Unit 3 - Indigenous Peoples and the Land

When industry needs to access or cross private land or reserve land  (land owned by a First Nations community), it must consult with the landowners and sometimes pay monetary compensation. When an industry needs to access Crown land within a treaty area, the First Nations in the area need to be consulted. Many treaty organizations have representatives that help First Nations communities navigate the environmental and legal aspects of any negotiating that needs to be done. Through these consultations, the required Forest Management Plan is completed.

First Nations leaders are well aware of the benefits of industry to the local economies and must balance these with community environmental stewardship concerns. Many First Nations Peoples are forest contractors or are employed in the forest sector. Industries, including forestry, are also looking to Indigenous Peoples to fill skilled labour positions. Sometimes First Nations communities will harvest timber, or allow timber to be harvested, on reserve land for the monetary benefits and for fire management purposes.

First Nations communities can help develop the Forest Management Plan by sharing their knowledge of the area, including helping to develop the Traditional Use Studies (TUS) and sharing their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). These studies not only preserve these sites and help build the collective knowledge of the community, but they also help the industry create a Forest Management Plan that is more socially and environmentally sound than if consultation had not occurred.