Spel’kúmtn Community Forest distributes $658,000 to Shareholders
Local communities to benefit from harvest operations and recent high timber values
July 10 , 2023 - The Líl’wat Nation and Village of Pemberton will each be receiving $329,000 as a disbursement from the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest (SCF). The funds come from the harvest and sale of timber from the Community Forest tenure area and is the first distribution the SCF has made back to its shareholders. Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman says “the Village is incredibly pleased to receive the revenues from the partnership that is the Spel'kumtn Community Forest! The revenues open amazing opportunities for our communities and projects that align with the SCF’s guiding values of environmental stewardship, reconciliation, and relationship building, that are at the centre of our collaboration.” The SCF is proud to be contributing to the local economy and helping communities see direct benefit from the area’s forest industry.
The Spel’kúmtn Community Forest was incorporated in 2019 as a Limited Partnership between the Village of Pemberton and Líl’wat Nation and received its tenure in August 2020. Community Forests are a particular type of forest tenure created by the Province with stated goals such as diversifying the use and benefits derived from tenures, providing social and economic benefits and increasing community involvement and participation. The Spel’kúmtn Community Forest tenure lies within the Unceded and Traditional Territory of the Líl’wat Nation and includes much of the area surrounding Pemberton and Mount Currie.
According to the BC Community Forest Association, community forests as a whole benefitted from positive market changes and increased timber value in 2022, with the value of sales increasing by 26 per cent. At the same time, Spel’kúmtn is still in its early years and is a relatively small tenure so a disbursement of this size is notable. Klay Tindall, the SCF’s Forest Manager, was “thrilled to announce the successful distribution of funds, reflecting a productive harvest season after previous under-harvest challenges. The positive market conditions kept us busy and allowed us to support local contractors, whose dedicated efforts played a pivotal role in our success. Together, we have not only reaped the rewards of a busy year but also sown the seeds of prosperity for our communities.”
There is other exciting news coming from the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest. The SCF is proud to announce that, alongside the partner distributions, an additional fund has been created: the Partnership Project Fund. The fund will be receiving $329,000 in this round of disbursement. The intention of the Partnership Project Fund is to support locally focused projects that align with the shared community values outlined in SCF’s management plan. Development of policy around project selection and implementation will be one of the primary tasks of Spel’kúmtn’s newly appointed Board of Directors. According Líl’wat Nation CAO Kerry Mehaffey, “the intention of the Spel’kúmtn Community Forest was always to create direct benefit for the communities.This initial distribution demonstrates how collaboration can benefit both communities and we are extremely excited to see the Partnership Project Fund grow to create a larger scale legacy project.”