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.
8 Wednesday.January 18.2019 | Powell River Peak » prpeak.com
9 Wednesday.January 18.2019 | Powell River Peak » prpeak.com
What is a community forest agreement?
Investing in our community
A community forest agreement (CFA) is an area-based forest tenure issued by BC Ministry of Forests that allows harvest of timber on provincial forest land. CFAs were intended to provide communities with opportunities to have more control over how their local forests are managed and directly receive benefits from forest development occurring in their area. Powell River CFA was awarded in August 2006 and covers approximately 7,100 hectares of forest area. A sustainable allowable annual cut has been calculated at 35,000 cubic metres per year. Powell River Community Forest (PRCF) is responsible for all planning, development and reforestation activities of the CFA.
The City of Powell River established the community forest reserve fund (bylaw 2012/08) to receive dividend deposits from Powell River Community Forest. Monies received will be used for special community projects that will benefit the community as a whole.
Who is Powell River Community Forest Ltd.? PRCF is an independent corporation set up by City of Powell River. It holds the CFA on behalf of the entire community. We are a for-profit forest company, however, what sets us apart is that 100 per cent of profits are returned to community. PRCF is directed by a nine-person volunteer board of directors, blending forestry and business experience.
PRCF Location Map
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prcf_roads_master Existing Roads
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Current directors are: Bill Bird, Lori Brown, Ron Fuller, Mark Hassett, Greg Hemphill, Janet May, Howie Mckamey, Rob Stewart, Rod Tysdal and Chuck MacBey (A)
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PRCF profits are invested back into the community through grants for community projects. The fund has supported a wide variety of projects of different themes and sizes throughout the broader Powell River community. We welcome submission of new applications and updates to existing applications at any time. Our application review for spring 2019 grants will likely begin in March. More information about the process to apply and our evaluation criteria can be found on our website. If you have any questions about the process or wish to discuss a potential project, feel free to contact board president Greg Hemphill.
Duck Lake
Powell River
Our forest manager PRCF has a forest management contract with Results Based Forest Management (RBFM), a local forestry consulting company that does a range of forestry work for a number of companies. Chris Laing, the owner of RBFM, works closely with the PRCF board to ensure PRCF is not only a successful business but also delivers the highest standard of forest practices. Chris is our main contact for the public, user groups and contractors wanting information about what is happening on the ground.
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Contact Us
Powell River Community Forest Ltd. 4760 Joyce Avenue Powell River, BC, V8A 3B6 www.prcommunityforest.ca Instagram @forestsforfuture Chris Laing, manager office: 604.487.9540 • mobile: 604.414.5650 email: chrislaing@shaw.ca Greg Hemphill, board president mobile: 604.223.4887 • email: greghemphill@telus.net
Scholarships Each year Powell River Community Forest Ltd. offers up to three $3,000 scholarships to Powell River students entering (or already enrolled in) a forestry or natural resource management university program or in a wide range of other forestry related occupational trades or training programs. More information can be found on our website. We welcome applications at any time. For students graduating from Brooks in 2019, we will also advertise an invitation to apply later this spring. Pictured above is one of our 2018 scholarship recipients, Aiden Stephens.
10 Wednesday.January 18.2019 | Powell River Peak » prpeak.com
Recreation in the Community Forest No statistics, but it sure seems like there are more people in our community getting out and enjoying the community forest area (CFA). There are a number of recreation groups in Powell River who work on building and maintaining the trails in our forests. Notable in and around the CFA area is all the great bridge and boardwalk structures built by the BOMB Squad over the years and the Chain Gang, which works to keep the mountain bike and hiking trails open after every storm and every year prepares the BC Bike Race route. A fairly small group of dedicated volunteers so pretty sure they would welcome anyone who wants to show up to their work parties. PRCF is committed to supporting those efforts through funding for materials and machine time on these sanctioned trails. Beyond our area, through community forest grants, we have also supported other projects that enhance our community’s backcountry recreation opportunities. Recent grants include contribution to Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society’s construction of huts on the Sunshine Coast Trail, the Knuckleheads Winter Recreation Association’s construction of the Sentinal cabin, Climbers Access and Development’s improvements to the Eldred climber’s campsite and Third Crossing’s replacement of the upper Eldred valley foot/ ATV bridge. With increased recreation use in the CFA there are two areas of risk that are a major concern for us. One is the potential impact of a forest fire. The last few summers have been marked by having long stretches of extreme fire danger. Our operations are generally inactive so we are depending on recreation users to help us with fire prevention and reporting. There were no fires in the CFA in 2018, so a big thanks to everyone for being extra careful and obeying fire restrictions. The second is the potential for a serious accident on the Duck Lake FSR network. A number of forest companies use those roads and public traffic has also increased. Take it slow, assume there will be industrial use, even on weekends. If you are a frequent vehicle or ATV user on forestry roads, a good investment is a programmable handheld radio so you can monitor industrial traffic and report your own road locations. This reduces the chance of an accident, shows respect for the industry’s safe practice requirements and provides an additional means to communicate in the case of an emergency. Most of the CFA area is within the Haslam Lake and Lang Creek community watershed. Please ensure your recreation activities don’t impact the water quality of any streams or lakes. There are good reasons for designated crossings, boardwalks, barriers to vehicle traffic and restrictions on camping in some areas. Not familiar with our roads and trails? A good starting point is to pick up the popular Duck Lake area trail map at the Tourism Powell River office on Joyce Avenue, or get the Avenza app on your smart phone so you can download the maps. This app uses the phones GPS so you don’t need cell service to track your location. The Duck Lake trail map can be downloaded from Powell River Cycling Association’s website. Our website also has detailed operational maps of the community forest, which can be downloaded.
Photo credits: Anji Smith Fotos
Thank you
to the following local companies that worked with Powell River Community Forest to make 2018 a successful year: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Ace Traffic Control Adept Vegetation Management Anji Smith Fotos Bob Marquis Contracting Cedar Spring Brush Cutting Cindy Ling Scaling Coast West Measure dmd Chartered Professional Accountants Edgehill Timber First Credit Union Full Scope Falling and Tree Service Granet Lake Logging KR Logging Lamont and Company Lang Bay Aggregate Lois Lumber Marta Trucking Mill Town Transport Mr Green Up Oceanview Helicopters Olympic Log Sort Peak Publishing Pence Services Pilldolla Creek Contracting Powell River Salmon Society Powell River Living Magazine Powell River Taxi Relay Rentals Results Based Forest Management Select Sand and Gravel Staples Stewart Systems Swanson Trucking T & R Contracting Taws Thichum Forest Products Thunder Bay Saw Shop Tilt Contracting Timberline Resources Tla’amin Lake Contracting Tla’amin Nation Tourism Powell River Underwriters Insurance Agency Villani and Company Versatile Forestry Consulting WildSafeBC
Report any violations such as illegal burning, dumping garbage or actions impacting water quality to RAPP line 1.800.952.7277 or #7277 Telus mobility network.