Forestry workshop looks to diversify industry in Clearwater – featuring the Wells Gray Community Forest

From Brendan Kyle Jure – North Thompson Star/Journal

The District of Clearwater Forestry Working Group hosted a “value-added/forestry utilization workshop” on Saturday to continue discussions from a meeting in August 2019, and brainstorm opportunities to diversify the town’s economy.

Roughly 50 people attended the six-hour workshop, consisting of locals, government employees and displaced forestry workers. Speakers included John Drew from Woodco, Toby Jeffreys from Gilbert Smith and Mayor of Quesnel, Bob Simpson.

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George Brcko, general manager of the Wells Gray Community Forest (WGCF), spoke in the afternoon, providing information to the group about how the community forest runs and how it affects those in Clearwater.

The WGCF is one of 63 throughout British Columbia and is almost 14 years old. Brcko said the benefits of community forests are far-reaching.

“It is increasingly important that communities have decision-based rights around their timber harvesting rights, their watersheds, the control of landscape objectives,” he said.

“All those types of things are in the basket of the community forest to manage – everything from protection of watersheds, to sustainable rates of cut.”

A big factor of the WGCF, said Brcko, is a community forest’s mandate to support local contractors. The WGCF has consistently put wood on the market, providing many local jobs. The wood is also sold at fair market prices, and Brcko stressed that the prices are not subsidized.

“We have a tabular stumpage rate,” he said. “What it is, is a tax subsidy to small towns, essentially, but that is not passed on to the mills.”

Because of the discount rate, the surplus allows the WGCF to work on community projects, such as district heating systems, schools and other social factors. In November 2019, the WGCF provided a grant of about $1 million towards a new seniors’ living complex.

“We are trying to prove to (the) provincial government that we are actually taking care of social issues with our profits as well,” said Brcko.

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IMAGE: Pictured l-r) Simpcw First Nation Councillors Tina Donald, Ron Lampreau Jr., Jules Philip, George Lampreau, Chief Shelly Loring, Councillor Alison Green, and kneeling, Former Chief Nathan Matthew unveiling a ‘Welcome to Secwepemc Territory’ sign at Jasper National Park in June of 2019. (Simpcw First Nation photo)