A plan to develop the area around Carmi's recreation trails into a community forest was presented to Penticton City Council.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Carmi Recreational Trails
February 20, 2019 - 2:00 PM
PENTICTON - Two community members concerned about the future of the Carmi area’s recreational trails pitched a new idea for management of the area to Penticton city council.
Neda Joss with the Carmi Recreation Trails Group and Andrew Drouin with the South Okanagan Trails Alliance met with city council yesterday, Feb. 20, to seek its blessing to apply for a community forest tenure in the Carmi intensive research area.
Joss said creating a community forest would allow the recreation groups to take control of the area, thereby addressing logging concerns. She said in spite of numerous letters and a 1,700 signature petition against the proposed logging, plans were still moving forward.
“This is a chance for us to take control,” Joss said.
As a community forest the area would be dedicated to a non-profit society to manage as its forestry practices dictated.
She said a collaborative approach to developing the area would be undertaken where city, regional district, First Nations and other stakeholders would sit on the board working to enhance and maintain recreation use in addition to developing an 80-year logging sustainability plan.
Joss said the group hoped to develop logging on a smaller, less invasive and more sustainable scale.
The society would be responsible for all costs involved, with any money or profit going to pay for recreational enhancements to the area.
Joss and Drouin were seeking council endorsement for the idea prior to their application for a community forest agreement. They also plan to bring the matter to the regional district and the Penticton Indian Band for support prior to making the application.
Council agreed to provide a letter of support.
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