Regional directors heard concerns about a consultation process over visual quality objectives (VQO) in forests.
At the May 13 qathet Regional District (qRD) committee of the whole meeting, James Mack, executive director of Salish Coast Land and Marine Conservation Association, discussed concerns about VQO in the Sunshine Coast natural resource district. He expressed unease about the consultation process that the forests ministry had set up for input on VQOs.
“If you’ve driven down the road or been in a boat in the water, you clearly are seeing a strip of land that actually, with VQO, has actually protected that zone,” said Mack. “Even though it could have been logged or affected, it has been left for a very good reason. The VQO allows people to at least see some green space when they come.”
Mack said to bring awareness to the VQO consultation issue, Sunshine Coast Conservation Association is doing some great work on the southern portion. He said once the issue is brought to greater awareness, there will be a lot of people who will determine that the matter should be looked into deeply, and that there should be public say in what happens.
Mack said there was a meeting with a former director of the ministry of forests, who came to this region in 2019 and proposed that the government is going to change its status and allow regional districts, local governments and residents to have a far greater say in what happens in local forests.
Mack said with VQO consultation, the ministry has denied the opportunity to extend public input for another 60 days, as has been requested. He said the ministry has not fully engaged with the public.
Electoral Area D director and committee of the whole chair Sandy McCormick said what concerns her is that the ministry will not extend the deadline for public input, yet won’t talk to the local government until the deadline is passed.
“It seems there is a disconnect between the politics in Victoria and how staff are translating that to the real world,” said McCormick.
She asked regional district staff about the status of a requested meeting with forest ministry officials.
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said he believes there is a scheduled appearance before the committee of the whole on June 10.
McCormick asked if the ministry had stated that it would not extend past April 30 for public input on VQOs. Radke said he was uncertain of any other details.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said Mack is right to be taking a close look at the update to the VQO inventory.
“As you know, we wrote a letter to ask for an extension and to ask for a meeting,” said Fall. “I’m not sure what more the board is able to do right now. When a visual quality goes down it doesn’t just open up the area for resource extraction, it almost encourages it in some ways. To continue to promote and advocate for public consultation prior to a finalization of the decision is the right approach.”
Coastline is precious, says area director
McCormick said the coastline is something that is really precious and it should not be taken for granted.
“We don’t want to jeopardize what we have come to enjoy,” said McCormick.
She said there was no publicity about consultation about VQOs until the deadline was virtually passed. McCormick said the regional district might want to write a letter to the minister expressing its concern about the lack of consultation.
City director George Doubt said a representative of the forests ministry will be appearing before the regional directors in June and that it will be an excellent opportunity to have discussion about concerns.
“We’ve written to the minister asking for an extension of consultation time and I’m not aware of the regional district receiving a reply yet,” he added, “so I would like to hear what the ministry has to say in June.”
Doubt said regional directors could also communicate the concerns heard during Mack’s presentation.
