Mark and Pauline Adamson are being recognized by the Province through the Minister’s Award for Innovation and Excellence in Woodlot Management for the North and for being the top provincial performer.

“Congratulations to the Adamsons on receiving this award,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “Over the years, they have shown significant commitment to reforestation and forest health, leadership in protecting caribou habitat, dedication to the local community and have educated local youth on the importance of personal responsibility in taking care of our forests.”

The Adamsons have used small clearcuts and partial cutting with small openings and variable retention to manage mountain pine beetle infestations, while retaining younger, healthier sites in their woodlot operational areas.

To improve future forest volumes, the Adamsons have made investments to plant more than 200,000 trees on private land and managed areas with high competition by mulching them and planting them with pine and spruce seedlings. In addition, they have employed high school students to carry out manual vegetation control (brushing) in young conifer stands.

Their pine, spruce and balsam logs are sold to local sawmills. The Adamsons also sell custom-made wooden benches and log pedestals, in addition to operating a small Christmas tree operation that is highly valued by the local community. To help clean up waste from harvest operations, the Adamsons sell and deliver firewood throughout the community.

When concerns for the Telkwa caribou herd resulted in the establishment of the Telkwa Caribou Protected Area and the associated Government Action Regulation, Mark had a survey done of caribou lichen in affected areas of the Adamson’s woodlot operations. He led discussions with provincial officials and local woodlot holders to develop solutions that achieved caribou protection objectives with the least impact to woodlot operations.

For many years, the Adamsons sponsored a tree-planting day at their woodlot for schoolchildren and local youth. Throughout the day, participants were taught about the significance of the forest and forest resources, how to plant trees, how to start and properly extinguish a fire and the importance of personal responsibility for the land.

“Since they started in 1998, the Adamsons have been valued members of their local woodlot community and have served with their local woodlot associations,” said Jeff Beale, president of the Federation of British Columbia Woodlot Associations. “Their commitment to managing their woodlot operations for the next generation and educating local youth makes them well-deserving of this minister’s award.”

The Province is recognizing three woodlot licensees for innovation and excellence in woodlot management. This year’s recipients are:

• Mountain View Silviculture Ltd. (Mark and Pauline Adamson and family) – provincial award and north area
• Kevco Timber Ltd. (Howie, Shari and Kevin Griessel) – coast area
• Son Ranch Timber Co. (Ross Gardner Freer and family) – south area

Award winners not only receive a signed, framed certificate of recognition from the minister, but also take home $2,500 each for their area awards, with an additional $2,500 going to Mountain View Silviculture Ltd. for also being named the top performer provincially.

The recipients were presented their awards on Oct. 5, 2019, while at the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations’ 32nd and the Woodlot Product Development Council’s 22nd annual general meetings in Smithers.

The awards are funded by the Province of British Columbia and administered by the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations. Since 2010, the annual awards recognize a woodlot licensee representing each of the coast, south and north areas, along with an overall top performer. Award winners are nominated through official submissions received by the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations.

Quick Facts:

• Woodlot licences are small, area-based tenures managed by individuals, groups or First Nations.
• Licence holders are granted exclusive rights to manage Crown timber within the woodlot licence area but, in exchange, they must manage any private land contribution according to provincial forestry legislation, such as the Forest Act, Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act.
• While any amount of private land can be included in the woodlot licence area, the maximum amount of Crown land that can be included is 800 hectares on the Coast and 1,200 hectares in the Interior.
• British Columbia has 855 active woodlots. Each woodlot generates jobs in planning, harvesting, road construction and maintenance, reforestation, silviculture and small-scale timber processing.
• Woodlots generate about $200 million of rural economic activity for the province every year.

Learn More:

B.C. Woodlot Licence program: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=53FB3BF3DEC3447C9BFE3A3068AE3A48

Federation of B.C. Woodlot Associations: http://www.woodlot.bc.ca