CVFC is applying for a Community Forest Agreement

with an expanded volume

The CVFC is making application to the Minister of Forests to transfer its existing non- replaceable Forest Licence with a Community Forest Agreement and additonal volume.

What's the difference between the existing Forest Licence and a Community Forest Agreement? Here's a table of comparison:

What the differences are
Tenure feature	Non-replaceable Forest Licence	Community Forest Agreement
Area vs. Volume-based tenure	Assigned a volume only without rights to an area	Exclusive use of defined area
Term	15 years - non-renewable	25 years - renewable in perpetuity
Volume	15,000 m3 annually	Approx 25,000 m3 annually
Certifiable	No	Yes

Why are we making this application?

It has been a goal of CVFC since its inception to roll the non-replaceable forest licence into a more secure form of tenure when the opportunity became available. We now have a letter from the MoF Deputy Minister, Doug Konkin, requesting the rollover of the existing tenure into a Community Forest Agreement.
The existing tenure will expire on Sept 30, 2012 and the community will loose control of the management of its watershed and surrounding forests. Obviously, a more secure form of tenure is needed to maintain control of the forestlands important to the community.
The Community Forest Agreement is for a longer term and is renewable in perpetuity.
The community forest will have exclusive rights to manage the forest area critical to the community.
CVFC needs a more secure form of tenure in order to have the confidence that investments made in the land will pay dividends to the community in the future.

Why does CVFC want to expand its volume and area?

Under the government's Forest Re-vitalization Plan, CVFC has an opportunity to access volume that will be re-allocated to small tenures from Tembec's forest licence in the Kootenay Lake Forest District. The volume ear-marked for community forests here is approximately 10,000m3 annually. We have an excellent chance of obtaining that volume.
If CVFC is successful, the volume will be available to Creston and regional mills.
The extra volume will help amortize fixed costs associated with running a Community Forest Agreement tenure.