of the agreement being negotiated is that the timber will be harvested and stacked by PTP for BLCF at no charge. The timber will then be sold by BLCF at a healthy margin since the harvesting was taken care of by PTP. Additional details of the agreement include road use and road upgrade agreements which should be beneficial to BLCF.
A drawback for the community forest with the planned PTP project fibre harvest is, as an area-based tenure, the timber volume lost to PTP is lost for the lifetime of the pipeline.
The Burns Lake Community Forest does not have much to say, at this point, when it comes to PTP passing through the community forest. National Energy Board regulations allow for the right-of-way even if BLCF were to oppose the pipeline.
The resource agreement being negotiated sets the framework for compensation and cooperation regarding certain aspects of the pipeline work, like road building, road maintenance, and road rehabilitation.
“We need to sign an agreement with them [PTP] in order to be compensated for the wood they are going to harvest,” said Ron Zayac, interim BLCF manager.
“If we don’t sign an agreement and they proceed, we won’t be compensated [for anything]. This is the right thing to do for the Burns Lake Community Forest.”
In a cover letter addressed to PTP regarding the resource utilization agreement, PTP was urged ‘to settle all First Nations concerns prior to beginning operations within the Nadina Forest District’.
Visual quality objectives to be reviewed
As part of a 10 year planning horizon, BLCF has contracted two local forestry companies (the only two qualified local companies on the BLCF shortlist: DWB Consulting Services Ltd. and Free Growing Forestry Ltd.) to do comprehensive surveys of the community forest.
Part of the reasoning behind the decision is to put BLCF ahead of the game when it comes to timber layout. If BLCF can be consistently two years ahead of the current year’s layout, then it can react better to changing market conditions or other contingencies.
As part of the comprehensive surveys, a number of landbase constraints will be looked at, including visual quality objectives (VQO).
“The Burns Lake community forest is one of the most dramatically impacted by VQO constraints,” said Zayac, because of its proximity to scenic lakes and highways.
Zayac added that with the province reentering its Local Resource Use Plan process in the Lakes District, BLCF needs to be ready to look closely at visual and other landbase constraints.
Less burning, more chipping
Logging has mostly wrapped up for the season, but chipping continues for as long as logging roads can handle the traffic. The large chip pile visible along Hwy. 37 is courtesy of mountain pine beetle killed pine that would otherwise slowly go to waste.
Although the grinding doesn’t represent a reduction of roadside waste-wood burning - biomass stands are being utilized, not roadside waste - they do represent newly plantable land that, once planted, ensures the health of future community forest allowable harvest levels.
Board member, Susan Schienbein, mentioned that she would like to see provincial policies in place to encourage grinding roadside slash piles. The current policy of burning those slash piles only contributes to air quality problems.