Powell River Community Forest presented a record cheque of $6,264,534 for City of Powell River’s community forest reserve fund as its 2023 dividend.
At the June 20 city council meeting, community forest president Greg Hemphill said the independent corporation’s previous high was around $3.5 million. He outlined why last year’s dividend was so much higher.
“The genesis of this dividend starts in 2022,” said Hemphill. “We had the hemlock looper infestation and we put a lot of our development plans on hold waiting to see if we would have to move into 100 per cent salvage, dead and down diseased timber. As it turned out, the infestation collapsed, especially our Douglas fir areas, which are most of the community forest. The firs showed pretty good resilience and have recovered since then.
“Moving into 2023, we had some catching up to do on our cut controls. We harvested a lot more timber than our regular annual cut, so that’s one of the reasons for the high amount.”
Hemphill said another reason is the community forest was in a position to take advantage of what was still a very good timber market. He said most of the harvesting in 2023 was done in the first quarter.
“Timing is everything with markets,” said Hemphill. “We were able to get timber out to take advantage of that.”
Hemphill said there is always a narrative that the community forest made record profits because it sacrificed something. He said he can assure people that the corporation has not compromised its commitment to sustainable forest practices, and protection of water quality in the two watersheds it operates in. The community forest is not exporting timber and it’s not logging old growth, he added.
“Timing is everything in getting the best value for our timber,” said Hemphill.
He said money has been retained in reserve for next year’s dividend to make sure it doesn’t “drop off a cliff.”
“Obviously, a good part of that is making sure we can have opportunities for grants for community projects, both spring and fall,” said Hemphill. “That is our hope going forward.
“Markets do change and it’s now sensitive to supply and demand issues. Even within a poor market there is opportunity to take advantage if we are well planned and engineered. We can move quickly and get a decent price.”
Councillors then heard from grant recipients, who outlined the types of projects they would be initiating with community forest grants.
The community forest will be funding a number of projects from the 2023 dividend. Townsite Ratepayers Association will be receiving up to $100,000 from the triangle gardens project.
Powell River Salmon Society is receiving $188,663.98 for a remediation and security project.
Kelly Creek Community Church is the recipient of up to $60,000 for a community pavilion.
Powell River Therapeutic Riding Association has an arena footing levelling and new groomer project for $13,687.
Myrtle Point Golf Club will be erecting elk perimeter fencing valued at $121,000.
Top Out Climbing Co-op will be funded for $36,796.54 for a climbing holds cleaning system.
Lang Bay Community Club will be levelling its parking lot and placing new gravel, valued at $16,240.
Evergreen Resident Council will be receiving $22,853.66 for an ice cream machine for Evergreen Care Unit and Willingdon Creek Village.
Sunshine Music Festival’s replacement of equipment and banners is valued at $6,929.44.
Miklat/Together We Can’s drug and alcohol recovery program will be the recipient of $820,585.52
Powell River Trail Riders Club has an arena top rail improvement project valued at $27,379.
Powell River Forestry Heritage Society will be receiving $8,000 for the Paradise Valley railroad infrastructure upgrade.
Powell River International Summer Music Association (PRISMA) has been granted $94,446 for its performing arts hub in Townsite.
Carlson Community Club will be spending $87,320 on club building equipment and upgrade projects.
City of Powell River has been allocated six grants. The Timberlane track refurbishment grant is $450,000. Sea walk restoration is valued at $400,000. There will be $297,024 for Powell River Recreation Complex upgrades.
Powell River Public Library siding upgrades are valued at $183,150. There will be a $104,000 incremental cost to purchase new e-vehicles and install an additional charging station. There will also be a contract project manager position to accelerate completion of the city’s existing community forest grant projects of up to $200,000.
Total money committed for these spring 2024 grants is $3,444,036.25, and with these 21 new grants, the total number of grants awarded since the community forest’s inception is 284.
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