Road building operations are getting under way in the area of the community forest between Thunder Road and Gorge Harbour Road, and are expected last approximately six weeks. The community forest has heard extensive feedback from the community regarding the proposed wildfire mitigation and selective logging being planned in the area, and that discussion will be ongoing.
In the interim only the first portion of the proposed road will be built, approximately 580 meters. You can see the revised map here: GH Mainline Road Construction Map 20220907.
There has been a lot of misinformation being circulated by a small group who are opposed to the project, but to be clear, the community forest is not logging any old growth or close to any wetlands.
The road under construction does not enter the Anvil Lake Watershed, and is primarily accessing a 70-80 year old mature Hemlock stand.
The long term objective for the area is to gradually harvest the 70 – 80 year old Hemlock that is starting to decay in the area, with small block sizes of 1 – 1.5 hectares.
Overall, the Community Forest is working on implementing the specific recommendations in the community wildfire protection plan (CWPP) which identifies this corridor as the most likely route for a wildfire to travel from the Mansons area toward the residential areas along the Gorge Harbour or vice versa.
A key component of wildfire preparedness is having road access to key areas, and the plan that the community forest is working on for this area is to gradually shift from one homogenous area of mature (70 years) Hemlock to a mix of species and age classes.
Updates will be posted as plans are developed and there will be ongoing opportunities for input as wildfire mitigation and harvest plans are developed.