Adams J FEMC2007

Co-operative Land Management: The Process, the players, the Successes

Jim Adams, Nicola Similkameen Innovative Forestry Society, Box 160, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8, Canada, jim.adams@shaw.ca

The Nicola-Similkameen Innovative Forestry Society (NSIFS) was incorporated under the British Columbia Societies Act on November 9, 1998 to facilitate the implementation of the Province of British Columbia’s Innovative Forest Practices Agreements. The NSIFS IFPA holders include five Licensees: Weyerhaeuser, Tolko, Aspen, Ardew and Stuwix Investment Ltd; the Nicola Tribal Association (NTA); the Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB); and the Merritt Ministry of Forests Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP).

During the 2002 fiscal year the NSIFS completed an amendment to Forestry Plan I to support an Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) uplift application. The AAC application was successful, and on January 1, 2004 the MoF Regional Executive Director awarded 330,700 cubic meters of volume to the IFPA.

In 2004 the NSIFS submitted the 2005 Forestry Plan to follow the successful Forestry Plan I. The 2005 Forestry Plan outlines the ongoing work that supports of the uplift and identifies program areas the NSIFS will continue to develop. Since Forestry Plan I, the forest sector has undergone significant policy and tenure change, funding opportunities have been significantly rationalized and licensee size and membership has changed in the Merritt Timber Supply Area (TSA), all of which has shaped the direction of the NSIFS.

Concurrent with the submission of the 2005 Forestry Plan, the NSIFS completed an amendment to the 2005 Forestry Plan to support a second AAC uplift application aimed at mitigating Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) epidemic levels occurring in the TSA. This resulted in the MoF Regional Executive Director awarding 500,000 cubic meters of volume to the NSIFS IFPA holders.

The true benefits of the Nicola Similkameen Innovative Forestry Society approach began to be realized in 2005, our 8th year of operation. Integral components of our vision; the incorporation of aboriginal knowledge and values, increased acknowledgement and understanding of all values in the forest, increased local and first nation employment and the endorsement of a collective Society wide approach to attack the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic were significant accomplishments.

The NSIFS has developed innovative web based approaches to utilize ecological, cultural plant and wildlife models in concert with the Sustainable Forest Management Strategy (SFMS) when developing strategic and stand level forest development plans. Our web-based integrated data platform will link the models, PEM, Forest Develop Plans, Vegetation Resource Inventories and multiple other data layers to determine pre and post harvest habitat impacts with mapping and analysis capability.

Communication at the community level in 2005/06 included presentations to the general public and First Nation’s communities in Merritt and Princeton to outline the NSIFS’s Forestry Plans, MPB AAC applications and to present/discuss the SFMS/web based data platform relating to stand level planning.

Today, the NSIFS Board of Directors continues to focus on the objectives that strongly reflect the NSIFS’s vision for the future of the Merritt TSA and guide their development of annual business planning priorities for program investments.