SCRD-Egmont-Tsain Ko FDC

The SCRD Board of Directors met behind closed doors with Tsain-Ko Forest Development Corporation's logging consultants on Thursday, July 19th. Area A Director John Rees says he was impressed with Tsain-Ko's presentation. That's nice. One can only assume the consultants polished it up a tad since they met with our community at the end of May. I spoke with Director Rees on Monday, July 23rd after the Board of Health marathon. I wanted to know if the consultants indicated when they planned to start road building and logging. Rees said no but that Tsain-Ko doesn't appear to be in a hurry. That's nice. Jeez, did no one think to ask them when they were going to start?!! But the good news, according to Rees, is that an advisory committee will be established comprised of area residents who will sit down with the logging consultants and work together to make the logging as painless as possible. Yep, the chickens and wolves will be sitting down at the table together. Perhaps, my dad would have said at this point, "Well, it is better than a kick in the ass with a frozen boot."

Anyways, Rees sent this information to the Coast Reporter's stringer - not to the community. The reporter has kindly shared the information with us and it will be appearing in this Friday's newspaper. Here is what Bev Saunders has written about this advisory committee:

"Our Area A Director John Rees has been listening to our concerns about logging here in Egmont. With the support of the SCRD Board, John is looking for local residents in our area to join an advisory committee that will work with Tsain-Ko's management group, Chaskin. Members of this committee would meet on a regular basis and review all aspects of proposed logging around Egmont. Meetings could also include field trips. He is looking for ten committee members from North, Waugh, and Ruby Lake areas plus a chairman. Anyone who is interested in joining this committee should contact Rees at jarees@dccnet.com. This is a great opportunity for our community to have some real input in how our forest are logged. Please consider joining to represent our community."

Gosh, isn't that wonderful? Do I sound cynical? You bet. So, let's see now. According to the the posting below while the SCRD is holding a Board of Health meeting and WFP's reps and lawyers are in attendance and while WFP is preparing to state its case to the board, damn if WFP isn't out logging its cut in the watershed. And, if I remember correctly, I heard that back when Pinnacle Ventures (pre-PNR) was doing its logging at Lake Cowichan one partner was talking to the Boy Scout Camp manager about the nice spot they were going to move the Scouts to and lo and behold if the other partner wasn't out logging that very same spot. Yep, lots of jawing while the trees are falling. Oh, but I am sure that won't happen here because we will have real input on how the trees in our watershed will be logged.