VIDEO – A meeting between a forestry company and residents left more questions unanswered than answered. Representatives from Island Timberlands met with about 30 residents at a session organized by the Okeover Ratepayers’ Association last week. Wayne French, operations planner, and Morgan Kennah, manager of sustainable timberlands and community affairs, came with a PowerPoint presentation designed to answer questions the company has been receiving.
Residents have a range of concerns about the proposed logging adjacent to Crowther Road, including water protection, the stability of the steep slope, potential wind damage to neighbouring trees and properties, road safety and the impact to wildlife.
Island Timberlands harvested roughly 60 hectares above the south end of Malaspina Road and above Crowther between November 2010 and June 2012. The company left a buffer between the clear-cut and Crowther, but now is making plans to log timber there.
French said the company is in the draft planning stages. “We don’t have any final maps,” he said. “We’ve been on the ground. We’ve kind of determined what we might be able to do from a ground-based perspective, putting five spur roads off Crowther Road and basically hoe-chucking a ground-based type of system.”
The initial plans include logging in about six areas on benches where the slope is less than 40 to 45 per cent, French said, adding he guessed the area was from six to 10 hectares.
Earlier in the day, French and Kennah met with staff from Powell River Regional District, Vancouver Coastal Health and the ministry of transportation and infrastructure. “They want to see our plans just as much as you do,” Kennah said. Residents staged a demonstration in front of the regional district’s office, where the meeting took place.
All agencies requested that the company provide a copy of its generic checklist and planning process.
Kennah that the company’s plans might be finalized by the end of the year or early next year.
French added that the operation is complex, “so we take a lot of time, because we want to get it right.”
The project has been delayed, French added, because of some of the complexity. He also said because of his work on other operations, he would be surprised if he were back in the Okeover area this year. “We haven’t spent enough time here to get a lot of the answers that people are looking for,” he said.
Residents also had questions about the kinds of chemicals that had been used in the 60-hectare clear-cut, which has been replanted, because they have shallow wells in the area. Kennah said she didn’t have a list of chemicals that had been used for replanting trees and after a heated discussion, French said the company would look into obtaining the information.
Paul Schachter, a board member of the association, pointed out the company could wait until the 60-hectare cutblock greened up before it logged the Crowther Road area. “We think the company has to do more in proving it’s being a good neighbour right now,” he said. “We thought we were a good neighbour to you, now you have to prove you’re a good neighbour to us.”
French replied that the company takes pride in what it does with its neighbours.
