This past February, BC Timber Sales put out a Forest Stewardship Plan Amendment, outlining changes to how they operate in our forests. As part of our community advocacy, our Society provided input to BCTS both at an in-person meeting and by a letter that was set to them as well as various levels of government. We provided it to the Regional District of Central Kootenay so they could include it in their own input package.
Learning about forests in our watershed
You can read our letter for our comments on the changes. Our comments are specific to key items in the Plan that affect our situation. This include the elimination of a the requirement of a hydrology study if logging activity is less than 2% of a watershed. We take strong exception to this, as we see it as a backdoor to logging a watershed with less oversight. We also have concerns about ‘temporary’ and less restricted machine-trails that can have devastating effects to a landscape. And we press for more community say in what makes a forest ‘high value’. We want a holistic approach that takes things aside from timber value into account.
If you really want to get into it, take a look at the Plan Amendment doc. Our letter references the sections in the plan that we comment on.