Allowed harvest levels on Haida Gwaii cut in half

There is a new joint council, called the Haida Gwaii Management Council, that has been established between the Haida and the British Columbia government to govern the forest management of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands).

The new council’s first decision has been to reduce the annual allowable harvest level by 48% to 929,000 cubic metres.

“This new AAC which is a 48% reduction from the prior AACs reflects the spirit and intent of the recently signed Haida Gwaii Strategic Land Use Agreement and the Kunst’aa guu – Kunst’aayah Reconciliation Protocol. This is an historic moment for the people of Haida Gwaii since it is the first time that the decision about how much commercial forest to cut on our islands has been made by anybody other than the Government of British Columbia,” said Trevor Russ, an appointed Haida Gwaii Management Council (HGMC) Member and elected member of the Council of the Haida Nation Executive.

“It is a unanimous consensus-based joint decision of the four Appointed Members of Council” said Council Chair Derek Thompson. “This is the first decision by the HGMC which is mandated by the Council of the Haida Nation and the Government of British Columbia to make strategic land and natural resource decisions for Haida Gwaii”.

The allocation of the new harvest levels to the various forest tenures on the Islands will be set by British Columbia government decision makers in the near future. Those allocations cannot amount to more than the 929,000 cubic metres as determined by the Council. The Council decision also identifies a number of recommendations for monitoring, information collection and planning by the governments.

To reach their decision the Haida Gwaii Management Council worked with the Joint Technical Working Group of the Council of the Haida Nation and BC government staff, to undertake a formal analysis of the Islands’ forests and forestry practices. The HGMC also invited, received, and considered public input in their decision.

All of the technical information and the public input is documented in the “Rationale, for Allowable Annual Cut Determination for Haida Gwaii”. It can be accessed at www.haidagwaiimanagementcouncil.ca

Hard copies of the documents are available from: admin@haidagwaiimanagementcouncil.ca