The Whitefeather Forest

The Whitefeather Forest is located in Northwestern Ontario within the ancestral lands of the people of Pikangikum. It is centered on the headwaters of the Berens River Watershed. It is bounded by Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in the southwest, the Red Lake and Trout Lake Sustainable Forest License units in the south and southeast, the Albany River Watershed to the east and the Severn River Watershed to the north.

 

The Whitefeather Forest is a northern boreal landscape of expansive coniferous forest interspersed with numerous lakes and rivers. Under the care of our people, the Whitefeather Forest has been protected and enhanced as a rich, boreal ecosystem inhabited by black bear (Mahkwa), caribou (Atik), moose (Moos), timber wolves (Maaingan), wolverine (Kwiingwaagway), fox (Waagoosh), ducks (Shiishiib), bald eagles (Migisi), sandhill cranes (Ochiichaag) and many others.

 

Fire plays an essential role in the health and sustainability of the Whitefeather Forest. The fire cycle in the Forest has been enhanced by our practices in the past. The cold climate and snow cover also shape the forest.

 

 

Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority

 

In 1996 the Pikangikum Elders made the decision to pursue the Whitefeather Forest Initiative. After two years of working through the Economic Development office at the First Nation, it was decided to establish a separate corporation to undertake the Initiative planning work. In 1998, Whitefeather Forest Management Corporation was established to support the sustained focus that would be required to acquire a Sustainable Forest License.  As the late Chief Louis Quill noted at the time:  ‘Band Councils come and go.  Our Elders are our decision-makers.  They will guide the planning of the Whitefeather Forest Initiative.’  This separation of day-to-day politics from planning related to the Initiative and the intense guiding role played by Pikangikum Elders was critical to sustaining momentum during the seventeen years that was required to acquire the Sustainable Forest License for the Whitefeather Forest.

 

The forestry planning mandate of Whitefeather Forest Management Corporation was fulfilled in May 2013 with the issuance of a Sustainable Forest License (SFL) for the Whitefeather Forest.  The SFL was issued to a new corporation, the Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority.

 

During the period of the development of the inaugural Forest Management Plan for the Whitefeather Forest, a process to restructure the Initiative for enterprise and ongoing resource management planning (to implement the Keeping the Land approach) was carried out.  A Limited Partnership corporate structure has been established for enterprise.  The Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority was established as a non-profit corporation to hold the Sustainable Forest License on behalf of the people of Pikangikum and to enter into future resource stewardship partnerships with the Government of Ontario and other potential partners. Pikangikum Elders are maintaining their core governance role in this new arrangement.

 

Pursuant to its Articles of Incorporation, the Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority is already active in fulfilling planning responsibilities in a number of areas including:

 

 

Although the Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority is primarily focused on tasks related to the Whitefeather Forest Initiative, it can provide services to others in the following areas: