Collaborative Arrangements to Conserve the Rocky Mountain Bioregion
Victoria Critchley
(Note: Vicky was an intern with NRCC in the summer of 2004.)
Many of the most biologically diverse regions of the world are within the homelands of indigenous people. Getting traditional owners involved in restoring and conserving significant ecosystems is therefore essential for the long-term management of these areas. Although environmental groups realize the importance of working with indigenous communities in order to achieve conservation goals, long-term relationships can be difficult to maintain. Difficulties may arise from different expectations based on culturally and socially derived interpretations of priorities and policy goals. The Northern Rockies of Canada are one region where strong, collaborative partnerships are developing between indigenous communities and environmental non-government organisations to achieve conservation outcomes. How are environmental groups in Canada navigating between the community development needs of local First Nations, and the focus on wilderness protection demanded by funders and supporters alike?
This is a question that is of significant interest to the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative. Y2Y was formed with the vision of creating a large-scale, protected corridor for the Rocky Mountain bioregion- people working together to maintain and restore the unique natural heritage of the Yellowstone to Yukon region. Because the Rocky Mountains cross national and state borders and support many land uses, including agriculture, grazing, towns, and indigenous reservations and claims, this is a challenging project. Over the last ten years, Y2Y has worked towards its vision through the development of partnerships with non-governmental conservation groups, private foundations, and academic institutions, as well as reaching out to the general public. Recently, Y2Y has undertaken a number of steps to incorporate indigenous interests and perspectives into the organization. Recently electing two aboriginal leaders to the Y2Y board and organizing a historic meeting of Canadian and American tribal leaders to discuss a common approach to the protection of the Rockies cultural and natural heritage.
Indigenous, or First Nation, communities have their own unique perspectives on connections between the natural world and human society, and they are important contributors to the Y2Y vision. Historical and contemporary treaty processes and land claims indicate that aboriginal communities are becoming more influential as landowners and resource managers in the Rocky Mountain region. Since the 1960's as resource development companies moved into Northern Canada, First Nation claims to territorial land have become more vocal. 'Comprehensive' claims arise where there has been no prior treaty process, these claims apply mostly to the Northwest Territories, the Yukon Territory, and Northern British Columbia, including the land of the Kaska Dena. As an assertion of First Nation governance the comprehensive land claim agreement process is of particular interest for Y2Y as it provides an opportunity for indigenous communities to identify lands of cultural and environmental value and to protect them from any future threat of resource exploitation. Y2Y hopes to assist First Nations by providing scientific expertise and conservation area design (CAD) support for the decision process.
In the summer of 2004, as an NRCC research fellow and with the support of the Wilburforce Foundation and the Jubitz Family Foundation, I travelled to the Canadian Northwest to interview leading environmental and indigenous leaders who are part of these collaborative efforts to protect the natural resources of the Northern Rockies. My goal was to understand the interplay of values, perspectives, and ambitions in the emerging relationship between the Kaska Dena Tribal Council and the Canadian Parks and Wildlife Association (CPAWS), an important partner organisation to Y2Y. These two groups cooperated in promoting the Muskwa-Kechika protected management area. In September 2003 they signed a memorandum of understanding stating that they would work together to establish a sustainable economy in the region and to secure the permanent protection of the Wolf Lake watershed.
Innovatively, the Kaska Dena have begun to institutionalise their collaboration with CPAWS by developing a new non-governmental organization--the Kaska Conservation Initiative. Its aims are to formalize the roles of the partners, apply for funding not normally available to indigenous groups, and coordinate the various sustainable resource ventures of the Kaska Dena Council. This initiative faces significant challenges, not least the need to balance conservation goals with socio-economic goals. However, it also provides a great opportunity to institutionalise the Kaska's land use and conservation agenda within a framework that will synthesize professional expertise with local knowledge.
By documenting how well the new Kaska Conservation Initiative works, I hope to illustrate the shared interests of the partners as well as their different agendas. From my discussions with indigenous and environmental leaders it was apparent that the Kaska Conservation Initiative is a product of long-term personal relationships based on mutual trust and a sustained commitment to work together to find common ground. It also represents a desire to move beyond personal processes to entrench collaborative relationships within a formal structure and establish resource projects that successfully integrate scientific and indigenous knowledge. Indigenous organizations are very eager to learn from each other, and the Kaska Conservation Initiative could provide an important model for moving from planning sustainable communities to making them work.
Kaska tribal members also commented on the desire to communicate an indigenous management approach, one that is responsive to landscape patterns and processes rather than focusing on a specific resource or species. In this respect they felt that their philosophies more closely aligned to those of environmental organizations than to those of development or government. However the Kaska also cautioned against interpreting this shared belief as an indication that the Kaska and the Northwest environmental community would always see eye to eye. As Corrine Porter, the Kaska Tribal Council's Natural Resource officer commented: "CPAWS overall mandate is to their funders and the public but that is not the Kaska". One of the primary reasons that the Kaska and CPAWS have collaborated so successfully in the past and a major indication that the Conservation Initiative will prove an effective organisation, is this honest acknowledgement of respective differences and an acceptance that not all of the conservation battles in the region will be fought together.