The first forestry decision by the Haida Gwaii Management Council, a group made up of representatives from the Haida Nation and the Government of BC to make land use decisions on Haida Gwaii, is a big one as it relates to preserving wilderness on the island.
The council decided to reduce the Allowable Annual Cut on Haida Gwaii by almost 50 per cent to 929,000 cubic metres for the coming year.
“This new AAC which is a 48 per cent 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.
How the reduced harvest level will be divided among the various forest tenures on Haida Gwaii will be made by the provincial government in the near future.
As well as deciding on the AAC for the islands, the council identified a number of recommendations related to monitoring, information collection and planning to be done by the government on Haida Gwaii. The rationale for the decision is available online at www.haidagwaiimanagementcouncil.ca.