Sunshine Coast Forest District
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 The Sunshine Coast Forest District, encompassing
1,555,088 hectares, is located in the southwest corner of British Columbia,
approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Vancouver. It lies within the Coast
Mountains and extends from Howe Sound in the south to Bute Inlet in the north.
The major communities within the district include
Powell River, Sechelt, Gibsons, and Pender Harbour. Historically these
communities were resource based with an emphasis on the forest industry. Tourism
and recreation opportunities as well as retirement have begun to shift the
dependence from the resource based sectors.
The Sunshine Coast Forest district staff are
responsible for managing the crown forest land for the numerous benefits
available from our forests. Recreation, water, fish and wildlife, and timber are
a few of the key values being managed by the forest district. The district
office is located in Powell River.
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- In our District, we have 15 commercial
species of trees including: Douglas-fir, western red cedar, western hemlock,
yellow cedar, red alder, grand fir, mountain hemlock, broadleaf maple, sitka
spruce, lodgepole pine, balsam fir, western white pine, white spruce, white
birch, and black cottonwood.
- The non-commercial trees in the District are
juniper, yew, bitter cherry, dogwood, and arbutus, pacific willow, pacific
crab apple, and cascara.
- The total volume of wood cut during 2003 in
the District, was 1,997,360 cubic metres (m3).
- A cubic metre (m3) of wood is about the same
size as a telephone pole.
- A highway logging truck holds about 35 m3.
- If a house requires 60 m3 of wood in its
construction, then last year the wood that was harvested in our District
could have been made into 33,289 houses! If each house averages 2.5 people,
then approximately 83,000 people could be housed.
- The stumpage or fee that the government
received in revenue for that amount of wood was $19,713,475.00.
- We have approximately 6,290 kilometres of
logging road in our District. If you stretched it out in a straight line,
you could just about get to Mazatlan, Mexico and back!
- To manage this area, we have:
- 30 people on staff
- 11 4x4 vehicles
- 34 computers
- 7 printers
- We drive about 135,000 km. per year and fly
over 200 hours in helicopters.
- We are responsible for 27 recreation sites
and more than 2,000 km of trails.
- We have 56,364 hectares of parks within the
district.
- In 2003, there were 800,000 trees planted in
the District including 7 different tree species. In addition we did the
following silviculture activities:
- Brushing - 499 ha
- Pruning - 107 ha
- Spacing - 33 ha
- There are 6 First Nations in our District
including:
- Squamish
- Sechelt
- Sliammon
- Klahoose
- Homalco
- Kwakiutl
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Wildfire News
Report a wildfire call
1-800-663-5555 or *5555 from a
cell phone |
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Qualifications
To qualify for a Free Use Permit, you must not own property or occupy land
where there is sufficient timber that is reasonably accessible for firewood.
Important Points
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The
firewood is only for personal use only and not for sale to others
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The
term of the permit is for six months
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No
live trees (evergreen or deciduous) may be cut. No snags are to be cut
within the permit areas.
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The
permit is limited to SIX (6) cords. (Approx. 18m3 or 12
regular pickup loads)
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Cutting is restricted to the area outlined on the permit map, which must
be attached to the permit. Firewood is not to be cut or removed from
riparian reserve areas or wildlife tree patches, which are outlined on
the permit map.
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The
permit must be carried at all times and must be produced at the request
of a Forest Officer, Conservation Officer or Peace Officer. The
penalties for failing to produce the permit or not adhering to the Free
Use Permit conditions could include, but are not limited to a monetary
fine and/or seizure of the wood.
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During
summer months the fire hazard may restrict firewood cutting, the permit
holder must check with Wildland Fire Services for current restrictions,
Powell River (604) 485-2794, Sechelt (604) 740-5004 or
http://bcwildfire.ca/. During dry condition periods
care must be taken to prevent a wildfire.
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Remove
all debris and slash resulting from firewood cutting, from roads,
ditches and culverts.
 Firewood Cutting Area Maps:
If you qualify and have obtained a map, your free use
permit may be obtained by
clicking here.
Download this permit and fill in the required information.
The permit and map must be carried at all times while cutting and transporting
firewood.
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Maps
(click on image for close-up)
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