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PORT MCNEILL – New woodlot
opportunities will increase forestry revenues and create new economic
development opportunities for the Quatsino First Nation, Forests and Range Minister
Pat Bell announced today.
“In addition to a new 800-hectare woodlot, we are
doubling the size of the existing woodlot in the Coal Harbour area,” said Bell
“Combined, the two woodlots will provide the Quatsino with a stronger
foundation from which to participate and succeed in B.C.’s forest sector.”
The new woodlot and the expanded woodlot are both part
of a May 2008 amendment to the Quatsino Forest and Range Agreement that was
signed in July 2004. The new woodlot has an allowable annual cut of 5,100 cubic
metres; the existing woodlot has been topped up by 400 hectares and now has an
allowable annual cut of 5,550 cubic metres.
“Our vision for our woodlots is to keep the Quatsino
Forestry Company operating as a sustainable, profitable logging venture,” said
Quatsino First Nation Chief Tom Nelson. “We plan to use the money generated by
our woodlots to broaden the economic base of our community by branching out
into other industries such as tourism.”
Quatsino Forestry Company Ltd. has been operating in
the North Island-Central Coast Forest District since 1995. In addition to their
woodlot licences, the Quatsino hold a timber sale licence with the Kwakuitl and
the Tlatlasikwala First Nations.
Woodlot licences are small, area-based tenures that
combine private land with up to 800 hectares of Crown land
on the coast and 1,200 hectares of Crown land in the Interior, and are managed
by individuals, groups or First Nations. Usually, they are replaceable tenures,
awarded for 20 years.
There are nearly 830 active woodlots, covering about
546,000 hectares, in British Columbia. In 2005, woodlot licensees generated an
estimated $183 million in economic activity in B.C. and harvested just over
three million cubic metres of timber. Each woodlot generates jobs in planning,
harvesting, road construction and maintenance, reforestation, silviculture and
small-scale timber processing.
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Communications Manager Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-5728 |
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