In This Issue


Dear: 

Welcome to the January edition of the PFLA online newsletter. We hope you had a smooth transition to the new year. Here at PFLA headquarters, we found enough time for rest and reflection to feel pumped, inspired and energized about the coming year.

Below you'll find important dates to remember, a list of events of interest for 2017, a few reminders, along with a notice from BC Assessment. We're also busy planning the annual PFLA hometown tour. We don't have all the details ironed out just yet, but rest assured we'll be firing up the PFLA tour bus come spring and heading to a town near you. Please stay tuned for more dates and details as they unfold.   

 
BC Assessment has asked PFLA to alert members that two aspects of tax law have caused significant concern for some purchasers of private managed forest land: 1. Purchasers of managed forest land may be responsible for paying taxes on timber previously harvested by the vendor. 2. Purchasers of managed forest land may be responsible for paying exit fees to the Managed Forest Council if the property is removed from managed forest class. For a detailed explanation, please visit the PFLA blog ...[read more]»
 
We're pumped to host our 22nd annual field tour, conference and AGM, June 7th and 8th in beautiful Cowichan Bay, BC. Please watch your inboxes as more event, registration and accommodation information becomes available. In the mean time, mark your calendars. To whet your appetite, we've included some highlights from last year's event here, along with photos on the PFLA Facebook page. See you in June!
 
Reminder: Property Assessments

By now you should have received your annual property assessment in the mail from BC Assessment. If you plan to appeal your assessment, you have until Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. to submit your appeal.  

For more information, contact BC Assessment by phone at 1-866-825-8322 or visit the appeal guide section of their website.

For a better understanding of how property taxes are calculated on properties within the Managed Forest classification, you can visit our earlier blog post Understanding Property Taxes on Managed Forest Land. Thanks again to Duncan Jillings, Director, Property Taxation, Tax Policy Branch, Ministry of Finance, for his help and clarification.

Did you know the bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) is the largest and most common maple tree found on Vancouver Island? Celebrate this "big daddy" of the Pacific Northwest at the annual Big Leaf Maple Syrup Festival at the BC Forest Discovery Centre, in Duncan, February 4th and 5th, 2017. You can find more information about the festival on the Forest Discovery Centre website.

If you can't make the festival, we posted some information about tapping bigleaf maples on the PFLA blog. Thanks again to Gary and Teesh Backlund for sharing their bigleaf maple knowledge with us.   
Coastal Silviculture Committee Workshop

The Coastal Silviculture Committee is hosting their
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winter workshop on February 21, 2017 at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. The theme for the workshop is "Mitigating Projected Timber Supply Declines." You can find registration details and information on the CSC website .
 
Spreading the word about the positive contributions private forestry makes to economies and communities across B.C. is a big part of what PFLA does. We take every opportunity to network with forest owners, land managers, resource professionals, industry experts, elected officials and community members. For your interest, we've put together a list of the events we're looking forward to this year. If we missed something, or you're hosting an event you'd like included, please let us know and we'll add your information to the list. ...[read more]» 
 
Hancock Timber Resource Group is celebrating the planting of its one billionth tree since the organization's founding in 1985. Hancock has planted more than two trees for every tree harvested since 1985. That's an average of 32 million trees per year! The Boston-based timberland investment management organization recently celebrated the milestone with a group of conservation stakeholders ...[read more]»
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