After many years of collaboration, a Community Forest Agreement (CFA) has been issued for Quesnel and surrounding area.
The Three Rivers Community Forest (TRCF) is an agreement between Lhtako Dene, Nazko, ʔEsdilagh, and Lhoosk’uz First Nations along with the City of Quesnel to enable the municipality and First Nations to manage local forest resources in the area, a news release from the city says.
“Community forests are an opportunity for local involvement, investment and community benefit from the forest industry. Through agreements like these, communities can partner with First Nations to develop land management approaches that focus on shared values of sustainability and resiliency," said B.C.'s minister of forests Ravi Parmar in the release. "The Lhtako Dene, Nazko, ?Esdilagh, and Lhoosk’uz Dene Nations have worked for years with the city of Quesnel to bring the Three Rivers Community Forest together, and I’m excited to see the results of this collaboration and what it will mean for all five communities."
TRCF is a limited partnership between the five governments and will enable sustainable forest management practices on around 33,000 hectares of Crown land. With an annual allowable cut of up to 42,850m3/year of conifer trees and 10,000m3/year of deciduous trees. The TRCF is a perpetual area-based license with renewal taking place every 25 years.
Under the community forest agreement, the five partner communities will work with residents to identify priorities and perform activities such as:
- integrating fuel management to reduce wildfire risk,
- ensuring ecosystem resiliency through innovative forest management,
- collaborating on trails and other recreation initiatives,
- integrating First Nations traditional and ecological knowledge as well as local knowledge into land management
- upholding economic diversification that supports a thriving local economy
“There has been a lot of dedicated work between the Lhtako Dene, Nazko, ?Esdilagh, and Lhoosk’uz Dene Nations and the City of Quesnel over the past several years to get the Community Forest Agreement up and running. I’m very proud of all the work that has been done by all of the communities individually to get to this point and I am looking forward to seeing the collaborative effort continue to come together for the Three Rivers Community Forest into the future," said Josh Pressey, Regional Executive Director, Cariboo Chilcotin region natural resource operations.
The goal of the community forest is to work towards collaborative land management to improve resiliency and increase benefits from natural resources while keeping them local.
“Obtaining the community forest agreement after so many years of collaboration and hard work is a testament to what can be achieved when all of the governments work together. Three Rivers Community Forest is allowing us to come together as neighbours and co-managers of the forest ecosystem that we all call home, while realizing the collective benefits and well-being for all of our communities," said a statement from the TRCF's board, which is made up of one member from each of the partner governments.
The release says the community forest is committed to working with local residents and will actively communicate with residents through newsletters and updates to the website which is: www.threeriverscomfor.ca. The TRCF is currently looking for a manager and is expecting to begin operations in the new year.
