The following Motions concerning Woodlot 1475 were passed at District of Lantzville
Meeting September 29, 2015
The councillors are working well together on an issue that will clearly benefit our
community. There was unanimous support for preserving the publically owned forest
of Upper Lantzville. Please help us succeed and return the Petition to the district office.
Motion:
1. That the District of Lantzville recognizes and supports the communities desire to protect the lands of
Woodlot 1475 from any further logging.
2. That Council requests a meeting with the Honourable Steve Thomson and MLA Stillwell in regards to
changing the status of Woodlot 1475 and consider creating a recreational area and/or Wildlife Habitat
Area(WHA).
3. And that the District of Lantzville send a letter to the Honourable Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests,
Lands & Natural Resource Operations, requesting that the Honourable Minister consider a temporary
stay on any further logging in Woodlot 1475 until May 1, 2016 while negotiations with the Ministry
continue regarding the future use of this woodlot.
Rationale:
1

The provincial government has designated 242.3 ha of crown lands in Upper Lantzville as provincial
Woodlot 1475. These forests have tremendous environmental value for the endangered Coastal
Douglas Fir ecosystem and at-risk species that they contain.

Woodlot 1475 is the headlands of the groundwater recharge area for many wells in Lantzville, including
the District’s domestic water supply, and as forest is more conducive to infiltration and therefore
recharge than cleared or developed areas.

According to government studies, current levels of protection for the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are
grossly inadequate to guarantee the long-term viability of this endangered ecosystem 1;

Opportunities for recreation providing for the health and well-being of residents of Central Vancouver
Island on public lands are limited in Lantzville and more generally on southeast Vancouver Island for the
recreational opportunities that they provide

Lantzville’s Parks, Trails and Recreation Plan for Lantzville (2008) highlights the importance of the trails
in Woodlot 1475 in providing recreational opportunities for Lantzville’s residents, and states the District’s
intention to pursue acquiring some portion of these forests as parkland for the District;

The woodlot licensee has indicated that he is receptive to negotiating an alternative arrangement for his
woodlot tenure.

There is significant support with the Central Island for protecting these lands from further logging and for
the creation of a recreational area. A petition is currently circulating and hundreds of signatures from
Central Island Residents have been collected in a very short period of time. This Petition will be
presented to the BC legislative Assembly in the Fall of 2015.
Currently, approximately 8% of the original extent of Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is protected. Scientists suggest that
protecting anything less than 30% poses a high risk to ecological integrity of this ecosystem, and protecting 60% is needed to
reduce this risk to a low level. Source: McConkey, D. Ecosystem classification in BC: Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystems.
Description, conservation status, stewardship. MoFLNRO, Nanaimo BC.