Originally published on the Cortes Tideline (2014)
I believe that most of us now realize that a mature forest ecosystem is a complex community of interconnected, interdependent organisms demonstrably capable of developing, expanding and sustaining itself. To appreciate this, we only have to consider the forests that existed in much of North America and, more specifically, on our Pacific Coast, when we Europeans arrived.
Continue reading A Mature Forest EcosystemOriginally published on Heartwood, Field Notes
Their plan is to net out of the equation sensitive ecosystems, riparian zones, areas with very thin soils, and groves of old growth—and do selective, ecosystem-based forestry on what remains of the land base.
Continue reading The Klahoose First Nation & Origins of Cortes Community ForestOriginally Published on Heartwood, Field Notes
Once we accept that fact, the next logical step is to determine what the price is going to be. But it is at this point that Cortesians have hit a huge stumbling block. In order for the price of any given piece of forestland to be determined, there are two factors that must be considered: the first being the actual value of the property, and the other being the value of the timber on the land, based on market prices.
Continue reading Cortes Island Ancient Forest #4: Whaletown CommonsOriginally published on Heartwood, Field Notes
One of the challenges that communities such as Cortes Island face when negotiating with logging companies on behalf of the forests is that they are often not even sharing the same language.
Continue reading Cortes Island Ancient Forest #3: Delight Lake WatershedOriginally published on Heartwood, Field Notes
There is very little common ground between Island Timberlands’ methods and how the community would like forestry to be done on Cortes – but as this is private managed forestland, there’s not a whole lot they can legally do about it.
Continue reading Cortes Island Ancient Forest #2: The Carrington Bay Children’s Forest
