Our forest type ‘contains more species at risk than any other ecological zone in BC’

This letter-to-the-editor first appeared in The Cowichan Valley Citizen.

The estimated $100,000 cost of developing a new management plan for the Municipal Forest Reserve will be covered by a $500,000 provincial grant, Mayor Rob Douglas said Thursday.

Safety, blowdown, wildfire risk, and water infrastructure all cited as factors

North Cowichan, First Nations welcome to join in and save start-up costs

First published in The Cowichan Valley Citizen on Feb. 23, 2023

As a well-known and opinionated columnist in the Cowichan Valley for years, Don Maroc wasn’t one to pull his punches.

Homes on the slopes of Mt. Prevost, Maple Mountain and Mt. Richards ‘might become quite desirable’

We’ve come to identify North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve as the Six Mountains — Prevost, Sicker, Richards, Maple, Tzouhalem, and Stoney Hill.

Scheme viewed as a faster way to earn revenue than waiting for poorly harvested forest to recover

Do you have any photos that depict historic logging operations in North Cowichan’s Municipal Forest Reserve?

North Cowichan has published an article ostensibly to encourage public participation in a consultation process on the Municipal Forest Reserve — but which comes off as a plug for status-quo logging.

Transition from clearcutting to partial harvests, thinning, wildfire interface predicted

Public can now weigh in on future of Municipal Forest Reserve in on-line survey

Its name is a handful — the Coastal Douglas-fir (& Associated Ecosystems) Conservation Partnership.

That would be the outcome of one of four management scenarios posed by UBC

Carbon credits: ‘a lot of buyers would be willing to pay higher prices’

Mosaic Forest Management says it is willing to partner with municipalities — including North Cowichan — private landowners and First Nations who are interested in preserving forest lands through the sale of carbon credits.

If a major forest company can do it, so can the Municipality of North Cowichan.

First published by the Times Colonist on Mar. 17, 2022

Logging-related revenue and jobs do not even rank within the top-10 list of what citizens value most about the Municipal Forest Reserve, a consultant’s report for North Cowichan council reveals.

Municipality says illegal cutting had not yet begun

When forestry ribbons start showing up on trees, you have to think the chainsaws aren’t far behind. When those ribbons are spotted during a pause in logging in North Cowichan’s Municipal Forest Reserve, it can be especially troubling.

Chief Administrative Officer Ted Swabey earned $195,949 plus $9,870 in expenses — highest in the Municipality of North Cowichan — last year, according to the 2019 Statement of Financial Information.

RCMP and municipal bylaw staff converged on a gravel logging road in North Cowichan’s Municipal Forest Reserve this week after receiving a public complaint about potential tree poaching.

I saw something very strange this week — a fully loaded logging truck lumbering through the residential streets of The Properties at Maple Bay.

North Cowichan council has rejected a staff suggestion to approve logging an additional 5,000 cubic metres from the Municipal Forest Reserve.

North Cowichan council on April 15 rejected a dubious motion by councillor Tek Manhas that would have resumed logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve despite the fact that a public consultation process on the logging issue has barely begun.

Logging in the 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve created as few as 10 full-time jobs — two of those municipal staffers — last year, according to North Cowichan estimates provided to sixmountains.ca.

Sig Kemmler's logging company top municipal earner last year