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Governments at the provincial level are working to create forest management opportunities for First Nations. Ontario's Northern Boreal Initiative offers First Nations communities a leading role in developing and managing vast new areas of northern Ontario currently being opened up to forestry. In 1999, the Saskatchewan government announced plans to double the forestry industry, providing benefits for northern and Aboriginal communities. In the spring of 2000, the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia and the Nisga'a Nation gave legal effect to the first modern-day treaty in the province. The treaty sets out the Nisga'a right to self-government and establishes the authority to manage their own lands and resources. And in 2002, the Government of Quebec signed an agreement giving the Cree Nation a larger role in the development of forest resources.
Meanwhile, the relationship between the forest industry and First Nations communities has been undergoing a transformation. The industry is committing to employment and training targets and awarding contracts to First Nations businesses. It is also helping new businesses find their feet by providing mentoring and financial assistance, lending equipment, helping in the development of bids and entering into joint ventures and agreements.
Since 1996, the federal government's First Nations Forestry Program has supported First Nation communities in learning how to manage forest resources. To date, some 370 communities have received assistance to develop and implement forest management plans and 5 700 First Nation workers have improved their skills in forestry-related activities and business development and expansion. Typical projects include: developing and implementing forest management plans; conducting forest inventories and silviculture projects; training and skills development in areas such as forest protection and fire suppression; and developing business plans and feasibility studies in areas such as forest harvesting and value-added products.
Intercropping–growing trees with agricultural crops–is an age-old practice, common in developing countries but virtually unknown in Canada. Studies in Ontario show that an intercropping system using hybrid poplar instead of a single agricultural crop can mean an eight-fold increase in the rate of carbon sequestration. Given Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, it is essential that scientists from a wide range of disciplines continue to research this subject. Agricultural lands are easily accessible and there is a large area of degraded land (up to 57 million hectares) that could be used in afforestation and agroforestry. This provides an important opportunity for collaboration between agricultural and forestry services to expand intercropping in regions such as southern Ontario and the lower mainland of British Columbia.
In some areas of Quebec, timber management is being integrated with blueberry production. In 2000 blueberry producers in the province indicated that their industry's development depended on the use of public forestlands currently under timber supply and forest management agreements. Guidelines were developed to harmonize the activities of forest managers and blueberry producers, with bands of forest alternating with strips of blueberry production. Intensified tree planting on the forestry component is aimed at increasing, if not replacing, production lost to blueberries. It is expected that by 2007 about 5 000 hectares of forestland will be available for blueberry production in combined arrangements. This type of development requires new leasing arrangements and allocation protocols, as well as further research on the most effective ways to integrate management.