ABOUT US
Wells Gray Community Forest
The Wells Gray Community Forest Corporation (WGCFC) is a unique and proudly citizen-owned forest located in the heart of British Columbia’s Wells Gray Country. Surrounded by soaring mountains and thundering waterfalls, our community forest is a working forest that provides multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits. Unlike other forests managed by major licensees, WGCFC is managed by people who live in the area and have a deep appreciation for the land.
Our approach to forest management is different. We operate on a smaller scale, focusing on longer-term sustainability rather than shorter-term profits. With a fixed land base of 13,000+ hectares, our forestry management operations are carefully planned and implemented, knowing that every decision we make today impacts our future. We prioritize land management, environmental stewardship, community benefits, and worker safety.
WGCFC was born out of a desire to take control of our natural resources and help support a stronger, more resilient rural community. When the Weyerhaeuser mill, a key employer of community members, shut down in 2003, it greatly impacted the community and we saw the opportunity to manage our forests in a way to not only create jobs but also protect our watersheds, enhance recreational opportunities, and support local industries and contractors.
Today, WGCFC operates under a long-term Community Forest tenure agreement, managing the land around Clearwater, a township 130 kilometres north of Kamloops. In our work, we seek to benefit the people of Wells Gray Country while maintaining the highest standards of forest stewardship. We are committed to managing multiple resources and ensuring our operations align with our community’s values and the highest environmental standards.
We are working for the forest, and benefitting community members, now and in the future.
WELLS GRAY COMMUNITY FOREST
Key Dates and Achievements
Weyerhaeuser mill shuts down. 300 community members are out of work. >
The Community Forest is Incorporated. >
WGCFC is awarded a probationary Community Forest License. >
WGCFC begins planning and operations with local foresters and loggers. >
WGCFC focuses on sustainable utilization of dead pine. >
WGCFC enters into a long-term Community Forest License agreement. >
WGCFC hosted a non-Timber Forest Products Information Symposium. >
Watershed risk analysis and development suitability report are completed. >
WGCFC collaborated with UBC students and hydrologists to upgrade watershed infrastructure. >
Management Plan and Forest Stewardship documents updated and Forestry working group established. >
WGCFC completes an intensive silviculture forest management project. >
Funding provided for a biomass heating project and other community projects. >
Major bridge structures replaced and road infrastructure enhanced. >
Beetle trapping project conducted and large-scale grinding project completed. >
Mission
The Wells Gray Community Forest Corporation’s mission is to provide for the careful and responsible management of the WGCFC’s timber and non-timber resources, fostering environmental, social, and economic benefit for current and future generations residing within Wells Gray Country and the District of Clearwater.
Vision
The WGCFC’s vision is to cultivate a healthy, resilient community forest that provides lasting environmental, social, and economic benefit for current and future generations residing within Wells Gray Country and the District of Clearwater.
Goals and Management
The Wells Gray Community Forest (WGCFC) will be guided by a sustainable forest management ethic. The WGCFC will manage for multiple resources. These values are consistent with Kamloops Land and Resource Management Plan as well as other Local Resource Use Plans within the Thompson Rivers, Okanagan Forest District. The WGCFC is designed to benefit the people of Wells Gray Country while maintaining a high standard of forest stewardship on the land base.
Board of Directors
The Wells Gray Community Forest Corporation (WGCFC) is managed and owned on behalf of the citizens of Wells Gray Country. The corporation operates under the guidance of a Board of Directors, consisting of seven volunteer members, including the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. This Board oversees the business affairs of the corporation, while day-to-day operations are managed by a General Manager who reports directly to the Board.
Brent Buck
President
Andrew Lavigne
Director
Bob Merta
Director
Chief George Lampreau
Simpcw Representative
Sabine Cooperman
Vice President
Todd Dixon
Director
Sylvain Menard
Secretary
Kim Muddiman
Treasurer
WGCFC Manager
Casey Macaulay
MA RPF
Casey has worked in forestry in BC since the early 1990s and is a registered professional forester. His full-time career began in Clearwater as a consulting forester where he was involved in the original design of the Wells Gray Community Forest. Since that time, he has worked as a planning forester, forest stewardship advocate and for over a decade held the position of registrar and director of act compliance for Forest Professionals BC – the regulator of the forestry profession.
He has a diploma in forest technology, a degree in forest management and a master’s degree in conflict analysis and management.
Throughout his career he has been an advocate of community forestry, public interest in the stewardship of forests and resource dependent communities impacted by the changes to the forest sector.
