Community forest licence received – Alaska Highway News
July 22, 2020
The Northern Rockies has its community forest licence in hand, all it needs now is a mill and manufacturing hub.
The community forest, managed jointly between the Northern Rockies municipality and the Fort Nelson First Nation, allows for annual cut of 217,650 cubic metres per year. It’s the province’s largest community forest, and long considered a key part of rebooting the region’s forestry sector.
“We’re rolling out the red carpet for any companies who want to come and harvest wood,” said Fort Nelson Mayor Gary Foster. “The forest is there to benefit the First Nations community and ours.”
The municipality and First Nation have worked for the last three years to develop their partnership and secure the community forest licence, formally executed in June.
It’s estimated community forests create one full-time job for every 3,000 cubic metres of wood harvested, with average total sales of $2.3 million in communities with 3,000 people or less.
