Williams Lake Community Forest shareholders reap first profits

Four years after its inception the City of Williams Lake and Williams Lake Indian Band have profited for the first time from their joint Community Forest Agreement Tenure. In June the City received a cheque in the amount of $987,000 and the WLIB received $861,000. Steve Capling, Community Forest board chair, said the cheques covered both a dividend and a repayment of previous loans and costs associated with setting up the Community Forest. At its regular meeting on June 26, city council passed a motion asking staff to put the money into a reserve fund and bring forward a report on how it can be managed in the future. “The idea is to have it earmarked so that it doesn’t just end up in general revenue without being able to identify the projects that it goes toward,” Mayor Walt Cobb said.