Tag Archives: Gowlland Harbour

Director’s Report: Gowlland Harbour Views, wharves, short-term rentals + more

From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney

Hello, It sure seemed a bustling August long weekend with parked cars lining roadsides in many popular locations. It’s nice sharing our island with visitors here to appreciate it; we are so fortunate to live in this beautiful community. The July 24 SRD Board meeting resulted in several decisions and items to report on: the Schellinck proposal, wharves, short-term rentals in the Outer Discovery Islands, and two upcoming public hearings.

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Gowlland Harbour Views Development Voted Down

Rick and Cheryl Schellinck have been trying to obtain approval to subdivide their Quadra Island property, as the first step towards development, since 2011. The most recent version of the proposed Gowlland Harbour Views project consisted of twenty-two 2 hectare rural residential lots,  a 5 hectare Agricultural Land Reserve parcel, and two small Regional District Parks. Quadra Island residents were given a chance to state their opinions of the project at a public meeting on June 12. Then Schellinck’s application was defeated in an electoral Directors only vote at the July 24, SRD Board meeting. It failed to make it to the third reading. 

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Logging in watershed frustrates Quadra Island residents

Editor’s note: On January 27, 2022, Mosaic unveiled its three year plan to log Cortes Island. Community opinion quickly turned against them after it became apparent that the forestry giant intended to harvest the forest at a rate six times greater than that of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership. Many Cortesians want to see the forest restored to what it was before the advent of industrial scale logging. In the face of a potential large scale community resistance, Mosiac has not commenced logging.

In 2010, the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island was formed to purchase 600 acres of Mosaic’s land in the James Creek Watershed. Negotiations have been ongoing, and there is hope that the deal will soon be finalized.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Quadra Island community is increasingly frustrated by its inability to protect vital watersheds from being clear-cut despite the increasing risks of climate change. 

Many residents in the Copper Bluffs community and elsewhere on the island have been urging Mosaic Forest Management to reconsider logging remnants of mature forests, particularly in stream sheds and wetlands. 

Despite long-standing opposition from residents, Mosaic has harvested six parcels totalling five hectares from tree farm licence 47 (TFL 47), which spans most of the island north of Gowlland Harbour and Hyacinthe Bay. 

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Once A Major Source of Employment

The number of jobs provided by cutting island forests is no longer a key concern of either tenure holders or government

Originally published by the Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project

By David Broadland

Ministry of Forests’ records suggest 80 to 90 percent of the cut on Quadra Island is exported as raw logs by Mosaic Forest Management—all to support government employee pensions.

At one time in BC, the damage done by logging forests was considered an acceptable cost for the jobs provided. In 1965, for example, for each 1000 cubic metres of wood harvested, there were 1.69 people employed in logging, milling and allied industries.

But by 2019, that number had fallen to less than a full job—.79 person per 1000 cubic metres. That’s less than half of what it was in 1965. Ouch.

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The Quadra Project – The Log Exporting Business

In response to Quadra Islanders’ concerns about the amount of our Island’s logs that are exported internationally rather than being processed in British Columbia, Mosaic sent an explanatory website link (https://www.mosaicforests.com/about-our-business#servinglocal). This link attempts to justify the exports, but it also reveals the wider social and economic strategy that guides Mosaic’s behaviour and its logging practices on both Quadra and elsewhere. It makes informative reading.

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