Back to: Tenure Toolkit
Do You Still Want Forest Tenure?
Is your Nation still deciding? This is an important moment to weigh both the short-term and long-term benefits, as well as the pros and cons of entering the forestry business.
What This Journey Involves
Acquiring tenure is more than a business decision—it is a long-term investment that comes with responsibilities and commitments. Success requires building strong relationships:
- Within the Nation – between the economic development company, leadership, and the community
- With government – to navigate regulations and approvals
- With industry and environmental partners – to create equitable and sustainable opportunities
The potential benefits are significant: land-based sovereignty, own-source revenues, environmental stewardship, and long-term economic resilience. But reaching those benefits requires careful planning, ongoing costs, and commitment to silviculture, compliance, and community capacity.
Short-Term Benefits
- Securing a timber supply creates immediate opportunities for investment.
- Provides confidence for businesses to invest in operations.
- Strengthens negotiation power with industry.
- Builds stable and equitable partnerships.
- Starting small—with a community forest or area-based tenure—can be a practical first step.
Long-Term Benefits
- Supports job creation and greater community self-sufficiency.
- Enables Nations to define their role in forestry after decades of exclusion.
- Provides harvest stability through secure, long-term timber supply.
- Positions community-led forestry ventures as drivers of positive, transformative change in BC’s forest sector.
Pros
- Control over timber harvesting
- Infrastructure for future business growth
- Job creation
- Non-timber value protection
- Profit potential
Cons
- Significant upfront expense
- On-going financial exposure / risk
- Obligations in the forest license, and regulatory requirements
- Significant legal, management and infrastructure requirements
Next Steps
If your community is ready to move forward, it’s time to make a plan.
Contact the BC First Nations Forestry Council at policy@forestrycouncil.ca to learn more and take the next step toward tenure.