Municipal
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What is a Living Forest Community?Where will it work best?
Why is it important for a Municipality to consider this in its Planning?
Triple Bottom Line Benefits
How do we implement this approach?
Preservation vs. Conservation
Media
Who are we?
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Where will it work the best?
It will work best in municipalities and regional districts with large tracts of forestlands under local control. This model is particularly suited to forests with high conservation value that are close to already built-up areas, adjacent to existing parks or conservation areas, or land that features prominently in highly public view corridors. Recently, many of the forest companies in BC have been divesting themselves of forestry land. Some of these properties have been logged and replanted in the past 10 to 20 years, and the Timber companies have chosen to sell rather than to wait for the forests to mature. Many of these properties are in close proximity to lakes, rivers, the ocean and other attractive amenities. However, some of the properties for sale also have significant stands of mature trees and are ready for logging.
Currently, the primary options are to sell the land to small logging contractors who will clear-cut the forest and sell the raw logs, or attempt to subdivide the land into conventional suburban lots, or both. None of the current options is sustainable
Once the forests have been earmarked for clear-cutting, municipalities and regional districts are then placed in the unenviable position of having to reconcile the costs and benefits of; 1) acquiring the lands for regional parks, 2) allowing the land to be clear cut, or 3) rezoning the land to allow development to expand into these forested areas. In many cases, the land is both clear-cut and then developed under existing zoning.
While Land Trust organizations are sometimes able to mount campaigns to acquire the most valuable properties, frequently the land is expensive. Increasingly there is pressure from the surrounding property owners for public bodies to finance the preservation of these lands. With the Living Forest Community model, no local government expenditure is required to conserve the forests.
