About the KDCFS
The Kaslo and District Community Forest Society is governed by a 9 member volunteer Board of Directors, seven of whom are elected by the membership for a one or two year term, and two who are appointees of the Village of Kaslo and the Regional District of Central Kootenay Area D. Today, the tenure is co-managed by Jeff Reyden, RPF, and Tyler Hodgkinson, a local, contractual management team.
| Term | Board Member / Position |
|---|---|
| Annual | Chris Webster, Chair, |
| 2022-2024 | Stephen Neville, Vice Chair |
| 2023-2025 | Jeff Mattes, Treasurer |
| 2022-2024 | Steve Fawcett, Secretary |
| Annual | Matt Brown, Village of Kaslo Apointee |
| Annual | Sarah Sinclair, RDCK Appointee |
| 2023-2025 | Doug Drain |
| 2022-2024 | Greg Lay |
Mission Statement
The Kaslo and District Community Forest Society (KDCFS) will manage the diversity of values of the Community Forest in an ecologically responsible and fiscally accountable manner on behalf of the people of Kaslo and Area D.
Our Strategies
- Pursue local stewardship over the land that sustains us
- Support local businesses, strengthen the community and foster new venture opportunities
- Preserve knowledge and further education, networking and innovation
- Improve community resiliency through biodynamic and disturbance appropriate landscape level planning
- Manage for maximum diversity
Become a KDCFS Member:
To be a member you must be at least 18 years of age, and have been a resident or property owner in Kaslo or Area D for 30 days and in BC for 6 months. Learn More & Apply for Membership
Where We Are
Our Community Forest is situated in the West Kootenay region in south-eastern British Columbia. It extends along the glaciated, rocky benches and steep valleys marking the western shore at the northern end of Kootenay Lake. This deep lake separates the mineral rich Purcell and Selkirk Mountain Ranges.
Mining and railway construction played key roles in the West Kootenay landscape from the mid 1800’s forward, drawing droves of hopeful prospectors into the unsettled area. Saw mills and pulp mills sprung up, supplying the mining boom and the railway construction and have since been major contributors to our economy. As of late the region has undergone an economic shift towards recreation and amenities due to its spectacular scenery and multifaceted opportunities.
An extensive, but often overgrown network of old pack horse trails now provides recreation access from the lake shore to the alpine, stringing together the abandoned skeletons of old mining camps, shafts and tunnels throughout the species diverse interior temperate rain forest.
The Beginnings
In 1995 the Kaslo and Area Round Table (KART), a community-based resource advisory group, was charged with the application for a community forest tenure. KART’s diversified planning committee worked to produce a governance model and shaped a non-profit society that would work towards the sustainability of the community and its resources. The final structure was assembled through consensus-based public consultation.
In 1996 the British Columbia Ministry of Forests granted two communities non-replaceable industrial forest licenses (NRFL): Kaslo and Creston . Kaslo and Regional District Area D received a 15 year volume based tenure with an annual allowable cut (AAC) volume of 10,000m3. The non-profit Society incorporated that year with an operating area encompassing 6,100 hectares adjacent to the Village of Kaslo and received a Forest Renewal BC Community Excellence Award for their efforts in 1997.
The tenure was awarded at the dawn of the 1997 political and regulatory changes that would lay the foundation for the pilot Community Forest Agreement (CFA) tenure program in BC. Its goals were to provide First Nations and BC communities with diverse and long-term opportunities in sharing social and economic benefits while fostering innovation.
In 2004 further legislative changes transitioned the CFA program to a 5 year probationary term, which, in 2006, provided the KDCFS with an opportunity to apply for an expansion (Forest Agreement Operating Area) in license area to an AAC volume of 25,000m3. The new area-based forest license granted in 2008 (letter of approval) is a 25 year and 34,945 hectare tenure, which provides exclusive harvesting rights to the Society.