Ecotrust Canada designs management plan for Cheakamus Community Forest

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The Cheakamus Community Forest will be one of the first forestry operations on the BC coast to use a new, ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach. The Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Squamish Nation, and the Lil’wat Nation partnered to manage a community forest on 30,000 hectares of forestland surrounding the Host Mountain Resort for the 2010 Winter Games.

 

The communities in the Sea-to-Sky corridor hired Ecotrust Canada to custom design an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach for their community forest. EBM is about ensuring that the entire ecosystem is fully functional and protected through all current and future forest development. It’s about going from volume-based to value-based forestry. The Ecosystem Based Management Plan completed in the spring of 2009 was the first for a coastal community forest. The plan will help provide direction as the Cheakamus Community Forest move toward its next goal: to become the first coastal community forest to get Forest Stewardship Council certification.

The Whistler2020 sustainability strategy, the Xay Temixw Land Use Plan (Squamish), and the Lil’wat Land Use Plan all articulate the importance of sound land management to support the long-term economic, social and ecological viability of the communities. The Cheakamus Community Forest plans to permit timber harvesting without compromising the forest ecosystem, First Nations cultural values, or undermining other forest values that are important for tourism and recreation.

As of fall 2010 the Cheakamus Community Forest has signed a management agreement with Richmond Plywood and they are in the process of completing the necessary plans and procedures to begin operations.  Along with preparing the legally binding Forest Stewardship Plan, the Cheakamus Community Forest is actively ensuring public consultation is carried out and the communities are well informed of the proposed activities in the forest. Ecotrust Canada is now helping the community forest to become FSC certified under our FSC  Forest Management Group.


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