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NELSON – The Kaslo and District Community Forest Society has been invited to apply for a probationary community forest agreement that will bring economic benefits and more local control over resources, Nelson-Creston MLA Blair Suffredine announced today.
“This invitation gives the community of Kaslo the opportunity to make long-term plans for their community forest resource, including the training and education of the next generation of forestry workers,” said Suffredine. “Revenue from a community forest will not only support forest operations, but will benefit and sustain the community at large.”
“Community forests have the potential to bring a unique set of benefits to our forest-dependent communities throughout the province and especially here in the Kootenays,” said Minister of Forests Michael de Jong, who issued the invitation today in Nelson. “They offer people a level of involvement in forest management that is unmatched by any other form of tenure, and the best part is that benefits stay right here in the local community.”
Community forest agreements are a form of tenure that transfers the responsibility for management of forest resources to communities. A new community tenures regulation approved in July now allows for the conversion of other forms of tenure, such as tree farm licences or forest licences, to community forest agreements. The Kaslo and District Community Forest Society currently holds a non-replaceable forest licence allowing an annual harvest of 10,000 cubic metres. It is anticipated that this licence will be converted to the new form of tenure, once the details of the new probationary community forest tenure are finalized.
“We are pleased that the government has moved forward on its commitment to convert our non-replaceable forest licence to a more flexible, more business-like, more ecologically-supportive model of community forests,” said Donna Cormie, chair of the Kaslo and District Community Forest Society.
For more information on this and other Ministry initiatives, visit: http://www.gov.bc.ca/for/ online. -30-
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