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New community forest still hasn’t been issued

Issuing the licence for the Chinook Community Forest has been a slow process.
New community forest still hasn’t been issued
The proposed area for the Chinook Community Forest. Most of the area for the community forest is proposed to be lo be located on the Southside surrounding Ootsa Lake

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 and fire in Jan. 2012 destroyed the mill, 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 in order to supply the new mill.

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 most importantly the six First Nations groups in Burns Lake, which include the Burns Lake Band, Lake Babine Nation,the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, the Wet’suwet’en the Skin Tyee Nation and the Nee Tahi Buhn Indian Band to propose to the provincial government that a second community forest be added to the Lakes TSA and to the Burns Lake community.

They proposed that the new community forest, named the Chinook 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.

However, the Babine Forest Products mill has been rebuilt and is again operational and the Chinook Community Forest has not only yet to harvest a single log, they have yet to have their community forest issued by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources.

Public affairs officer for the ministry, Greig Bethel says that the ministry hopes to issue the licence for the Chinook Community Forest sometime by the spring next year.

Frank Alec, the representative for Lake Babine Nation for the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation, which is working with the provincial government on this issue says that his group has been told that the best case scenario for the community forest to be issued would be in a little over a month.

“The ministry is telling us somewhere in the neighbourhood of about a month or so,” Alec said, “The process hasn’t been all that great. I don’t know why it has taken so long for the ministry to issue this community forest to us.”

John Rustad, MLA for Nechako Lakes says that when you’re trying to determine the land for an area based tenure, such as a community forest, it is not as simple as just placing it on a piece of land, other licensees in the area have to be considered as well.

“You have to try and find the right combo between high and low cost wood,” Rustad said, “While at the same time not favouring one licensee or another.”

The area that the provincial government has proposed as the area for the Chinook Community Forest is approximately 60,000 hectares, but the majority of it is located on the Southside, near Ootsa and Francois Lakes, with a sliver on the East side of Babine Lake.

The location of the area for the Chinook Community Forest to harvest timber from isn’t ideal, according to Alec because the cost to log, haul, maintain the roads and operate are too great for the community forest to see profit.

As well, the terrain is very tough to navigate.

“What we proposed and what they approached us with wouldn’t work out as planned,” Alec said, “We feel the value is going to be challenging meaning that when the time comes to harvest the timber and getting down to operations the cost would eventually be more than the value of the timber.”

The value of having this second community forest will be lost according to Alec.

The group was looking first and foremost at the economic benefits to the community from First Nations getting involved in the forestry sector of the B.C. economy, and determined that they would be able to create a number of jobs and start a number of new businesses.

“It would create a monster of opportunity for the First Nations communities,” Alec said.

As well, the community firstly would look to supply the new Babine Forest Products sawmill and after that would look to expand possibly to the Canfor mill in Houston.

“We’ve been ready to be a part of it but it has ended up going in the opposite direction,” Alec said. “We know that business takes a lot of work and it takes quite a bit of time to get into the area of profit.”

Alec says that from his perspective that having the Chinook Community Forest be economically viable is that it will not only help the economies of the First Nations groups involved, but also the economy of Burns Lake.

“This will not only help Lake Babine Nation but the Burns Lake economy, as well and that was and is our intention,” Alec said, “It hasn’t worked out that way so far because of the way it has been carried out.”

Rustad believes that aiming for the community forest to be issued in the spring is  ideal, as the rebuilt Babine Forest Products mill is taking time to get back up to full gear and it will allow the ministry time to consult further.

“Spring is appropriate for the needs of the district,” Rustad said, “The mill is taking time to get into full gear, so aiming for the community forest to be issued in the spring is ideal.”