The District of Hope is receiving $150,000 through the Cascade Lower Canyon Community Forest (CLCCF) project.
The CLCCF is a partnership between the district, the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) and the Yale First Nation. Together they manage 26,000 hectares of forest that stretches (roughly) from Silver Lake in the south to Wotten Lake in the north, and Hicks Lake in the west to Kippan Lakes in the east.
The disbursement the district receives comes from the harvest and sale of timber from the region and is directed back into community projects.
“The CLCCF has a manager (Matt Wealick) that runs it, and based on his imput the board decides what sections are going to be harvested at what times of year,” said District of Hope mayor Peter Robb. “They watch the lumber market and monitor all the technical sides of that industry.”
The district received $100,000 from the CLCCF in 2019 and 13 different groups benefited.
The Mount Hope Senior Citizens Housing Society got $26,884.82 which was used to fund window replacements/upgrades at Park Street Manor. The Hope Curling Club was given $25,000 to give the exterior of the building a long-needed facelift.
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At the smaller end of the scale, Hope Communities in Bloom received $550 to purchase plants and fuel to improve the aesthetics of freeway exit 168.
Robb said this year’s recipients have not yet been chosen.
“We have a policy in place for how are funds are distributed,” he said. “People apply for it and recommendations come from council members. Twenty-five per cent goes to arts, culture, heritage and recreation. Twenty-five per cent goes to youth and seniors, 25 per cent to the regional community at large and 25 per cent to our ‘joint legacy fund,’ where we could do something with our (CLCCF) partners.
“It’s good for the community to manage our own forests within our own boundaries and have money coming back into the community.”
In addition to the $150,000, the CLCCF issued a grant to the Sunshine Valley Community Recreation Society to create recreational infrastructure in Sunshine Valley area. The infrastructure will serve as a hub for community gatherings and constructed is anticipated to be finished this summer. A second grant was issued to the Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association to create GPS mapping of new trails on Hope Mountain as well as the Dragon’s Core trails.
According to a news release, the CLCCF “manages timber and non-timber values in the land base. This includes consideration for values such as logging, revenue, employment, First Nations, forest recreation, visual resources, fish and wildlife and water quality as well as archaeological, historical and spiritual values.”
The CLCCF started in 2011 and the 2021 disbursement is the largest to date.
“2021 was a strong operational year,” said CLCCF General Manager Matt Wealick. “With lumber prices being exceptionally strong we were in the position to issue significant dividend cheques to all of the partners. It was a great way to end a very busy year for the Community Forest.”
For more on the CLCCF, see clccf.ca/what-we-do/