Pacheedaht First Nation and Teal-Jones Group sign agreement to determine future of logging together

The nation and logging company have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to engage in dialogues about logging in the nation’s traditional territories. According to a statement, they will develop an Integrated Resource Management Plan to ensure “responsible stewardship of at-risk species and ecosystems within the Nation’s traditional territories now and for future generations.”

As part of this deal, the nation and Teal-Jones will collaborate on forest management in Tree Farm Licence 46—which includes the Fairy Creek watershed where logging has been deferred for two years—in order to create new opportunities in forestry for the nation while recognizing the environmental and cultural heritage value of the land.

“The MOU will build upon our existing relationship and commits us to working together to identify and pursue business endeavors, create new employment and training opportunities for our community members, and to ensure our way of life and environment are protected for future generations through an IRMP,” Pacheedaht Chief Jeff Jones said in a statement.

The Pacheedaht First Nation did not respond to Capital Daily’s request for an interview.

Conrad Browne, Teal-Jones’s director of Indigenous partnerships and strategic relations, told Capital Daily that the timeline for developing the management plan and meeting the goals laid out by the MOU is up to the Pacheedaht First Nation. The company’s role in this process will be to offer expertise and knowledge of the Tree Farm Licence. Eventually, he said, the land will be co-managed by both the forestry company and the nation.

He said that the MOU and planning process will not affect Teal Jones’s current logging operations in the nation’s traditional territory. Recently, the company began building a road in one of the areas that has been at the centre of the Fairy Creek protests.

“Right now we’re operating as we have been and cutting in our cutting permits that have been swept through the referral process with the First Nations and with government,” Browne said. “And as we build out these new planning processes, if we need to make any changes, or if there’s any alterations to how we plan our harvest, then we’ll incorporate that.”

Last year, the province announced two-year logging deferrals in the Fairy Creek watershed and Central Walbran areas, so that the Pacheedaht, as well as the Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, could prepare resource management plans.