Wells Gray Community Forest (WGCF) Board of Directors is seeking feedback from community members and community groups on how it, as an organization, can better engage with the public.
According to the general manager of WGCF, George Brcko has had conversations with other community forests throughout the province who have done this community engagement work and have strengthened their communications and relationships with community members as a result.
“We as community forests are mandated to communicate and engage with the public,” noted Brcko. “But beyond being mandated to do the work, we want to create a better understanding in our community of the work we do and the benefits. We also want to understand the perception of who the community thinks we are, plus what we do and what people want to know, and that can only really come from listening to our community members.”
Brcko mentioned in an interview on April 19 with the Clearwater Times how well their communication with community groups is working, giving the example of the WGCF winter logging, saying, “I just received a letter from the Wells Gray Outdoor Club regarding our winter logging program adjacent to trails the club uses. They thanked us for our good work, pointing to specifics like how we left anchor trees. We communicated together ahead of winter logging with the outdoor club, understanding each others’ interests and we made it happen with intense supervision through a local logger who did a great job.”
Wells Gray Community Forests has tenure within the Wells Gray Outdoor Club ski trails area, explained Brcko, which takes a lot of prior planning for an area that won’t be a clear-cut, where there will be retention of small and large trees, values associated with trails which include anchor trees that are the two favourite trees that you ski or ride between.
Brcko added, “We got a little less volume than what we thought, with that bit more care to retention, but it made sense to make sure we manage to everyone’s best interest and values.”
The general manager said it’s important to WGCF through the newly hired Amplify Consulting Inc. out of Kamloops, to “refine this communication we have with our stakeholders, Simpcw First Nation, and now we want to hear from the public” referring to receiving public input via a short survey online that is available until April 26.
“We know that people are busy, but they also really care about our community forest, and we hope that will inspire them to fill out our survey, which takes about five to seven minutes to complete. The work we do impacts them whether they own property adjacent to the community forest, have family members who do contracted forestry work with us, or use trails located within the community forest. We look at this as just one of many opportunities moving forward to engage, listen, learn, and take action,” says Brcko.
Brcko feels it would be helpful to know how the public would like to receive information giving the example of his annual report each year. “How would the public like to receive that? Through a mail-out each year?” he asks. The report contains photos, detailing the annual work accomplished by WGCF. The organization is considering a variety of options that might work well for getting updated information out and available either online through the website, social media or via community public forums.
“We are trying to put our best foot forward through a new communication strategy and an important part of improving communication is to ask the citizens how best to communicate with them and share our development plans with them,” he said.
A link to the survey is available on the WGCF website at: www.wgcfc.ca or at: www.bit.ly/WellsGrayCommunityForest. For more information or to arrange an interview, contact George Brcko, general manager for Wells Gray Community Forest at: 250-674-3530.