Indigenous community values and commercial forestry : a case study of Tl'azt'en Nation

Tl'azt'en Nation, a Canadian indigenous community that became an early participant in industrial commercial forestry. In doing so, T'azt'en Nation encountered challenges that reverberate today for indigenous peoples seeking timber rights in Canada. The authors demonstrate that considerable tensions exist between traditional First Nations' values and the values of a commercial forestry operation and that finding reconciliation between these different values is not easy. T'azt'en Nation's experiences suggest several key factors for communities to consider and address in undertaking forestry operations that meet indigenous community values and goals, including reconciling commerce with culture, developing better mechanisms for integrating any resource activity with traditional values, improving community engagement, working with community members to ensure expectations are realistic, and ensuring that community politics does not unduly interfere with community economic ventures. Further, forest companies looking to work with First Nations should understand some of the concerns First Nation communities face in planning for community supported forestry operations.Not peer reviewe