{"id":6661,"date":"2020-03-15T13:55:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T17:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=6661"},"modified":"2020-11-18T15:24:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T20:24:41","slug":"interview-with-cortes-forestry-general-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/interview-with-cortes-forestry-general-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview With Cortes Forestry General Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

By De Clarke<\/p>\n

On Saturday March 14th, the monthly Cortes Currents news\/talk show featured an interview with Mark Lombard, contract manager for the Cortes Forestry General Partnership.\u00a0\u00a0This podcast explores what the \u201cCommunity Forest<\/a>\u201d\u00a0is, and how it works.\u00a0\u00a0Did you know that CFGP\u2019s license now covers far more hectares of Cortes Island than the MMB\/IT\/Mosaic license? This and many other interesting details are discussed in our program (such as what \u201cMMB\u201d and \u201cIT\u201d mean).<\/p>\n

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\"Interview<\/a>

Logs waiting to be transported - Roy L Hales photo<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A Tradition Of Selective Woodlot Harvesting<\/h2>\n

Mark Lombard is a \u201cseventh generation logger\u201d\u00a0from a family with a long tradition of selective woodlot harvesting.\u00a0\u00a0He grew up working on family woodlots.\u00a0\u00a0In addition to years of hands-on experience, he also has an undergraduate degree in business finance and a graduate degree in environmental policy with a focus on climate change, energy policy, and forest policy \u2014\u00a0\u201cspecifically community forests, and capacity building for community forests.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So the Cortes Community Forest project was a perfect fit.\u00a0\u00a0He served on the Board for a few years before stepping down to assume the operations manager role.<\/p>\n

In the course of the interview, we talk about what sustainability means; the economics of selective woodlot operation (as opposed to industrial clearcut logging); and how the CFGP (a for-profit corporation) covers its operating costs.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe want to be known for producing high-quality timber,\u201d\u00a0says Mark.\u00a0\u00a0This means investing more heavily in woodlot maintenance and selective harvesting \u2014\u00a0aging the forest to product higher quality sawlogs, rather than taking immature trees for immediate fibre production.\u00a0\u00a0It means that short term profit maximising is not the primary focus, and Mark discusses a more inclusive, community-oriented business model.<\/p>\n

On Cortes Island<\/h2>\n

As Mark explains, the best logs stay on Cortes \u2014\u00a0and so do the worst.\u00a0\u00a0Local mill operators have first dibs on the high-graded logs, and the lowest-quality wood is used to supply the community firewood program.\u00a0\u00a0The middle-grade logs mostly go to plywood mills on Vancouver Island and the lower main;\u00a0\u00a0only about 15 percent of the timber goes outside the province.\u00a0\u00a0About 25 percent of the logs stay on the island to feed local mills.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mark provides a lot of interesting detail about the market for Cortes\u2019\u00a0timber.<\/p>\n

Mark explains why selling\u00a0firewood<\/a>\u00a0doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0\u00a0We discuss the economics and logistics of the Community Forest firewood program, and how it has evolved over the years.\u00a0\u00a0At present, the \u201cslash\u201d and low-grade logs are offered to the public on a \u201cfree use permit\u201d\u00a0basis.\u00a0\u00a0Volunteers load and transport the firewood;\u00a0\u00a0in exchange for delivering a truckload of firewood to a senior or other eligible recipient on the island, they get one truckload for themselves.\u00a0\u00a0This reduces the wildfire fuel load on the cut area, while helping neighbours who for various reasons are unable to process their own firewood.<\/p>\n

Cortes Community Forest & The Province<\/h2>\n

We discuss the relationship of the Community Forest project and the Province;\u00a0\u00a0initially there was concern that the Province would bring pressure to bear on Cortes Island to meet the \u201cAAC\u201d (annual allowable cut, actually more of a target than a limit) that government guidelines would recommend for our hectarage.\u00a0\u00a0Mark explains how that pressure has been relieved, and the Province is increasingly willing to respect the local process.<\/p>\n

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\"Interview<\/a>

Looking at Squirrel Cove Cutblock from the road - Roy L Hales photo<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

Potential For Income Generating Activity<\/h2>\n

Mark is optimistic about the potential for income-generating \u201cvalue added\u201d activity based on our managed woodlots.\u00a0There is, he says, a big market for sustainably sourced lumber, especially finished or semi-finished product like T&G panelling\u00a0and flooring.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d he says;\u00a0\u00a0there is more demand for Community\u00a0Forest wood than we can supply, and if Cortes islanders want to\u00a0build a flooring mill or other value-added processing facilities, he believes\u00a0there\u00a0is realistic\u00a0opportunity here.\u00a0\u00a0The Community Forest can contribute significantly to\u00a0building more\u00a0stable base for our island economy than seasonal tourism \u2014 it can support more livelihood than its current modest demand for planters and woodlot workers.\u00a0\u00a0Mark invites listeners to contact him for more information.<\/p>\n

We wrap up the show with Mark\u2019s sincere gratitude to many people who worked\u00a0long and hard (from the Eco-Forestry days onward) to bring this project to\u00a0its present level.\u00a0\u00a0He says it\u2019s the best Board he\u2019s ever been involved with, and\u00a0an historically\u00a0significant project of cooperation between First Nations and non-native Cortes Islanders.\u00a0\u00a0He deeply appreciates the generosity of\u00a0Klahoose\u00a0First Nation<\/a>\u00a0in inviting non-native islanders to enter into a \u201c50\/50\u201d partnership\u00a0in the Community Forest endeavour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By De Clarke On Saturday March 14th, the monthly Cortes Currents news\/talk show featured an interview with Mark Lombard, contract manager for the Cortes Forestry General Partnership.\u00a0\u00a0This podcast explores what the \u201cCommunity Forest\u201d\u00a0is, and how it works.\u00a0\u00a0Did you know that CFGP\u2019s license now covers far more hectares of Cortes Island than the MMB\/IT\/Mosaic license? This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":6665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217,222],"tags":[],"radio":[],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=6661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}