The Forest Enhancement Society of BC has issued a press release regarding funding for wildfire risk reduction projects in our community forest.

“HPCC has been an excellent FESBC partner, delivering excellent value and achieving all of the FESBC goals by removing fuels from the forest in critical areas and going the extra mile to reduce burning from these operations. We could not be happier for the community and the people who work hard to manage the forest,” said Brian Watson, RPF, Operations Manager with FESBC.

Jennifer Gunter, Executive Director of the BC Community Forest Association applauded the contributions the HPCC has been making since its inception. “As one of the original community forest pilots in B.C., Harrop-Procter is a leader in the community forest movement. Their dynamic and innovative work in climate change adaptive management with a focus on reducing wildfire hazard over the past 10+ years provides an important and practical example of how to integrate climate science and risk assessment into tangible forest management decision-making. Their willingness to engage and share their experiences are a motivation to the community forest network provincially, nationally, and internationally.”

“Our forests are complex and dynamic ecosystems. We manage simultaneously for many values. We are extracting timber, and that is a primary economic factor in our work, but the starting point in our community forest is to protect the watersheds that everyone in Harrop and Procter drinks out of. Our focus is protecting our watersheds,” said Erik Leslie, RPF, HPCC’s Forest Manager. “Our ecosystem-based approach integrates wildfire risk reduction, protection of sensitive sites, and climate change adaptation.”

For the full press release click here.

Many thanks to all who attended our “20 + 2” Anniversary Celebration! The event would not have been possible without the contributions of our volunteers and staff. Thank you to the fabulous live band and also to Ursula Heller for these photos – she is wonderfully gifted at capturing candid moments on camera.

Harrop Procter Report 2020 -2021

The Community Co-operative is continuing our wildfire risk reduction work above Harrop and Procter.  Some of this work is visible from the North Shore and Balfour areas.  We always try to minimize visual impacts but on steeper terrain some of our work is visible, as can be seen in the attached image taken from the Balfour ferry terminal. 

The 400-acre area immediately above Procter was heavily logged in the 1970’s and has grown back as a very dense cedar-hemlock forest that presents an extreme fire risk for the Procter community.  HPCC currently has crews working to reduce the fuels in this area.

For those who are interested, attached is a summary of the rationale for HPCC managing the area above Procter to a ‘Partial Retention’ instead of a ‘Retention’ visual quality objective. 

If you have any questions on concerns, please contact Erik Leslie at Erik@hpcommunityforest.org