Mayor Murray Skeels was first to hear the news of the decision by BC Timber Sales to pull Bowen Island out of the proposal for a new Forest Stewardship Plan on Monday morning,.
“This is incredibly good news, everybody’s work has really paid off,” he said. “However, this is simply the first step at re-imagining Bowen Island as an entire unit, not just as the Municipality and Crown Lands. It is one thing to say we want to be removed from the working forest, but we have to land somewhere, so finding that place is the next step. This also brings up a host of other issues, like are there areas we should be cutting trees to protect neighbourhoods from interface fires? Our Manager of Parks and Environment, Bonny Brokenshire, is working on getting recreational designation for Mt. Gardner, opening other areas for official recreational might be a good idea. There’s also getting forest protection through Carbon Credits, there’s a myriad of things to be looking into.”
Skeels adds that BCTS will still be sending a representative to Bowen in the fall to discuss the logging process and options with council.
