"Through this community forest, the people of Bella Coola can diversify their forest economy and more directly participate in managing the resources around them."
Honourable Rich Coleman, former Minister, Ministry of Forests and Range
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Positive Economic Impacts in Bella Coola
The Bella Coola Community Forest opened with a strong first year of operation in 2009. A total of 21,000 cubic metres was logged generating well over 1,700 days of employment for the local community. Bella Coola Community Forest Ltd., the operating company that manages the community forest on behalf of the Bella Coola Resource Society, is reinvesting in the region by selling harvested logs to local sawmills and facilitating $25,000 in trail maintenance through Forest Investment Account funding.
In 2010, fewer trees were harvested, but the community forest diversified its activities. 36,000 trees were planted on the 2009 logging sites under a new silviculture initiative. In 2010, the amount of logs that were processed locally almost doubled from 187 cubic metres in 2009 to 310.9 cubic metres in 2010. Almost 100 cubic metres of fire wood was produced from what would have been waste wood on the logging sites that year. As this community forest project has been maturing since its startup in 2009, there has been a substantial diversification of activities that continue to contribute positively to Bella Coola's local economy.
