Letter Ministry Forests re Coastal Douglas-fir

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Bowen  Denman  Hornby  Gabriola Galiano  Gambier  Lasqueti  Mayne  North Pender  Salt Spring  Saturna  South Pender  Thetis 
 
 
200 - 1627 Fort Street, Victoria BC  V8R 1H8 
Telephone  (250) 405-5151    Fax  (250) 405-5155 
Toll Free via Enquiry BC in Vancouver 604.660.2421.  
Elsewhere in BC 1.800.663.7867 
Email  information@islandstrust.bc.ca 
Web  www.islandstrust.bc.ca 
 
January 12, 2018  File No.: 0420-20 
 
via email: CDFOrderAmendment2017@gov.bc.ca  
 
South Island Natural Resource District 
Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Operations and Rural Development 
4885 Cherry Creek Road 
Port Alberni BC V9Y 8E9  
 
To whom it may concern: 
 
Re:  Protected areas for Coastal Douglas-fir bioclimatic zone 
 
Thank you for the November 3, 2017 letter addressed to Robert Kojima, Regional Planning Manager 
advising that the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is 
proposing to establish protected areas for the conservation of the CDF bioclimatic zone (CDFmm) through 
the protection of 1,125 ha of designated areas under a Land Use Order. We fully support and congratulate 
you on the proposal. Please see the attached maps, which demonstrate how the designated areas within 
the Islands Trust Area add significantly to the connectivity of protected spaces that are vital to supporting 
biodiversity on the islands. 
We strongly recommend that the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural 
Development extend this level of protection to other Crown lands on islands within the South Coast Region, 
including the Chilliwack and Sunshine Coast Forest Districts. These districts contain important CDF areas 
that should also be conserved under the Land Use Order. In addition, important CDFmm habitats on large 
Lasqueti Island Crown land parcels were notably absent and we would be in favour of their inclusion in the 
Land Use Order. 
We also request that the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development 
consider future Land Use Order amendments that would: 1) extend protection to Crown Islets which have 
important CDF values, and 2) extend protection to lands in the Coastal Western Hemlock xm1 subzone, 
which have ecosystems that are comparable to the CDF and support many of the same species assemblages 
and provincially rare ecosystems. 
 
As requested, on December 21, 2017 the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee agreed to release its 
Notation of Interest on Crown Lands file # 0075550, which currently overlaps proposed parcel 235/240 on 
Salt Spring Island, to allow protection under the Land Use Order.  
 
 
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South Island Natural Resource District 
January 12, 2018 
Page 2 
 
 
We recognize that the Land Use Order amendment is ‘without prejudice’ to treaty rights and negotiations, 
and that the lands are still subject to treaty negotiations and that activities such as hunting and traditional 
harvesting are not precluded. Islands Trust is actively wo

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