The Coulson Group of Companies

By Paul Pashnik, ManagerForestry News

1. Forest Stewardship Plans (F.S.P.)

TFL54 - The board of directors of Ma-Mook Natural Resources Ltd. and Iisaak Forest Resources Ltd. approved the FSP amendment, TFL57, to incorporate TFL54.

Ron Sorensen has now completed preparation on amendment to the plan. The amended plan, complete with maps, must now be made available for public review and comment. The public review process is expected to start the first week of September and is for a 60 day period. Our plans are to visit the village of Ucluelet and Tofino and the First Nation communities in Clayoquot Sound to go over the amended plan; the plan will also be made available at the 4th Avenue engineering office for the general public and any other interested groups.

Our target is to have the final plan submitted to the District Manager, South Island District, for approval by mid November 2007. An approved FSP is required before any new cutting permits can be applied for in the Clayoquot Sound. TFL54 does have land base outside Clayoqout Sound, which is covered by the approved Arrowsmith Multi-Licensee FSP.

2. Cutting Permits

Echa-Peh Forest Resources was issued CP3 on July 19, 2007. This permit is cut block BP8 and has an estimated volume of 21,000m3. Logging is well underway. Echa Peh has also applied for CP4 which has an estimated volume of 34,000m3 and includes blocks CL19, CL8 and BP21 as well as CP5, which has an estimated volume of 30,000m3 and includes blocks BP13, CL21 and CL21A

TFL 54 Engineering and cruising was completed on Escalante River cut block E24. The application for this permit is being prepared and is expected to be submitted by the end of August. This block will be CP116 and is expected to have approximately 8,000m3. The Escalante River is outside Clayoquot Sound and is expected to be logged this fall with crews based out of Stewardson Camp.

3. Fire Protection

So far this season we have not had many hot dry days, but the fire season is not over. Last week the fire danger at Toquart reached moderate. September can be hot and dry. Foster will continue to monitor the fire danger and keep the logging supervisors informed on fire danger as it builds.

Remember to do your part in preventing fires from starting. No smoking in the woods and should a fire start take action quickly to control and extinguish it. All fires must be reported to both Head Office and the forest service, no matter how small they may be.

4. Forest Certification – FSC Chain of Custody

We have good news. Coulson Manufacturing Ltd received their FSC re-registration Chain of Custody certificate. This certification is valid for 5 years ending September 19, 2012. Our Certification re-registration is timely as Iisaak received their FSC Forest Management certification approval on September 21, 2007. This will be a source of certified timber for FSC certified mills on the coast.

FSC COULSON MANUFACTURING CERTIFICATE – VALID 5 YEARS TO 2012.

5. Australia Helicopter Contract – National

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by and we are again getting ready to send aircraft pilots and engineers to Australia to fight wildfires in Victoria State.
I have been working with the engineers and pilots from Aircrane to get them long term work visas for Australia. So far this year there is 1 engineer who has been issued a 4 year visa and an additional 2 pending. Aircrane currently has 5 pilots and 7 engineers with approved long term work visa. The 2 that are pending will bring the total to 14. Each worker must be sponsored by Coulson Aircrane Ltd (Australia) and the company must post a bond for each worker to ensure we are in compliance with Australia’s immigration laws.

September, 2007 Volume 07-128