Community Articles
General News · 23rd January 2023
Kate Maddigan for the CCFC
You are invited!
Place: Klahoose Multi-Purpose Building
Date: Saturday, January 28, 11am til 3pm
Lunch served!
The Cortes Community Forest Cooperative especially welcomes your attendance if you:
- Attended “Making it on Cortes” workshops in the past
- Work in the forestry sector as a logger or miller/sawyer
- Make things with wood
- Are interested in making things with wood but don’t have the training, equipment or workshop space
- Care about keeping raw logs on Cortes Island to make products out of local wood
- Care about the “circular economy” or keeping wood harvested here in circulation on the island as long as possible for the greatest economic and ecological benefit to the community
Rami Rothkop and Oliver Scholfield have been hired for this event to collect your ideas, and create a “Value-Added Forest Products Business Roadmap.” Both have worked on similar initiatives, helping small communities and First Nations in BC map out feasibility studies and business plans for value-added wood products.
Watch this video about the success of Harrop-Procter Forest Products https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJUG6HSFpAk
Rami and Oliver will help us answer these questions:
- what are the obstacles to using local wood for construction contractors?
- what products can local millers produce that will be most competitive?
- what does Cortes Island need to make more wood products from local wood?
....and other questions identified by participants of this meeting.
Since 1999 the Harrop-Proctor Community Forest (HPCF) has managed the forests to produce ecologically responsible wood products and non-timber forest products.
The HPCF manages their forest for several values that enhance the community’s ecology and economy. Their objectives include sustainable harvest rates and the creation of a diverse range of wood products, including sawlogs, peelers, building logs, poles, firewood, pulp, and specialty wood products. Their vision is to have few unprocessed logs leave the community and to incorporate value added-forestry through local milling and sorting.
There are several differences between the community forests of Cortes and Harrop-Proctor, and not all solutions that worked for Harrop-Proctor will work equally for Cortes. However their experience will offer a valuable discussion to critically examine possibilities to serve Cortes Island’s efforts toward greater value-added forest products development.
More about Rami and Oliver:
Rami Rothkop
Rami grew up in Procter, B.C., where he continues to live. He has been successful in numerous business and service-related ventures spanning more than 30 years. Rami’s most relevant experience is with Harrop-Procter Forest Products, which he co-launched as the Community Forest’s value added division. He soon took over the role as manager and the business grew quickly and has evolved into a well-known and respected source of a broad range of competitively priced, locally designed economic alternatives that benefit people in the places they call home. Rami is putting his experience to good use helping other communities achieve their own successful forest product-based community business goals.
Oliver Scholfield
Oliver grew up in Jersey in the Channel Islands, UK, before moving to Vancouver in 2011 to study at the University of British Columbia (UBC). After completing his undergraduate degree in Natural Resource Conservation, he went on to gain a master’s degree in business management, also from UBC. Oliver has experience in business planning and financial analysis and has worked closely with several communities on feasibility studies for small-scale ventures in the past. He has also completed a 'Financial Modeling & Valuations Analyst' certification from the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) to further develop his financial modeling skills.
Carpooling to this event is encouraged!
The Cortes Community Forest Cooperative is grateful to the Island Coastal Economic Trust for funding that helped make this project possible.
For more information about the Co-op, please visit https://cortescommunityforestcoop.org/. For more info about this event, please call Kate at 0242, or email chamadaskagmail.com.
Place: Klahoose Multi-Purpose Building
Date: Saturday, January 28, 11am til 3pm
Lunch served!
The Cortes Community Forest Cooperative especially welcomes your attendance if you:
- Attended “Making it on Cortes” workshops in the past
- Work in the forestry sector as a logger or miller/sawyer
- Make things with wood
- Are interested in making things with wood but don’t have the training, equipment or workshop space
- Care about keeping raw logs on Cortes Island to make products out of local wood
- Care about the “circular economy” or keeping wood harvested here in circulation on the island as long as possible for the greatest economic and ecological benefit to the community
Rami Rothkop and Oliver Scholfield have been hired for this event to collect your ideas, and create a “Value-Added Forest Products Business Roadmap.” Both have worked on similar initiatives, helping small communities and First Nations in BC map out feasibility studies and business plans for value-added wood products.
Watch this video about the success of Harrop-Procter Forest Products https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJUG6HSFpAk
Rami and Oliver will help us answer these questions:
- what are the obstacles to using local wood for construction contractors?
- what products can local millers produce that will be most competitive?
- what does Cortes Island need to make more wood products from local wood?
....and other questions identified by participants of this meeting.
Since 1999 the Harrop-Proctor Community Forest (HPCF) has managed the forests to produce ecologically responsible wood products and non-timber forest products.
The HPCF manages their forest for several values that enhance the community’s ecology and economy. Their objectives include sustainable harvest rates and the creation of a diverse range of wood products, including sawlogs, peelers, building logs, poles, firewood, pulp, and specialty wood products. Their vision is to have few unprocessed logs leave the community and to incorporate value added-forestry through local milling and sorting.
There are several differences between the community forests of Cortes and Harrop-Proctor, and not all solutions that worked for Harrop-Proctor will work equally for Cortes. However their experience will offer a valuable discussion to critically examine possibilities to serve Cortes Island’s efforts toward greater value-added forest products development.
More about Rami and Oliver:
Rami Rothkop
Rami grew up in Procter, B.C., where he continues to live. He has been successful in numerous business and service-related ventures spanning more than 30 years. Rami’s most relevant experience is with Harrop-Procter Forest Products, which he co-launched as the Community Forest’s value added division. He soon took over the role as manager and the business grew quickly and has evolved into a well-known and respected source of a broad range of competitively priced, locally designed economic alternatives that benefit people in the places they call home. Rami is putting his experience to good use helping other communities achieve their own successful forest product-based community business goals.
Oliver Scholfield
Oliver grew up in Jersey in the Channel Islands, UK, before moving to Vancouver in 2011 to study at the University of British Columbia (UBC). After completing his undergraduate degree in Natural Resource Conservation, he went on to gain a master’s degree in business management, also from UBC. Oliver has experience in business planning and financial analysis and has worked closely with several communities on feasibility studies for small-scale ventures in the past. He has also completed a 'Financial Modeling & Valuations Analyst' certification from the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) to further develop his financial modeling skills.
Carpooling to this event is encouraged!
The Cortes Community Forest Cooperative is grateful to the Island Coastal Economic Trust for funding that helped make this project possible.
For more information about the Co-op, please visit https://cortescommunityforestcoop.org/. For more info about this event, please call Kate at 0242, or email chamadaskagmail.com.