Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. Releases Video on the Economic Benefits of Forestry
Williams Lake, B.C. – Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR), a joint venture of Tŝideldel First Nation and Tl’etinqox Government, is releasing Part III in their five-part forestry video series, this time with a focus on the economic benefits of forestry.
Photos (left to right): CCR utilizes wood fibre left over from harvesting operations. One of CCR's large scale forest rehabilitation projects.
Just as members from Tŝideldel First Nation and Tl'etinqox Government utilize the whole moose when hunting, they work hard to utilize the whole tree too. Nothing goes to waste. Tsi Del Del Biomass employee Gerald William hard at work out on the job site.
Photo Credit: CCR.
“We don’t have the same opportunity as urban communities,” shared Percy Guichon, Forest Technician, Executive Director of CCR. “Forestry has opened up opportunities for employment and economic development in our community of Tŝideldel First Nation by way of jobs in many different areas. And it’s important, especially with a community like ours, which is two hours away from the nearest city.”
Guichon refers to the forestry jobs created through CCR, like forestry field work, silviculture, logging, and forestry planning, as well as other spin-off jobs like trucking and biomass production which in turn support small businesses and provide good, family-supporting jobs. These jobs are supporting multiple First Nations like Tŝideldel, Tl’etinqox, Anaheim, and others.
“These communities are starting to finally benefit and thrive from the resources we have in our backyard. It’s been a long time, but we’re slowly getting there,” remarked Guichon. “It’s taken a lot of hard work from our community members, and it is their blood, sweat, and tears that have helped us generate income and capitalize on our forest licenses. Employment is crucial to every community, and it helps reduce the amount of social issues.”
Tŝideldel First Nation, for example, has seen a lot of growth in the community its members are proud of, like a new Health Centre, the renovated cultural centre, a hockey rink, the Tŝideldel School, which allows kids to stay in the community, and other services and amenities.
“Creating these videos was important to us to help better educate the public as to the work we are doing in forestry to mitigate wildfire risk to communities, create forests that support the growth of important medicinal and food-providing plants, thoughtfully enrich habitat for wildlife, and utilize low-value wood waste to support B.C.’s bioeconomy,” shared Percy. “We were also able to highlight the hard-working people in the forestry sector, the industries we support through our work, and the traditional and innovative forestry practices we are implementing every day out in the forest. We hope the videos will bring awareness to the public as well as inspire other First Nations communities to take a leadership role within forestry.”
The third video in the series is titled: The Economic Focus of Forestry. The video shows viewers the work being done through forestry to realize environmental benefits. The video can be viewed here:
To watch the upcoming videos in the series, follow CCR’s YouTube channel:
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