This story was updated on May 24th to include a follow up comment from Mark Lombard.

The Cortes Forestry General Partnership (CFGP) has started public consultation on their next five year plan. Due to the Klahoose First Nation's (KFN) ongoing treaty negotiations, the partnership actions will be planned in a flexible, adaptive way, in case forestry lands end up in the KFN treaty, according to Operations Manager for CFGP Mark Lombard.

The community consultation process was launched May 11 at the Klahoose Multipurpose Hall. CFGP is a an equal partnership between non-aboriginal people on the island and the Klahoose First Nation, together managing a community forest of 3,869 hectares.

In the last five year plan, Lombard explained how there were "grey" areas. 

“There were areas that we had in that five year plan that are going to Klahoose and because of that, we were asked to not, obviously, operate in those areas," he said. "So that changed the plan a little bit… that was a pivot in 2020 and it was very grey in terms of where, what was going to the Klahoose.

On May 24th, Lombard reached out to CKTZ with the additional comment,

"I'm not in a position to comment on the treaty process, except to say that there will be changes to the community forest land base and we will continue to work around those changes as they are finalized."

Logging areas that are being considered are also related to a fire mitigation plan outlined by the SRD. This includes a thick third growth forest in Squirrel Cove. There is also an area of Von Donop that was a part of the last plan, and will get carried over into this one.

CFGP tried a new approach to the public consultation this year, requesting initial suggestions of what to log instead of CFGP proposing areas first, and then asking for input. Lombard explained the outcome of that new approach.

“We thought we would give people an opportunity to present what they thought would be appropriate places, and I thought quite significantly there was no feedback on that," he said. "So the partnership board directed the staff to propose areas that we could operate in and we went ahead and did that based on what's possible.”

The new five year plan for the CFGP can be viewed here and they are welcoming "any and all feedback" Lombard said. Harvesting may start this fall or early 2024, and the CFGP is open to input up until harvesting begins.

To hear more about the outcome of the last plan and the plans for the future of CFGP, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: