The Spel’kúmtn Community Forest (SCF) is coming into 2025 with record net income from the previous year. After five years in operation, the SCF reported an estimated $1.5 million in profits from the sale of 17,743 cubic metres of harvested timber last year.
But during a March 4 report to the Village of Pemberton (VOP), the SCF’s executive director, Andrea Blaikie, flagged challenges in the years ahead that warrant a more conservative approach to planning and harvesting in the tenured forest.
“There are some threats and there are some opportunities for the community forest coming up,” Blaikie told Pemberton’s committee of the whole
The SCF consists of 17,727 hectares of forest land and was incorporated in 2019 as a partnership between the VOP and Lil’wat Nation. According to the Community Forest Agreement (CFA) signed by Mayor Mike Richman and Lil’wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson in 2020, the collaboration is meant to promote reconciliation, increase community benefits from local resources and amplify local voices on forest management.
Profits from the SCF are split three ways; a third to the Village, a third to Lil’wat Nation, and a third to the Partnership Fund, which is aimed at boosting locally focused projects that “align with the shared community values outlined in SCF’s management plan," according to a release.
The SCF has completed the first five years of cut control—a system of regulating timber harvesting that ensures the total amount of timber produced over five years cannot exceed the permitted volume for that period, allowing flexibility in harvest rates, year-to-year.
The large harvest and return of 2022 was a COVID blip, according to Blaikie.
“The value of that timber in that year wasn’t related to the trees themselves; it was the post-COVID building boom," she told the VOP. "We were able to sell that timber for much higher than we would have been able to in any other year.”
The 2024 return, meanwhile, was driven by "really, really high-quality distribution pools" and boosted by the year's single-stem harvests—a logging technique that involves removing individual trees by climbing, jigging and helicopter to more precisely target the best available timber.
While Blaikie indicated that 2024’s returns are repeatable in a way that 2022's profits weren't, it’s unlikely to expect those returns every two years.
Case in point, despite the fact the annual allowable cut set out in the CFA is 11,000 cubic metres a year, the SCF is looking at very little harvest for the year ahead; their current estimate is at just over 2,000 cubic metres—the lowest after 2020 and 2023.
“Everybody’s feeling a little bit guarded about over-harvesting, so, realistically, we probably won’t be harvesting 11,000 cubic metres a year for the next [few] years," Blaikie said.
One of the factors driving down the SCF's estimates for 2025 involves a lower number of trees available for harvest. Typically, harvesting happens around the 80- to 100-year range. But a table shared by Blaikie indicates the SCF has “very little easily accessible conventional timber for harvesting right now.”
“In a few years—10, 20 years—there’s lots coming up," she said. "But right now, we’re in this limitation in terms of what’s easily accessible for harvest.”
She also noted that an outbreak of spruce budworm, paired with “unprecedented drought” has left the forest vulnerable. The SCF is working with the Ministry of Forests' Sea-to-Sky-specific monitoring group to do some site reports in Lil’wat this spring.
Over the next year, the SCF anticipates little revenue due to low harvest volume and low inventory. There’s also uncertainty and volatility in international markets due to the imposition of tariffs, though Blaikie noted the overwhelming majority of the SCF's timber is sold within Canada.
In addition to those challenges, she noted the Lil’wat Nation is redoing its land-use plan, which could affect how the SCF harvests if certain areas of the SCF "are moved into different parts of their land-use plans."
For the next two years, the SCF will work towards building 22,000 cubic metres of standing tree inventory—two years' worth of harvesting—so the tracts are ready once the market is there.
In the meantime, the SCF isn’t limited to timber production; its strategic priorities include enhancing cultural learning and practices and programming for the community.
“We’ve got some exciting opportunities to continue building nature literacy, giving people a chance to learn about the forests that surround them." said Blaikie, of the year ahead.
Those opportunities include a nature documentary film series, a wildfire talk and walk, school visits and open houses. Follow the SCF’s news or Facebook pages for information on upcoming events.
