• Message from the CEO
• Corporate News
• Operations
• Log Harvesting
• Mill Report
• Forestry News
• Millworks
• Information Systems
• Calendar

Adobe Acrobat Reader is
required to view PDF files.

• News Top

By Paul Pashnik, ManagerForestry News

1. Forest Stewardship Plans

Coulson Forest Products Limited
Arrowsmith TSA – East side of Vancouver Island Multi Licence FSP. This plan is still under development and is in the draft stage.. Ron Sorensen is representing Coulson Forest Products Limited. The east side of Vancouver Island has large areas of 2nd growth timber which CFP will have to move harvest operations into within five to seven years.

TFL 54 Ma-Mook-Coulson Ltd.
Two areas of Ma-Mook -Coulson’s TFL 54 license is included in part of the West Arrowsmith Multi Licensee approved FSP. One area is located near the Tofino-Ucluelet junction and the other area is located near the Escalante River at the North end of the TFL54.

The majority of TFL54 is within the Special Management Zone, Clayoquot Sound Land use plan and is not covered by an approved FSP. Our plans are to see if we can amend Iisaack’s TFL 57 Clayoquot FSP to include the portions of TFL54 that are in Clayoquot Sound. Ron Sorensen and I have started initial talks with Iisaak foresters to see what needs to be done to have the Clayoquot portion of TFL54 added to the Iisaak FSP.

2. Cutting Permits

Echa-Peh Forest Resources Ltd. is in the process of submitting cutting permit applications for cut blocks CL8, BP13 and BP8 These blocks contain approximately 40,000m3 and should be ready for permit application submission around the first weeek of July. We expect the permits to be issued by the District Manager between July 15 and 31st as falling is planned to start as soon as permits are issued. The road permit has been issued for this cut blocks and we are in the process of selecting a road building contractor.

Ma-Mook Coulson TFL54 Ltd.
The application for our first cutting permit CP115 under this license has just been submitted to the Ministry for approval. This permit will contain approximately 45,000m3 and is located near Lost Shoe Creek adjacent to the Ucluelet-Tofino highway junction.

3. ISO14001 Certification

During the first week of May, both Coulson Timberlands and Coulson Manufacturing had external audits conducted of their Environmental Management Systems. QMI our registrar, conducted the audits. Coulson Timberlands was a re-registration audit and I’m pleased to advise that we passed the audit. QMI has issued the Coulson Group a new certification of 3 years.

Coulson Manufacturing had their Annual Surveillance Audit the same week and was judged to be in conformance with the ISO14001:2004 Standards.
Big Thanks to all managers and supervisors.

4. CSA Chain of Custody Certification

Coulson Manufacturing Ltd had their Chain Of Custody records audited during the first week of May. QMI auditors advise that the Chain Of Custody System complied with the CSA-COC-PeFC (annex 4) Standard and that the certification would remain in good standing for another year. A big thank you goes out to Darlene Kemps, Darren Van Dyk, John Kuch and Foster Coulson

5. Fire prevention and Suppression

• Fire Training During May, Ron and I have held several basic fire suppression training courses for logging and road construction crews. We are planning to hold at least one more training course for those crews who were missed during May. Supervisors are reminded to conduct pump tests and hold a fire drill at least once a month to practice using the pumps and getting to know their respective fire line positions. Refer to the fire drill protocol included in this issue of Log N Talk.
• Fire Weather Stations
  We have set up 2 fire weather stations for the season. One is located near Toquart Lake and a second one is located South of Cataract Lake. Logging supervisors are responsible for getting the readings into the forestry office each day. Phone 723-4782 for Foster Coulson. He will enter the data into the computer which calculates the fire danger immediately. Supervisors must keep track of the fire danger buildup and keep a watchman on site for at lease on hour after the 3rd day of reaching danger Class 3 and go to early shift after the 3 rd day of danger Class 4.

Forest Fire Suppression - Drill/Practice

Objective:

• Hands on simulated fire attack to provide experience to crews and test fire suppression emergency response procedures.

Schedule:

• Fire drills shall be conducted by all logging and road construction crews at:
  • The start of fire season.
  • AGAIN when the fire danger reaches moderate, and monthly during moderate and high fire danger conditions.
• Note: Once the fire danger exceeds moderate for 7 days the fire water tank trucks & fire pumps are to be started and run for 5 minutes on a weekly basis. Tests must be recorded in the equipment log book.

Procedures:

• Supervisor/Chargehand to:
  • Preselect a location and simulate a fire by hanging ribbon to mark the perimeter of a mock fire.
  • Alert crew that a fire drill/practice is underway and that they have 8 minutes to get organized.
  • Get organized through the chargehand taking charge, review safety concerns and the crew being assigned to set up pump, lay hose, work on fire with hand tools and back tank pumps
  • Put men on the fire with hand tank pump and hand tools
  • Setup a fire pump, layout hose and get water to the fire edge.
  • Chargehand/supervisor to time how long it takes to get water to fire.
  • Debrief crew on success or problems and how improvements can be made.
  • Complete fire practice record and forward the completed record to the EMS clerk.

Suggested Fire Line Organization Fire Drill/Practice Protocol
GRAPPLE / HOE CHUCK / SNORKEL / CABLE LOGGING