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[email protected] Web www.islandstrust.bc.ca July 30, 2020 File No.: 4960-20 PMFL Via Email:
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[email protected] The Honourable Doug Donaldson The Honourable Selina Robinson The Honourable Scott Fraser Minister of Forests, Lands, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister of Indigenous Relations Natural Resource Operations and Housing and Reconciliation Rural Development PO Box 9056, Stn Prov Govt PO Box 9051, Stn Prov Govt PO Box 9049, Stn Prov Govt Victoria BC V8W 9E2 Victoria BC V8W 9E2 Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Dear Minister Donaldson, Minister Robinson and Minister Fraser: Re: Private Managed Forest Land Act (PMFLA) Amendments On behalf of Islands Trust Council, I am writing to voice our concerns that the current provincial Private Managed Forest Lands (PMFL) Act is restricting Islands Trust from fulfilling its legislative mandate to preserve and protect the environment of the Trust Area, as mandated in the Islands Trust Act. Furthermore, by compromising the ability of the Trust to protect forest ecosystems and green carbon sinks throughout the Trust Area, the current PMFL Act is also compromising the Trust’s Reconciliation Action Plan and efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the Trust Area. On June 17, 2020, the Islands Trust Council passed the following resolution: Trust Council requested the Chair write to the Honourable Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD), and the Honourable Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAH), and the Honourable Scott Fraser, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation (MIRR), requesting amendments to the Private Managed Forest Land Act that would enable local trust committees to regulate, but not prohibit, forest activities on land within the Islands Trust Area.