Municipal Cooperation
Working with the municipal or regional district staff, we anticipate using the new land use zone called the Community Land Stewardship Zone (CLS Zone), pioneered by the Trust for Sustainable Forestry and the Comox-Strathcona Regional District for Cortes Island, DL 1127. The CLS Zone is an umbrella type of legal mechanism that encompasses the typical land use criteria such as density, permitted uses and minimum lot sizes. It also includes the Design Guidelines and site-specific requirements. The zone prescribes the limits of mixed-use areas for residential, retail and tourism facilities, and light industrial uses normally associated with the sustainable harvesting of timber. It provides a degree of flexibility to adapt uses to market variations over time, while providing the municipality with the certainty that the built form will be as promised.
Living Forest Communities will incorporate "best practices" into the forests by building narrow, contour hugging roads that do not require extensive blasting followed by large volume cut and fills. Wherever possible, we will limit the size and impacts of roads or bridges and utilize natural systems thinking in the provision of infrastructure and the management of storm runoff. By regenerating wetlands and streams, we can provide a valuable means for slowing down runoff and permitting rainfall to recharge underground aquifers. In many locations, we can also improve the percolation of the soil and enhance the many natural functions of the site by situating houses on small foundation pads or pilings rather than large concrete basements.
Much of our existing community planning strategies and regulations, have assumed a fairly stable climactic regime. Given the present and likely future impact of Climate Change, our land use practices and patterns will likely have to be profoundly modified to reflect the new realities of sudden weather swings. How we harvest and maintain our tree canopy will become extremely important to the communities in this region. The stakes are high: worldwide deforestation from clearcut logging contributes nearly 25 per cent of annual carbon dioxide releases.
Moreover, many in our province are lamenting the lack of sustainability of our present "industrial" model of timber harvesting, especially because many mandated stewardship regulations do not apply to privately held forestlands. While concerns may appear initially to be purely aesthetic, there are longer-term consequences relating to stream degradation, erosion, and reduction of habitat and carbon sequestration. Add to this the impact of more frequent and severe weather events and the problem magnifies in its scope and potential for damage.
Additionally, the short-term focus of industrial harvesting and export of raw logs has resulted in diminished resources and the death of a number of communities throughout the province. The smaller mills disappear and the residents watch as the jobs leave and their tax base dwindles.
If we use a triple bottom line analysis on the conventional approach, it can be determined that the current industrial harvesting practices are not sustainable. We are not maximizing sustainable jobs and the viability of communities, the environment is being degraded and there are negative and destabilizing impacts resulting in a host of ancillary social issues.
Living Forest Communities will incorporate "best practices" into the forests by building narrow, contour hugging roads that do not require extensive blasting followed by large volume cut and fills. Wherever possible, we will limit the size and impacts of roads or bridges and utilize natural systems thinking in the provision of infrastructure and the management of storm runoff. By regenerating wetlands and streams, we can provide a valuable means for slowing down runoff and permitting rainfall to recharge underground aquifers. In many locations, we can also improve the percolation of the soil and enhance the many natural functions of the site by situating houses on small foundation pads or pilings rather than large concrete basements.
Why is it important for a Municipality to consider this in its Planning?
The Smart Growth movement and the advocates of New Urbanism, Eco-Density and Sustainable Development all seek a common goal of reducing the ecological footprint of human settlement. For over twenty years, environmental NGOs and planners have known the "best practices". Recently, the threat of Climate Change has produced a far more urgent resolve towards changing the way that we build on this earth. Now is the time to incorporate the practices of sustainability in the forest sector that can counter the impacts of conventional suburban development.Much of our existing community planning strategies and regulations, have assumed a fairly stable climactic regime. Given the present and likely future impact of Climate Change, our land use practices and patterns will likely have to be profoundly modified to reflect the new realities of sudden weather swings. How we harvest and maintain our tree canopy will become extremely important to the communities in this region. The stakes are high: worldwide deforestation from clearcut logging contributes nearly 25 per cent of annual carbon dioxide releases.
Moreover, many in our province are lamenting the lack of sustainability of our present "industrial" model of timber harvesting, especially because many mandated stewardship regulations do not apply to privately held forestlands. While concerns may appear initially to be purely aesthetic, there are longer-term consequences relating to stream degradation, erosion, and reduction of habitat and carbon sequestration. Add to this the impact of more frequent and severe weather events and the problem magnifies in its scope and potential for damage.
Additionally, the short-term focus of industrial harvesting and export of raw logs has resulted in diminished resources and the death of a number of communities throughout the province. The smaller mills disappear and the residents watch as the jobs leave and their tax base dwindles.
If we use a triple bottom line analysis on the conventional approach, it can be determined that the current industrial harvesting practices are not sustainable. We are not maximizing sustainable jobs and the viability of communities, the environment is being degraded and there are negative and destabilizing impacts resulting in a host of ancillary social issues.