Public Overwhelmingly Supports Conservation In Municipal Forest Reserve By Larry Pynn
T
he public has spoken. With a loud and clear voice, citizens are calling for ecological values to prevail over logging in North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve. More than three years after citizens rose up against the advance of clearcutting in the forest reserve — also known as the Six Mountains — the first results of a public consultation process have been released. And they send a decisive message to council. Lees & Associates, the consultants hired by the municipality to conduct the public engagement, have released a report that summarizes interviews with 19 stakeholders, 1,145 responses to an on-line survey, and the views of 110 participants at four on-line workshops. “There was agreement that the MFR is a valued community asset, and many are in favour of an approach to forest management that shifts the primary management focus of the MFR toward the ecological
and recreational benefits,” says the Lees & Associates report. A total of 594 North Cowichan residents and 407 nonresidents, including 101 from Duncan, answered the on-line survey. Non-residents also expressed strong support for ecology, recreation, and viewscapes. “While a wide diversity of themes and perspectives were shared…most participants felt that ecological values, rather than economic values, should hold the highest priority for the future management of the MFR. Recreational benefits were also highly valued,” the report found. Logging-related revenue and jobs do not even rank within the top-10 list of what citizens value most about the forest reserve. The top four considerations cited by North Cowichan residents as being “extremely” or “moderately” important are water quality, water supply protection, recreation, and habitat and ecology. Continued on page 44
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