7 Wednesday.January 18.2019 | Powell River Peak » prpeak.com
2018 Annual Report to the Community
Community Forest Objectives • Maintain healthy and productive forest ecosystems • Deliver sustainable forest-management practices • Protect the water quality in the Haslam Lake and Lang Creek community watersheds • Provide opportunities for local contractors, mill owners and value-added manufacturers • Protect key forest recreation resources • Achieve clear business and financial performance targets • Use the profits as a foundation for investment in the community
One of the commitments in our Management Plan is an annual report out to our community. We are pleased to provide some general information about Powell River Community Forest Ltd (PRCF) and more specific details about our 2018 operations and finances. The full report, along with more information about your community forest can be found on our website at www.prcommunityforest.ca. We also held an open house for the community back on October 18, 2018, at the Powell River Public Library. Our new draft Forest Stewardship Plan was made available for review and comment at that time as well. Our 2018 operations were conducted safely and in compliance with all environmental protection requirements. We put $2,028,000 back into the local economy through contracts and supply purchases from local companies. We believe our local forestry contractors and their workers play a key role in our commitment to delivering the highest quality of forest practices on the community forest. We scaled 39,998 cubic meters of timber in 2018, slightly higher than our annual cut level. 2018 was year 3 of our 5 year cut control period and we are on track to comfortably balance. Our 2018 year end financials are subject to formal audit, so at this point our profit number is still considered a forecast. We do expect it to be over $3 million, which is a substantial jump from our previous high in 2017; the primary reason being a very strong log market for all species in the first quarter of 2018 when most of our log sales took place. It appears last spring may have been the peak of this market cycle. Our profits are reinvested in the community through grants for community projects. Back in May, PRCF deposited our 2017 dividend of $2,130,450 into the Community Forest Reserve Fund. At that time City of Powell River council approved our recommendations for 18 community grants totalling $1,238,905. In November, as a result of our planned fall application review, another 12 grants were approved totalling $799,552. Since PRCF’s inception, a total of $10,672,314 has been deposited into the fund and 121 grants for community projects have been approved. With our strong financial position we have invested in engineering ahead and expanded our road network, including 3,585 metres of new road construction, 2,741 metres of re-construction and a major culvert replacement on L-48. We were able to take advantage of good markets and shift some of the harvesting into blocks with a higher component of Western Hemlock. We did a unique strip thinning treatment on Block H-217, which is adjacent to the high-use Green Road and Sweetwater Creek trails (and BC Bike Race route). PRCF is a relatively young company. We are now at the stage where our own plantations are reaching required free growing status (4 blocks in 2018). We are conducting those assessments with the aid of a drone. It is very satisfying to be able to declare these healthy new forests. We have used discretionary funds to support Powell River Salmon Society’s annual water quality and flow monitoring of the Haslam and Lang watersheds, the Powell River Wildsafe Program, scholarships for Powell River students and to support recreation groups with materials and machine time for trail maintenance.