By Chris Conway

The District of Invermere (DOI) has received a letter from Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) requesting its review and comments on a draft Sustainable Forest Management Plan (SFMP) for all lands that Canfor manages within the East Kootenay operating area.

According to the letter, Canfor is seeking input from stakeholders and user/focus groups on the draft SFMP. The purpose of the public participation process is to gather a wide range of public input and feedback on the company’s proposed strategic forest plan.

Canfor staff will consider any new information provided through public participation and, where applicable, incorporate improvements to the proposed SFMP.  Canfor is seeking input to the SFMP prior to finalizing the plan and once the SFMP finalized it will be in effect for several years.

The 258 page draft SFMP document states in the introduction that its overall objective is to demonstrate to government and industry managers, area residents, stakeholders, and customers of forest resources that it is possible to implement sustainable forest management at the management unit level.

The successful achievement of SFM is intended to occur through the on-going refinement and development, implementation and maintenance of the SFM Plan. The SFM Plan translates the strategic goals to operational reality on the ground.

The draft plan is available to the public until July 7.

Canfor’s letter dated May 11, was received by the DOI on June 2. The letter was acknowledged and briefly discussed by the district council at its June 9 meeting. However, council gave no indication of intent to provide formal comment on the plan.

Councillor Greg Anderson stated that the SFMP is publicly advertised and available for public comment.

The draft plan may be reviewed online under the heading “Kootenays” at http://www.canfor.com/environmental/plans.

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