Back to: Tenure Toolkit
Managing Forest Tenure
Clarifying Community Needs
Before managing a forest tenure, start by identifying your community’s priorities:
- Size and volume of tenure: A viable operation typically requires ~100,000 m³ per year.
- Skills and capacity: Assess existing knowledge in forestry operations, compliance, and administration; identify gaps.
- Community goals: Define clear objectives—economic development, employment, sustainability, and long-term capacity building.
In-House vs. Outsourcing
Managing tenure requires choosing between:
- In-house management: Economic development companies oversee operations, compliance, permitting, and partnerships.
- Outsourcing: Smaller tenures may subcontract for logging, silviculture, or engineering services.
Note: Provincial legislation requires hiring or contracting registered forest professionals (recognized by the Ministry of Forests and the Association of BC Forest Professionals).
Building Human Resources and Partnerships
Developing human resources and partnerships is a gradual process. Many First Nations start with small operations and grow over time as skills, resources, and confidence build.
Key ways to strengthen capacity include:
- Training and mentorship: Invest in professional development, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs to prepare members for forestry roles.
- Local employment: Prioritize jobs for community members to keep economic benefits close to home.
- Partnerships with experienced companies: Collaborate with established forestry companies to gain knowledge and technical expertise in the early stages.
- Engaging local contractors and businesses: Strengthens forestry operations and contributes to the broader community economy.
- Knowledge sharing: Learn from other Nations that already hold tenure, exchanging lessons and best practices.
- Gradual growth: Begin with contracted services (logging, silviculture, engineering), then transition over time to build an in-house team.
- Community support: Maintain open communication with leadership and members to ensure operations reflect the Nation’s values and goals.
- Relationship building: Develop strong and productive relationships within the forestry sector to support long-term success.
Capacity building and partnership development take time and patience, but they bring lasting benefits. Over time, Nations can take on more roles directly, create long-term local employment, and strengthen both community health and the regional economy.
The Business of Forestry
After purchasing tenure, the real work begins. Managing forestry is a day-to-day responsibility that blends business management, environmental stewardship, and coordination with contractors and regulators. Operations are generally divided into three key phases: planning and development, field operations, and marketing and sales.
The planning and development phase is where the foundation is set. Forestry managers and professionals assess timber stands, prepare cutting permits, and plan access roads. This stage also involves environmental and compliance reviews to ensure operations meet legal requirements. Equally important is working with government agencies to secure the necessary approvals before moving forward.
Once plans are in place, operations shift into the field operations phase. Here, road construction and logging take place, alongside careful site-level compliance. Managers must supervise and schedule contractors, monitor progress, and ensure that safety and environmental standards are upheld. Many Nations also focus on Full Rotation Management—an approach that prioritizes long-term forest health through practices like silviculture, water management, biodiversity protection, and carbon stewardship.
The final stage is marketing and sales, where the value of the work is realized. Forestry managers keep a close eye on log markets and prices, identify buyers, and coordinate the scaling, transport, and sale of timber. In many regions, particularly on the BC coast, logs are often sold through competitive auctions, either directly by licensees or through Crown agencies such as BC Timber Sales.
Together, these three phases illustrate that forestry is not just about harvesting timber—it is an ongoing cycle of planning, managing, protecting, and selling, all while balancing economic opportunity with environmental and cultural responsibility.
The Role of Forest Management & Licence Implementation
Forest managers and development companies typically oversee:
- Selecting operating areas
- Reviewing timber volumes and cruises
- Market analysis: stumpage, values, demand
- Engineering, planning, and contractor advice
- Community employment opportunities
- Scheduling crews and transportation
- Ongoing communication with the community
- Silviculture contracts and partnerships
- Safety and insurance management
- Regulatory compliance (Indigenous, provincial, and federal laws)
- Contracting with industry partners
- 5-year budgets and management plans
- Long-term access and stewardship (5–20 year outlooks)
- Environmental assessments and permits
- Exploring new business ventures
- Generating profit (or avoiding costs) for the Nation
- Implementing stewardship and protection values defined by the Nation