FOSBA Bulletin March 2025

Dear Friends

First of all thank-you to all 43 of you who joined FOSBA during Seedy Saturday.  We greatly enjoyed meeting you and your support gives us hope and encouragement.  Please tell your friends to check out our website https://www.fosba.org

Lot 3040 known as the Stillwater Bluffs is Privately Managed Forest Land owned by Mosaic Forest Products.

What defines “P.M.F.L.”? How do the present threatening tariffs affect PMFL”?   What justifiable fears threaten our Stillwater Bluffs?

Here’s a quick history lesson.

In the late 1800s, no less that 6 smallpox epidemics had passed through the region.  The population of our First Nations Peoples had declined by close to 90% and the Spanish Flu was yet to come (1920).  Once proud and powerful people with densities greater than Europe’s at the time were almost entirely wiped out.  The lands were left barren, but for a handful and they were no match for the British gunboats.  The authorities came and moved the traumatized survivors onto reserves and the empty lands were dispensed to waves of settlers.  A few of the more wealthy settlers dreamt of railroads and paper mills and talked the politicians into generous land grants.   Robert Dunsmuir for instance received a land grant equaling 1/5 of the area of Vancouver Island for building the E&N Railway (which no longer operates).  These land grant territories together with several other settler grants became today’s PMFL, most of which is owned by large timber companies.  Land ownership has many advantages for the forest industry, because as an owner, the company isn’t pestered by other governments telling them how to conduct their business, by for instance mandating that logging practices be sustainable over time or that they include buffer zones to protect riparian areas or visual quality objectives or old growth trees.  There’s no stopping a determined owner of PMFL from clear-cutting right to the high tide line.

Such freedom from regulation and immunity from pesky Regional District or Municipal development permits puts big smiles on the faces of PMFL owners, but there’s even bigger benefits courtesy of our Provincial Government.  Taxes on PMFL are a pittance compared to what the rest of us pay and there’s no stumpage collected because the trees are owned privately.  (Stumpage is a fee paid for harvesting trees on Crown land.) And to top it all off, the  owners of PMFL can at any time choose to opt out of having the land designated for forestry purposes and sell it as real estate, a further fantastic financial bonanza. This step frequently takes place after the land has been cleared of its trees.  It’s of interest to note, that according to the B.C. government website the taxes charged on our Stillwater Bluffs Lot 3040 (118.35 acres) in 2024 was $1495.57 with a land valued at only  $143,000.00.  Should I go on about how strapped our local governments are for funds to maintain infrastructure?  No, I’m supposed to keep this short.

So here’s an intriguing  question:  If you were in charge of a large forestry company who was facing a 25% tariff on lumber products, would you continue logging way up the logging road where the costs of “extraction” are relatively high and where stumpage has to be paid and provincial foresters are watching every move you make to ensure the forest is managed sustainably?  Or would you instead focus on PMFL, several blocks of which are close to the highway and to log sorting stations?    If cash flow is a problem, then maybe the short term solution will be to log some low cost PMFL blocks and sell them off as real estate.

Here's the follow up question:  If you cherish the Stillwater Bluffs and know it to be just the perfect park for swimming, rock climbing, dancing, getting married, stress management and spiritual wonderment and you are at the same time aware of the present political / financial situation the forest industry is in, what do you do?  Suggestion -  Talk to your friends and share your angst.  Volunteer to help with our phone tree.  Be vigilant on the trails.  Look for and report any flagging tape or spray paint on trees.

Helpful actions:

Purchase Stillwater Bluffs T -shirts and wear them proudly.  Stickers too. Shirts can be purchased at The Gear Locker in the townsite mall.

We are accepting new designs for our shirts (Think youth here)

Is there  someone out there who can help update our website? It’s written on the Wix platform.

If anyone hasn’t paid their 2025 membership fee of $10 now’s the time. E-transfer to friendsofstillwaterbluffs@gmail.com

Happy Trails

Lauritz

Pres. FOSBA