The Cascade Lower Canyon Community Forest is a three-way partnership between the Yale First Nation, the District of Hope and the Fraser Valley Regional District. We manage and log approximately 30,000 cubic metres each year in our forest area in a sustainable manner considering both the timber and non-timber values throughout the forest.

Yes, a Community Forest Agreement (CFA) is a 25-year replaceable tenure on a designated land base. Community forests are managed according to extensive provincial law and guidelines and allows a greater opportunity for communities to manage local forests for local benefits.

Our CFA licence was issued by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. We are a member of the BC Community Forest Association, an organization that represents over 50 community forests throughout BC.

This area-based tenure largely surrounds Hope. There are four distinct sections and in relation to Hope, they are: i) parts of the Silver Skagit area to the south, ii) parts of the Nickel Mine and North Emory Forest Service Roads to the north-west, iii) the Squeah Forest Service Road area to the north-east, and iv) a section near Sunshine Valley east of Hope along Highway 3. The licence area extends almost as far north as Yale on both sides of the Fraser River.

The total area is about 22,000 hectares, which includes a timber harvesting land base of less than 8,000 ha. This means the majority of the licence area will have no logging and can be used for the maintenance or creation of many non-timber forest values. The area that is subject to logging is done so in a sustainable manner with less than 1% of the timber harvesting land base harvested annually.

Approximately 30,000 m³ (cubic meters). Although this volume may fluctuate in different years, every five years it is expected to average out.

Yes, in the 2017/18 operating year we employed eleven local residents in a variety of jobs. Our goal is to grow that number in a range of positions from logging, road building, silviculture (reforestation and stand tending), enhanced forestry, and tourism.

The Cascade Lower Canyon Community Forest is a self-sustaining operation that creates profits beyond the CLCCF’s obligations for sustainable community forestry. All profits remain in the CLCCF and over the past year we’ve made disbursements to the three partners of $315,000 for use in their communities.

These disbursements were done in accordance with the approved policy, which is Revenue Sharing, Fund Disbursement and Eligibility Criteria Policy and Procedure.

If you would like to contribute or volunteer with the Cascade Lower Canyon Community Forest, please contact us.