- 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 territory between both the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations.
- 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 could be up to 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 divided equally 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 $2,100,000 in direct economic activity into the Sea to Sky region.
- The CCF Carbon Project, the first of its kind on in a British Columbia community forest is contingent upon the terms and conditions of the Forest Tenure which includes the accounting of carbon pools both in the storage and recovery of wood products.
- These are not solely Whistler or the Crown’s trees but are subject to pre-existing Aboriginal title and rights of which the ability to create economic opportunity is one right.
CCF VISION
The Cheakamus Community Forest is among the best managed forests in British Columbia, being very inclusive of community values and focusing on the sustainability of all forest resources.
CCF MISSION
Our mission is to manage the community forest collaboratively and sustainably for the benefit of all community users.