A lack of trust in their involvement has led to the city withdrawing from the process to expand the municipality's Community Forest project.
The original agreement, which dates back to 2006, was put into place to address the mountain pine beetle infestation and ensure the long-term health of the city's forest ecosystems.
Under the plan, the city has harvesting rights with an allowable annual cut of approximately 12,000 cubic metres per year in the 4,800 hectares of forested Crown land.
In the program's first year, dead pine was removed from the Cranbrook Hill Greenway trail and Otway Nordic Ski Centre.
An expansion to an additional 38,000 hectares outside the city boundaries was proposed in 2009 after research showed elevated wildfire hazards in land designated for agricultural development and settlement reserves areas.
There was thought to be potential for non-tax revenue in the expansion project as well, through harvesting one per cent of the total area annually and competing in the forest industry market.
A Feb. 23, 2012 report to council also made note of creating local forest-related jobs and supporting the local forest industry by providing a local supply of timber and bio-energy material "which will be particularly important in the near future as the allowable annual cut for the Prince George Timber Supply Area is expected to decrease."
To move the application forward, the city partnered with the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and the Lheidli T'enneh, but did not receive the necessary support from the agricultural community.
"While most of the identified issues were addressed through various strategies, the parties were not able to sufficiently address the 'trust' issues," community forest manager Dan Adamson wrote in a report to council. "The agriculture community is strongly protective of the [agricultural development areas] and there were fears and concerns about an additional layer of control and management over these lands, particularly with the city's involvement."
Adamson said there would have been close consultation with farmers and the forest stewardship plan would be followed to make sure the cutblocks worked with the farming community.
Without that support, it would be difficult to move forward, Adamson told council.
"I would hope there would be some way to work on these issues," said Coun. Brian Skakun.
But available land for the city to make use of isn't likely outside of the agricultural development areas, due to its proximity to mills.
"I do know of other areas in the province where they are moving forward on some community forests, but in our area we've done extensive inventories and looked at all the tenures and don't see any other land base that isn't locked up at this time," Adamson said.
"This is not great news," said Mayor Shari Green, who said she was struggling to understand where the trust issues were coming into play when the city representatives on the regional district board generally vote in unison with their electoral area colleagues.
The regional district and Lheidli T'enneh are reviewing their options for a community forest agreement without the city's involvement.
The community forest agreement within city limits was renewed in 2011 through 2016.
