I just read an interesting article in the Nelson Daily News yesterday about the impact the mountain pine beetle is having on the traditional way of living of First Nations in BC.
The impacts to forests, culturally modified trees, wildlife patterns, archeological sites, hunting, and vegetation are significant to First Nations traditional use of the land.
The safety of more than 100 bands is threatened by fire because the dry, red trees surround their communities, aboriginal leaders say.
Animals that natives have hunted for generations no longer take the same paths and berries and medicinal herbs don't grow where they once did beneath the thousands upon thousands of hectares of dead pine forest.
Chief Leonard Thomas of the Nak'azdli Band, near Fort St. James in north-central B.C., is also worried about retaining jobs and keeping communities together once the infested trees are removed.
"It is a huge cultural impact on First Nations people, simply because now we have to hunt a little harder to try and get the animals we used to sustain ourselves," Thomas said.
"A lot of these patterns are going to change because of the mountain pine beetle."
Some bands have their own logging firms and have already cleared the dead trees and brush from around their reserves homes and buildings.
But most have only just begun making fire protection plans.
Thomas said many communities don't have the equipment or the manpower to do the work that will protect communities and their only plan is to evacuate if a fire draws near.
"The pine beetle is the deadliest threat right now," he said.
Link to full article:
http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/Canada/article/82883
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