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What Is Your Motivation for Acquiring Forest Tenure?
Answering this question as a community is a crucial first step. It will guide your next decisions and establish your negotiating position throughout the tenure acquisition process.
Reasons to Acquire Forest Tenure
- Community well-being: Strengthen place-based health, identity, cultural practices, and educational opportunities on the land.
- Clear objectives: Decide what kind of tenure best supports your Nation’s goals—for example, a licence focused on sustained timber harvesting or long-term economic benefits from timber and non-timber products.
- Cultural and ecosystem values: Forests provide services such as clean water for salmon habitat and erosion control. Tenure allows Nations to plan for community needs, protect sacred sites, maintain biodiversity, and ensure respectful use.
- Economic self-determination: Tenure can support local economies by creating jobs in forestry, conservation, and other sectors, while strengthening overall community development.
- Diversified income: A tenure can expand your Nation’s investment portfolio.
How to Assess Community Motivation
Understanding motivation requires community dialogue and planning. This can include:
- Meetings with leadership, economic development boards, forestry advisors, and community members.
- Visioning sessions to create a clear vision and mission statement.
Motivation shapes three key outcomes:
- Negotiating position: Establishes a strong foundation for discussions with government and industry.
- Long-term community benefits: Supports self-determination, decision-making power, revitalization, and ecosystem protection.
- Operational clarity: Avoids misunderstandings and ensures compliance with laws and policies.