For the first time since it was formed four years ago, the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest (SCF) has distributed funds to its shareholders from the sale of commercial timber, money that will be used, in part, to support locally focused projects in Pemberton and Mount Currie.
Incorporated in 2019 as a limited partnership between the Lil’wat Nation and Village of Pemberton (VOP), the SCF is a community-led forest located on 17,727 hectares of unceded, traditional Lil’wat land that is designed to promote reconciliation and increase benefits to the respective communities. Each partner is receiving $329,000 as a disbursement of funds from the harvest and sale of timber in 2021 and 2022. The same amount has also been earmarked for a newly created Partnership Project Fund, which is aimed at boosting locally focused projects that “align with the shared community values outlined in SCF’s management plan,” according to a release.
“The intention of the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest was always to create direct benefit for the communities,” said Lil’wat Nation CAO Kerry Mehaffey in the release. “This initial distribution demonstrates how collaboration can benefit both communities, and we are extremely excited to see the Partnership Project Fund grow to create a larger-scale legacy project.”
In 2021, the SCF’s shortened first year of operations, 5,107 cubic metres of timber were harvested, followed by 21,000 m3 last year. The province has set the SCF’s annual allowable cut at 11,000 m3, but, because the forest operates in a five-year cut control period, foresters are permitted to go over their allowable cut amount in a given year to catch up.
“[2022] was a big year for us and a much larger harvest than we would anticipate in the future,” Andrea Blaikie, executive director of the forest, told Pique.
As Whistler’s Cheakamus Community Forest—where the Lil’wat is also a partner, along with the Squamish Nation and Resort Municipality of Whistler—mulls a potential permanent ban on old-growth logging, the SCF has taken a different approach, explained Klay Tindall, GM of forest operations for Lil’wat Forestry Ventures.
“The Lil’wat Nation is working on updating their forestry plan, and they are not specifically only looking at the age of the trees. They’re looking at the cultural value of the trees, the size of the trees, and the location of the trees as well,” Tindall said. “It’s looking at the ecosystem and the use of the trees beyond just their age.”
As it stands, the vast majority of old-growth trees—considered 250 years or older in B.C.—are protected in the SCF, with the bulk of commercial timber logged in 2021 and 2022 between the ages of zero and 50. No old growth is planned for harvest this year.
Blaikie added that about 95 per cent of the timber harvested sold within B.C. last year to local and regional distributors—including Continental Pole in Mount Currie. The SCF benefitted from rebounding timber prices in 2022, thanks in part to strong demand for plywood and veneer.
“There’s a high demand for those two products with the amount of building going on,” Tindall said.
According to the BC Community Forest Association, the value of timber sales increased by 26 per cent in 2022. “At the same time, Spel’kúmtn is still in its early years and is a relatively small tenure so a disbursement of this size is notable,” the release said.
“The revenues open amazing opportunities for our communities and projects that align with the SCF’s guiding values of environmental stewardship, reconciliation, and relationship building, that are at the centre of our collaboration,” said Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman in a statement.
With operations managed by Lil’wat Forestry Ventures, the Nation is influencing the approach to harvesting in a number of ways, Blaikie said.
“We have the opportunity to use age-old, but new-to-us forest practices,” she said, highlighting single-stem helicopter harvesting as an example of a modern logging technique that “opens up the canopy in a way that fire would have done more traditionally.”
At its core, the SCF offers a welcome opportunity for Lil’wat and VOP leadership to collaborate beyond the scope of local politics.
“It’s a private partnership, so there is a bit more flexibility,” Blaikie noted. “The funds put into that partner fund have no strings attached, so there is an opportunity for project building around a focus of reconciliation at the grassroots level. I think that’s special.”
The SCF welcomed its new board on June 1, which counts three representatives each from the Lil’wat Nation and VOP. Blaikie said one of the board’s first major priorities will be determining the eligibility criteria for the new Partnership Project Fund.
“It’s meant to be something that will benefit both communities equally, with a focus on reconciliation and the land,” she added. “The Lil’wat are deeply rooted to this land, and the idea is to bring that focus to the wider community.”
Learn more at spelkumtncf.com.
