Non Timber Forest Products

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

As I have previously written, we are now beginning with the development of a Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) industry, in Northern Saskatchewan.

I am mentioning this here, because many of the products will come from the Traditional Knowledge of the Aboriginal peoples of our region, which include Cree, Dene and Metis.

We believe that our Strategic Plan Respects the Cultural knowledge of our peoples, while providing an opportunity for Sustainable harvesting of plants, from our region.  Additionally, this form of initiative is designed to promote the benefits of passing on Traditional Knowledge, from one generation to the next, in order to ensure Cultural survival.

Traditional Values, in a modern Society, is a guiding principle of our planned development.

Respectfully;
Ric

[Moma_porcupine]

I am not sure what exactly your non timber forest product is ?

Is that a fancy way of saying you are selling sweetgrass ? I know you already said you are involved in this , and you have decided it is OK . What other cultural product are you planing on selling ?  What do you do , if
some traditional people , who are also owners , feel commercializing these things is not OK ?

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

The definition, that we are using to describe Non Timber Forest Products is as follows.

Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are defined as: the botanical (plant) and mycological (fungal) resources and associated services of forests and under-utilized lands other than timber, pulpwood, shakes, or other conventional wood products or agricultural products. (Sec. 1.1 Strategic Plan for a Non-Timber Forest Products Training and Development Centre for Northern Saskatchewan)

This concept is meant to provide for economic initiatives for those people, in our highly unemployed region to participate in modern economies.  As in many other areas of the world, money is required for developing a reasonable standard of living.  In our region, the predominantly Aboriginal population do not seem to benefit much from current exploitation of our lands, which include clear cut logging, uranium mining and oilsands exploitation.  

Regardless of how many job opportunities there are, in Ft. MacMurray in the oilsands, there will always be those of us who will not leave our communities to take these lucrative positions, for a variety of reasons.  

Some of the concerns which we have addressed, in the Strategic Plan, include the need for Certification in Sustainable Harvesting Practices, Organic Certification and Local ownership of the various aspects of the NTFP Centre.  Community consultations are vital in the development as is Respect for Traditional and Cultural knowledge which will result in potential product identification.  By developing an industry that uses our Cultural knowledge, which does have a value, we hope to ensure that the bio-diversity of our region will always include our Traditionally used plants, in measureable ways.

As to whether this is a "fancy way of saying you are selling sweetgrass," this is actually a way of saying that we are going to benefit from many of the marketable plants from our Culture and our lands.  While Sweetgrass will likely be one product marketed, we believe that there will be many more Blueberries sold than Sweetgrass.  In our own business, we are working on creating "value added" products, from local resources, such as jams, jellies, tea blends, essential oils and handcrafted products.  

Some of us are getting tired of non-natives telling us that it is OK for our people to starve, while they enjoy the benefits of our Traditional and Cultural knowledge and resources.  

Ekosi
Ric

 

[Moma_porcupine]

I am glad to hear your business is mostly blueberries ,  "value added" products, from local resources, such as jams, jellies, tea blends, essential oils and handcrafted products.  All these other products sound entirely positive , and I can't imagine anyone would have any discomfort with commercialy developing these natural resources , in the respectful way you describe .  All you had mentioned previously was the sweetgrass . I'm glad to hear there is a lot more to it than that !

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

In my writing about Non Timber Forest Products, I have never restricted my input to Sweetgrass, that was just the subject matter that was generally being discussed.

As stated on another related thread, overharvesting is an issue.  This is only one of the ways that our Traditionally used plants are made to disappear.  I believe that agricultural incursions, as well as other activities in our forests, such as clear cut logging and mining have a much more serious impact, than the harvesting of Traditionally used plants.  In our efforts to address the sustainable harvesting of plants, we have made sure that monitoring of areas and controls will be in place to enable the certification of sustainable harvesting practices.  We recognize the importance of ensuring sustainablility and healthy biodiversity and will implement methods of measuring the sustainability issues.

Although Sweetgrass was the subject of previous discussions, I have never written about only developing an industry to harvest and sell this one plant and have made serious efforts to speak about the diversity of Non Timber Forest Products and their potential for using Traditional and Cultural Knowledge to provide an opportunity for our region's inhabitants to participate in the modern economy, which includes the use of money, in trade and in maintaining healthy lifestyles.

Ekosi
Ric

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

As we move, slowly, toward the development of a viable Non Timber Forest Product industry, in our region, we will be meeting with many of the stakeholders in our region, next month, to attempt to develop partnerships to help with the creation of a facility to develop value added products, primarily from the annual Blueberry harvest in our region.

We have been and will continue to explore market opportunities ahich will benefit our people in socio-economic ways, by showing how our Traditional knowledge and access to natural resources can add to our local economies, while ensuring that our Traditional knowledge is able to be passed on to future generations.

Ric

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

As this was a quite controversial topic once, I have chosen to update our progress and provide a link to a website that has some information about what and how we are proceeding with this development.

You can learn a little about what we are doing at www.edai-ch.org

Ric