- The Cheakamus Community Forest is a three-way equal partnership between the Squamish Nation, Lil’wat Nation and the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
- The area of the CCF is shared unceded territory between both the Squamish Nation and Lil’wat Nation.
- First Nations have expanded their capacity in forest management and operate successful businesses, including the CCF, within the Sea to Sky region.
- Each First Nation partner provided additional logging quota at their own cost into the CCF Limited Partnership to complement the 10,000 m3 the RMOW received from the provincial government. The additional quota allowed the CCF to be more than doubled in size so that more forested area could be managed by the CCF. If the forest was managed by anyone other than the CCF under default FRPA regulations, the harvest would be over 40,000 m3.
- The CCF management of the forest involves a significant reduction in harvesting from historical levels with decisions made locally.
- All annual harvesting projects are shared between the First Nation business arms, with Lil’wat Forestry Ventures LP representing the Lil’wat Nation and Sqomish Forestry LP representing the Squamish Nation.
- The annual contribution of the CCF harvesting activities contributes upwards of $2,000,000 in direct economic activity into the Sea to Sky region.
- The CCF Carbon Project is the first of its kind in a British Columbia community forest.
- The CCF tenure area is subject to pre-existing Aboriginal title and rights of which the ability to create economic opportunity is one right.
CCF VISION
The CCF is a model of regenerative forestry that mitigates the impacts of climate change, and that the CCF partnership is recognized as a model of reconciliation, supporting the prosperity of the RMOW, Lil’wat and Squamish Nations through a thriving local economy.
CCF MISSION
Prioritize the ecological health of local forests while respecting their cultural significance to the Lil’wat and Squamish peoples and generating direct economic benefits for the two First Nations and the citizens of Whistler.