Sunshine Coast Forest District

Welcome to the Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast Forest District, encompassing 1,555,088 hectares, is located in the southwest corner of British Columbia, approximately 100KM northwest of Vancouver. It lies within the Coast Mountains and extends from Howe Sound in the south to Bute Inlet in the north.

The major communities within the district include Powell River, Sechelt, Gibsons, and Pender Harbour. Historically these communities were resource based with an emphasis on the forest industry. Tourism and recreation opportunities as well as retirement have begun to shift the dependence from the resource based sectors.

The Sunshine Coast Forest district staff are responsible for managing the crown forest land for the numerous benefits available from our forests. Recreation, water, fish and wildlife, and timber are a few of the key values being managed by the forest district. The district office is located in Powell River.

District Fast Facts

• In our District, we have 15 commercial species of trees including: Douglas-fir, western red cedar, western hemlock, yellow cedar, red alder, grand fir, mountain hemlock, broadleaf maple, sitka spruce, lodgepole pine, balsam fir, western white pine, white spruce, white birch, and black cottonwood.

• The non-commercial trees in the District are juniper, yew, bitter cherry, dogwood, and arbutus, pacific willow, pacific crab apple, and cascara.

• There are 6 First Nations in our District including:

  • Squamish

  • Sechelt

  • Sliammon

  • Klahoose

  • Homalco

  • Kwakiutl

• The Ministry of Forests currently recognizes 14 biogeoclimatic zones in the Province, four of which are located on the Sunshine Coast Forest district and include the:
• Coastal Western Hemlock Zone (CWH)
• Coastal Douglas-Fir Zone (CDF)
• Mountain Hemlock Zone (HG)
• Arctic Tundra Zone (AT)

District Maps

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