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Consulting Foresters of BC encourage the Duhamel Watershed Alliance to continue public review process

Letters to the editor
By Letters to the editor
September 11th, 2013

Editor, The Nelson Daily

I am writing on behalf of the Consulting Foresters of BC, who have members who live and work in the Kootenay Region, to express unease that the Duhamel Watershed Alliance are learning how to take nonviolent
action as a means of halting Kalesnikoff Lumber’s logging plans (Nelson Star – September 5).

As forest professionals engaged in the sustainable management of BC’s natural resources, we understand that public input to resource development and the process that allows concerned citizens can have a say in resource development, is the cornerstone of BC’s forest management framework and
that working cooperatively with stakeholders is how change is made.

Not by protesting in front of a logging truck!

Our members are bound by a Code of Practice that includes adoption of the Association of BC Forest Professionals Code of Ethics where our first responsibility is to advocate and practice good stewardship of forest land based on sound ecological principles and to sustain its ability to provide those values that have been assigned by society.

We are bound to work on behalf of the people of BC and consideration
for public input through regulatory processes is how this is achieved.

We are also disappointed that despite a professional report showing the low risk posed by road construction in the Duhamel Watershed, concerns are being raised by local area directors that seems willing to disregard the opinions of professionals for the sake of their cause – to simply stop all logging in their back yard.

As consulting forest professionals, we take our role in the management of BC forest resources seriously and are concerned that the professional perspectives of trained people can be disregarded so easily to promote an anti-logging agenda.

We strongly encourage the Duhamel Watershed Alliance to continue to work cooperatively with Kalesnikoff through the public review process, to seek out and rely on the professional opinions of consultants trained in these areas and to support, not denounce, local jobs created through sustainable development of BC’s forests.

Yours sincerely,
The Society of Consulting Foresters of BC
Jim Girvan, RPF MBA

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