Community Questions About Harvest Levels: Ministry Review and Response

Over the past year, allegations have circulated publicly about whether the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) is harvesting at sustainable levels, and whether our Annual Allowable Cut (AAC)

appropriately reflects areas we protect for drinking water, biodiversity, and other values.

Because these concerns were widely shared, we believe it is important to also share the Province’s review and response.

In starting in early 2025, Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) widely shared that the SCCF was overharvesting including hosting public meetings and online, eventually submitting several letters and mapping to the Ministry of Forests asserting that:

• The Chapman and Gray Community Watershed Reserves inflated SCCF’s AAC;

• As a result, harvesting levels are unsustainable;

• All planned harvesting should be halted pending an audit.

SCCF was copied on this submission, which included GIS-based calculations and maps.

The Ministry of Forests reviewed these concerns and on January 16th, 2026, the Regional Executive Director for the South Coast Natural Resource Region responded directly to ELF and copied SCCF.

This review considered:

• Professional timber supply analyses prepared for SCCF,

• Actual harvest levels over the past decade,

• SCCF’s approved Forest Stewardship Plan,

• SCCF’s communicated management approach, including watershed protection and ecosystem-based management.

The Ministry’s response confirms that:

• SCCF has not over-harvested its tenure, and actual harvesting has been well below the allowable cut for more than ten years.

• SCCF has already been treating Chapman and Gray as avoidance areas.

• Even when Chapman and Gray are excluded, previous professional analyses indicate an AAC well above SCCF’s current 20,000 m³/year.

• SCCF is voluntarily managing more conservatively, including a reduced interim AAC of 15,000 m³/year.

• GIS-based mapping exercises cannot replace a professionally prepared timber supply analysis.

What SCCF is doing next

Community Forest leaders from around BC gathering to learn about continuous forest cover management / thinning with no roadbuilding from Khowutzun Forest Services

SCCF has been preparing for a major update to its Management Plan following a multi-year transition to ecosystem-based management which started in 2021. Because the Management Plan must align with the Forest Stewardship Plan, that work had to be completed first. An updated Forest Stewardship Plan was finalized in October 2025, thanks to essential support and prioritization from shíshálh Nation rights and title staff and decision-makers, and Ministry of Forests staff.

The upcoming Management Plan update process will include a professionally prepared, third-party timber supply analysis using modern modelling, along with a comprehensive review and recalculation of the Annual Allowable Cut. This will be the most significant planning update since the community forest was first established and represents a generational opportunity for community engagement. Anyone interested in learning more or being involved is encouraged to complete the current Operating Plan survey, open until the end of January at www.sccf.ca/forest-operations .