Logging trucks coming and going from Mt. Tzouhalem have some trail users wondering whether they ought to be bracing themselves for development.
On Friday North Cowichan municipal forester Darrell Frank confirmed folks need not worry.
No development is taking place.
But regulated logging activity is ongoing, as is standard practice within the municipality’s six major land holdings: Mount Prevost, Mount Sicker, Mount Tzouhalem, Stony Hill, Mount Richards, and Maple Mountain.
Logging is currently being done on both Mt. Tzouhalem and Maple Mountain.
“The logging is about 40 per cent completed and should be done by the end of this year,” he said of the Tzouhalem work.
Frank noted the work is being done by Millstone Contracting Ltd. and the municipality has worked with the Cowichan Valley Trail Stewards to review the harvesting.
“We made changes to the cut block boundaries to address some of the their concerns to protect the heavily used trails,” Frank said.
Increased activity began on Maple Mountain on Nov. 9 and should conclude before Dec. 15.
“We’re building a road for future logging,” Frank said of the Maple Mountain work. “It gives us better fire access into the area as well but it’s part of the municipal forest reserve which is a working forest.”
All told, the municipality manages about 5,000 hectares of forestland. Trees are cut strategically and the areas are replanted. North Cowichan’s forestry practices are self-funded with no costs to the taxpayers.