Mosaic hopes to start logging on Cortes this fall

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Mosaic Forest Management is tentatively considering logging some of their Cortes Island holding after the wildfire season ends this year.

The forestry giant laid out their draft three-year plan during a ZOOM call on Thursday night. A company spokesperson emphasized the idea this is very much a draft plan and they want to hear back from Cortes residents.

Mosaic owns 1,085 hectares, or just under 9% of the Cortes land base. They have been studying Cortes Forestry General Partnership’s operations and plan to log in a manner that is similar in size and scope.

Their first year’s cut is currently 13 hectares. These have been laid out in 5 cutblocks, averaging 2.8 hectares. They are in the Delights Lake area, as well as behind the log dump in Gorge Harbour and across the public road to the north.

Proposed cuts for 2023 and 2024 are smaller. Operations in the upper Basil Creek area and off Blue Jay road will commence in year two.

A company spokesperson said, “We’ve tried to plan the first three years of blocks away from the very sensitive areas.”

During the question period, Mosaic added that at this point they have not made any plans beyond the three years being discussed.

They also reiterated that the cutblocks are proposed, no ribbons have been hung on the ground yet and they are waiting to hear back from Cortes residents.

Mosaic is defining old growth as trees that are 200 years old and promise to not cut any stands that have more than 20 old growth trees per hectare.

They will attempt retain the old trees in stands that do not meet that 20 per hectare threshold, providing it is safe to do so and the land is not needed for roads.

Mosaic has identified all of Cortes Island’s registered water licenses and promise to coordinate with owners when their activities are near a water license. This includes walking these areas with owners. A company spokesperson said regulations dictate that their activities cannot have adverse effects on drinking water.

Company spokespersons also said they are looking into different ways they can provide firewood to the community.

The first hour of the ZOOM call was Mosaic’s presentation. Molly Hudson, Director of Sustainability, described some of the wildlife protection, water, quality protection and sustainable harvesting practices they will be following. She said Mosaic does think about providing wildlife corridors and habitat for species at risk. They have incorporated setbacks of from 10 to 30 metres from streams, depending on how they are classified. One of the other managers stated that the UK based carbon trust calculated Mosaic’s carbon footprint in 2016 and the company intends to become a positive sequestration business by 2035.

The last 40 minutes of the call was a question period. Cortes Island Regional Director Noba Anderson pointed out that this was not a true public meeting because residential input was limited to questions typed into the chat box. Hudson replied that they had intended to hold a pubic meeting in February, but changed their plans due to COVID 19.