New plan for Clayoquot Sound logging released
 
By Heather Reid, Alberni Valley Times - April 9, 2009

The Ma-Mook Natural Resources Clayoquot Sound Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) is available for public input online and at B.C. Timber Sales offices in Port Alberni and Campbell River.

The plan relates to proposed logging in a joint venture between Ma-Mook and Coulson Forest Products in tree farm licences 44 and 54 in Clayoquot Sound.

Forestry work in that area has received attention from environmental groups who are concerned the memorandum of understanding, put in place as a result of the Clayoquot protests in the 1990s, is not being adhered to.

Ron Sorensen is a registered professional forester listed as a contact to receive input on the 59-page, five-year plan for Port Alberni-based Coulsons.

He explained that an updated plan had to be created to address new objectives for Clayoquot Sound as a result of 11 watershed plans that were enshrined in law last year by the province.

A previous Ma-Mook FSP followed both the forest practices code and the Clayoquot Sound watershed plans. The updated plan for the Sound follows only the watershed criteria, which Sorenson said are more stringent.

Coulson works with Ma-Mook Natural Resources Limited, owned by local First Nations in the area, on timber harvesting projects.

Recognizing that the area is sensitive, Sorenson said there are a number of strategies included to address things like soil degradation, red and blue-listed species, and riparian areas. The plan has sections dealing with wildlife and biodiversity, cultural heritage, and old-growth trees.

"We're leaving about 15 percent of the stand when we harvest," Sorenson said, pointing out the plans for variable retention on cut blocks.

The FSP also talks about protecting the visual quality of the scenic area and outlines the reforestation measures following harvest.

As the plan has just been released, the environmental groups keeping an eye on logging in Clayoquot Sound have not had a chance to analyze it yet.

Ken Wu, spokesman for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, said the manager of Ma-Mook has contacted the Tofino group, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, to have a meeting and go over the plan together.

"Our bottom line is it's got to honour our previous agreement," Wu said, referring to an agreement Ma-Mook and Coulson made to stay out of pristine areas like Sulphur Pass and Satchie Creek. Other areas, Wu said, that are off-limits are Flores and Vargas Islands and the Ursus Valley.

The First-Nations-owned logging company Iisaak Natural Resources and Interfor have been cutting old-growth timber in previously developed areas of Clayoquot for the past 10 years, though not in areas considered pristine, that is, untouched by any human development in the past 10,000 years.

Founded as a joint venture between the five local Nuu-chah-nulth nations, represented by Ma-Mook, and Weyerhaeuser, Iisaak signed a memorandum of understanding in 1999 with five major environmental groups outlining its conservation-based approach to logging in Clayoquot. Ma-Mook's venture with Coulson does not have such an agreement with environmental groups.

When all 11 watershed plans were finished in 2006, environmentalists were concerned pristine areas would be opened to logging.

The Ma-mook FSP can be viewed online at www.for.gov.bc.ca/bcts/areas/TSG/TSG_FSP.htm. It can also be viewed at the Coulson Forest Products office at 7500 Airport Rd. or the B.C. Timber Sales office at 4885 Cherry Creek Rd. in Port Alberni. The deadline for input is May 22.

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