Woodlot licensees and owners from around the province will be holding their annual general meeting Sept. 19-22, on Quadra Island and in Campbell River.
The North Island Woodlot Association is host to this three-day meeting where they will showcase “Woodlots – The Island Way - Community Friendly Forestry” through workshops, meetings and fieldtrips on Quadra Island.
Woodlotters include private forest land owners, called woodlot owners and Woodlot Licencees, managers of an alternative tenure to managing Crown forest lands in the province. Woodlot Licences are B.C.’s smallest Crown tenure managed for timber being anywhere from 400 to 1,200 hectares in size and are often combined with private forest land. The people managing these forest lands are the stewards of the land employing foresters and contractors in their local community to ensure the forest lands are well managed.
There are 74 woodlot licences and many woodlots on Vancouver Island from Victoria to Port Hardy. Many are close to urban communities, rural subdivisions and sensitive forest areas.
Wolfram Wollenheit professional forester and president of the North Island Woodlot Association says, “The woodlot program connects people and forests. Through woodlots, local communities experience the direct benefits of their adjacent forests.”
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations will be speaking to a full house Friday night at April Point Lodge.
“This is a great way for woodlotters to pool their considerable knowledge on responsible forest stewardship. It is encouraging to see local communities embrace this program and subsequently benefit from the jobs it creates,” said Minister Thomson.
Other presenters include:
- Judi Cunningham – UBC Sauder Business School, “Family Forests”
- Rick Monchak, – Timberwest, “Woodlot Forestry on a TFL
- Bill Markvoort, & Terry Basso, – Probyn Log Group, “Log Markets: Opportunities & Planning for Future Cycles”.
The FBCWA was founded in 1988. The FBCWA represents 23 woodlot associations, whose membership includes woodlot licensees and small private woodland owners from throughout British Columbia, united in an effort to demonstrate exemplary forest and natural resource management.
The NIWA is a member of the FBCWA and represents 32 woodlot licensees and more than 20 woodlots.
To find out more about woodlots in British Columbia go to www.woodlot.bc.ca.