Indigenous knowledge and values add sustainability to Okanagan forest industry

While forestry throughout BC is often regarded as unsustainably managed, a Westbank First Nation logging company is showing how, through Indigenous knowledge and values, sustainability can be brought back to the industry. Sustainable logging practices aren't very common in the Okanagan Valley, but forest management company, Ntityix Resources, has demonstrated how Indigenous knowledge and values have the potential to make the industry sustainable. "When I came to work in forestry in Westbank First Nation, ten years ago, my whole world got turned upside down as far as what I knew about forestry and that paradigm shift I experienced showed me that we, as foresters, have to start thinking about certain things in more detail as we shift into a new paradigm of forest management in BC," Dave Gill, general manager of forestry at Ntityix Resources, says. "A lot of that is based on Indigenous knowledge and values that have to be brought forward and understood. That's going to facilitate a new way we look at forest management and do forest management." READ MORE: With climate change, drought are lush green lawns a thing of the past in Kamloops, Okanagan? https://infotel.ca/newsitem/with-climate-change-drought-are-lush-green-lawns-a-thing-of-the-past-in-kamloops-okanagan/it104305 The company manages Westbank First Nations' forest tenures which are on Westbank First Nations' land as well as the Syilx Nations' land and borders the communities of Kelowna, West Kelowna and Peachland. The impact forestry has, and will have, on these communities is one of the reasons the company uses sustainable practices in forest management. "We're an Indigenous-owned company and our mandate is to manage the forest that WFN has under tenure in the best interest of the community," Gill says. "So we take our decisions taking into consideration how they will impact all the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and that's why we aim to have sustainable practices." Another important factor that differentiates Ntityix Resources' way of forest management compared to others is what they prioritize. "We understand that we need revenue, but that's down on our list of what we, as a company, set as goals. Our primary goal is the health of the forest, the health of the wildlife, the health of the water. We understand we need to incorporate all the values in our practices," Gill says. So what does this look like in practice? For starters, when making decisions, the company uses their Seven Generations Plan which is derived from the Ten Syilx Principles. "We're looking at decisions that are going to affect that land for seven generations or more. Our premise on making those decisions is to know the land you're working on and then think about what that land will look like seven generations from now before you make that decision," Gill says. "Considering that affects how and what decisions you make on the land. It's all a place-based approach, you have to understand the land, you have to - for lack of a better phrase - let the land tell you what it needs." READ MORE: Okanagan environmentalists frustrated with changes to timber salvage rules in wake of wildfires https://infotel.ca/newsitem/okanagan-environmentalists-frustrated-with-changes-to-timber-salvage-rules-in-wake-of-wildfires/it104313 Gill says this starts with understanding the integrity of the forest's landscape. "The values on the land are all interconnected, everything depends on something else, so if you are making a decision, if you understand that interconnectedness of it, that should be a better decision that you make on the land." The company also understands that to protect and manage forests sustainably, revenue is part of the equation. They have thus divided the forests into two categories allowing for environmentally safer practices. Part of the forests are considered Old Forest Zones and the others Forest Operation Zones and different operations occur in those different zones. "In the Old Forest Zone, we try to manage those areas for old forest values, which means that anything we do in those areas we do with the end result in mind being a healthier and older forest," Gill says. "That is one way we are trying to maintain at least 50% of our operating area in old forests." Forest management includes different programs. READ MORE: There's trouble growing in British Columbia's monoculture forests https://infotel.ca/newsitem/theres-trouble-growing-in-british-columbias-monoculture-forests/it102302 "Through thinning programs, fire mitigation programs, looking at ecological restoration in certain areas, that's all part of our practice," Gill says. "Because we have taken fire out of the ecosystem, many of our forests are overstocked, we have too many trees growing on the land, there's too much surface fuels on the land and we end up with catastrophic wildfires like we've seen since 2003," he says. "With regular maintenance of our forests, we'd still have fires, but we wouldn't have the catastrophic fires that we've seen lately, so that's why we've reinvested in fire mitigation work which is also partly funded by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC." As for the Forest Operation Zone, that is where the company logs a majority of their wood, but instead of clear-cutting they practice selective logging which is, once again, environmentally safer for the ecosystem. "We will identify the largest trees that will occur in a cut-block and we'll ribbon those out so the operators don't take them down. What we end up with is a harvest cut-block that still has a lot of the older trees still standing, taking out the secondary, smaller trees and, once we're finished, we go back in to replant," Gill says. "We rely on replanting, but also on natural regeneration of leaf trees in those areas to supplement those planted trees." These practices are not only good for the environment but also better for the industry and yield higher-quality products. "If you're growing a tree really fast, your tree rings are wider and there's less strength in those trees and, in my opinion, we should do what we're good at which is to grow trees in a longer period so they can grow older and stronger so we can produce the product we're renowned for. We can't grow a good sized tree in 12 years." Gill has hope that the province's forestry industry is slowly changing for the better and learning from these sustainable practices and learning from the knowledge forests have to share. "The land itself is a learning experience and I don't think we'll ever fully understand it, but to the best of our abilities, given the knowledge that we've accumulated over the years of experience, which can include western science and should also include Indigenous knowledge, and by combining both of those sources of experience and knowledge, you can make pretty good decisions surrounding forestry, if you understand the underlying values." To learn more about Ntityix Resources, the services they offer and the ways they practice sustainable forest management, visit the company's website here https://www.ntityixresources.com/ . To contact a reporter for this story, email Gabrielle Adams mailto:gadams@infonews.ca  or call (438) 830-1211 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .