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Lheidli T'enneh, British Columbia

Lheidli T'enneh at a glance The Lheidli T'enneh Nation, Prince George, B.C., has a traditional land base of approximately 4.6 million hectares. Their pilot project with the Sustainable Communities Initiative is the certification of a sustainable forest on Tree Farm License 30 managed by CANFOR Ltd.

In September of 2000, the Lheidli T'enneh Nation set out to create an on-line map resource. The Band Council and membership had been dealing with geographical information systems (GIS) for a number of years, and wanted to expand the use of this technology to allow them a higher level of involvement in the management of the local resources.

Lheidli T'enneh envisioned an on-line map service as a way to consult with their community, local industry, and government. The service will also go beyond that and help streamline forest management planning, for the Lheidli T'enneh Nation and their partners as well.

"We need to integrate the data we collect with the various forest management planning initiatives that go on in the region every day of the year," says Pearson Farnswoth, GIS Coordinator for Lheidli T'enneh. "To display that data with the public and the resource management community was a bit of a challenge, so GeoConnections' Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) was the perfect opportunity to web enable our tools."

Their prototype project is the sustainable certification process on Tree Farm License 30 (TFL 30). To certify a forest as sustainable, a resource management company must consider all of the issues involved, such as wildlife and fisheries habitats, and the Canadian Standards Association requires that these companies consult with the area First Nations. The process can take up to two years.

"We want to use technology to make forest planning a more efficient and effective process," explains Mr. Farnsworth. "Information is no good if you keep it to yourself, so if we don't have any information in the initial stages of forest planning, then planning goes on without us."

Canadian Forest Products (CANFOR) Ltd. is one of the resource companies in the area and is being spurred on by consumer demand to certify forests as sustainable. "CANFOR likes the idea of an on-line mapping resource because we can prove that if you use data at the right time, planning occurs quicker and more efficiently," Mr. Farnsworth says. Using a collaborative approach, Lheidli T'enneh and CANFOR will be able to use the map services web site to reduce costs and save time.

One of Lheidli T'enneh's other undertakings is the Traditional Knowledge project, which involves collecting traditional ecological knowledge straight from the community. "This is information from community members that has been experienced firsthand, so it helps validate forest management planning principles," Mr. Farnsworth explains. Information collected from community members will be transferred to digital files, such as word processing or spreadsheets documents, and a software tool is now being developed that will search through the information. "That engine will go through all that data and build a subset of information that we turn into planning variables. It works very well with our prototype project with TFL 30."

SCI is assisting the Lheidli T'enneh Nation to secure the necessary software and hardware, and to cover training costs. "We truly appreciate SCI's contribution! We already have the human resources to apply the technology, so the software and hardware was the key to the whole project."

Since Lheidli T'enneh has been using GIS for several years to help plan their community and make sound decisions, Pearson Farnsworth believes that the Lheidli T'enneh project will have wider-ranging benefits for other First Nations. "Some First Nations are just getting into GIS and mapping technology, so we intend to make ourselves available to help them through that learning curve." "This is a sustainable project," Mr. Farnsworth stresses. "Our databases will increase in magnitude and robustness and will be available for years."

Government of Canada