Media Release: First Nation's Plan to Save Rare BC Old Growth to Move Forward with Stewardship Funding

December 27, 2023

First Nation's Plan to Save Rare BC Old Growth in the Fraser and Kwoiek Valleys (by the iconic Stein Valley) to Move Forward with Forthcoming Stewardship Funding from the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) is closing in on raising critical stewardship funding to support a plan by the Kanaka Bar Indian Band to save rare old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems south of Lytton. Last $9,000 of $300,000 in Crown land stewardship funding needed, along with $150,000 for private lands.

One of the most significant and advanced Indigenous protected areas plans in British Columbia continues to move forward to safeguard some of the most diverse and rare old-growth ecosystems in the province with some of BC’s leading conservation groups.

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) have been working to raise $450,000 in stewardship funding as part of their support for the Kanaka Bar Indian Band to protect and steward rare old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems through their proposed 320-square km T'eqt'aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in the Fraser Canyon of BC, located south of Lytton. $300,000 will go towards the Crown lands in the IPCA, of which around $291,000 has already been raised by the Foundation (with around $9,000 left to raise before the end of the year), and the other $150,000, which NBSF is starting to raise, will go towards the private lands. Funds will help ensure the Band can take the critical next step towards completing their IPCA, providing support for IPCA stewardship efforts and other interim project-related needs.

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) has been collaborating with the Kanaka Band Indian Band for over a year, working to provide the community with the key, end-to-end support to develop their IPCA. This support is part of the Foundation’s larger provincial program, the “Old-Growth Solutions Initiative”, dedicated to helping establish new protected areas for the most endangered old-growth forests in BC, which is happening in collaboration with the Ancient Forest Alliance and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

On November 20, 2023, the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation and Kanaka Bar Indian Band signed a stewardship funding agreement for the Crown lands within their proposed IPCA, committing the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation to provide funding for immediate IPCA-related needs, including capacity, legal analysis, stakeholder engagement, environmental restoration and stewardship activities, economic development, and more.

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation is quickly closing in on securing the outstanding funds, with only around $9,000 left to raise before reaching the $300,000 Crown lands commitment.

Now, NBSF is also starting to raise the $150,000 in stewardship funding for the private lands within the proposed boundaries of Kanaka Bar’s IPCA. This dovetails with the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation’s work to help purchase these lands—which contain rare endangered old-growth forests and are of great ecological and cultural significance—to return to Kanaka Bar with conservation covenants as part of their IPCA land-use vision.

To date, NBSF have already purchased one private parcel, nicknamed “Old Man Jack’s”, to be given back to the community with a conservation covenant, and intend to purchase more over the next year.

“The T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area will help set future generations of our community up for success, and this stewardship funding will play an important role in launching this effort forward. The IPCA will enable us to continue to uphold Nlaka’pamux culture and life-ways by protecting the four-legged, rooted, winged, and finned ones who call our territory home from further industrial harm, as well as give us the opportunity to heal the damage to the land that has already been done by logging and mining,” explains Chief Jordan Spinks. “The IPCA also gives us the opportunity to explore development of sustainable economic alternatives to resource extraction, like eco-tourism, which funding and support from the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation will also help us achieve. With the IPCA, we are able to assert our sovereignty over our lands by re-establishing traditional stewardship and governance practices.”

The T'eqt'aqtn IPCA proposal is one of the most advanced in BC thanks to the key milestones achieved by Kanaka Bar Indian Band, with support from Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, towards its eventual implementation. Spanning over 320-square km in one of the most ecologically diverse regions in BC, the IPCA will include approximately 125-square km of some of the province’s rarest old-growth forests. The IPCA is also home to an incredibly unique mix of species, including 42 species at risk.

“The Kanaka Bar's IPCA is exceptional for so many reasons: for its great ecological diversity, for the strong protection standards the community is aiming for (a Provincial Conservancy that prohibits commercial resource extraction while protecting Indigenous subsistence rights), and for its scale; the IPCA will literally encompass almost all of their traditional territory except for some reserve and adjacent private lands where development can occur. This is truly a great conservation plan and the Kanaka Bar leadership and community should be thanked for diligently moving forward to see this plan through. We need to do whatever we can to help them move this plan forward and to come to legislated fruition, including by raising the key stewardship funds right now”, stated Ken Wu, Co-founder of the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation.

“This funding will represent a significant milestone, launching this incredible IPCA proposal towards completion by ensuring that the community has the necessary funding to address immediate stewardship, community, and economic development needs,” said Hania Peper, National Coordinator at the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation. “Our support for the Kanaka Bar Indian Band will also serve as an end-to-end model for addressing critical conservation funding gaps in other communities hoping to protect old growth and develop sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging. Our goal is to replicate this approach in collaboration with communities across BC, and thanks to our success so far, we’re now supporting half-a-dozen First Nation communities working on similar initiatives,” continues Peper. “All contributions towards this particular funding goal will therefore play a key role in ensuring the success of both Kanaka Bar’s land-use vision and our greater provincial effort.”

After all stewardship funding has been raised, NBSF will work to secure a far larger set of funds for major sustainable economic development within the Kanaka Bar community once the T'eqt'aqtn IPCA receives legislated protection—potentially in the form of a Provincial Conservancy, a protected area designation unique to BC that is co-managed by First Nations and is congruent with Indigenous land rights and subsistence harvesting (e.g. hunting, foraging, fishing, harvesting of individual trees for cultural purpose, etc.).

To protect endangered ecosystems and old-growth forests in BC, funding is necessary to support the development of economic alternatives in First Nations communities. This is because, through successive court rulings, the provincial government cannot declare new legislated protected areas on unceded Indigenous territories without the consent of and shared decision-making with the local First Nations, many of whom are dependent on resource revenues as central parts of their economies. Conservation financing, which was critical to the protection of old-growth ecosystems in the Great Bear Rainforest, is vital to support economic alternatives, giving First Nations communities a fair choice and viable path to protecting endangered ecosystems. Recently the BC government announced a $300 million BC Conservation Financing Mechanism and a $1 billion federal-provincial BC Nature Agreement that will help with Indigenous funding needs to establish new protected areas.

“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that communities have the necessary funding and resources for achieving greater prosperity for their people while taking a leadership role in protecting and stewarding their lands and the endangered ecosystems they contain,” said Peper. “The T'eqt'aqtn IPCA will be an important catalyst for this work, which is why we are urging all individuals, businesses, and organizations interested in leaving a lasting legacy for nature and communities in BC to contribute to this milestone project,” she concludes.


About the Kanaka Bar Indian Band

The Kanaka Bar Indian Band—also known as "T'eqt''aqtn'mux", or "the crossing place people”— is a Nlaka’pamux nation located in the Fraser Canyon just south of Lytton and adjacent to the Stein Valley. For more than 10000 years, Kanaka's traditional territory sustained its people. Today, there are approximately 240 Band members. On average, 100 residents live on reserve, and in the summer, the population doubles as membership return home to visit, fish, gather, and reconnect with the land.

About NBSF

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) is a young national organisation dedicated to safeguarding the most endangered ecosystems in Canada. NBSF was established to fill a critical niche in Canada’s conservation movement by addressing key conservation funding gaps that have historically hindered protection for the most endangered areas. Core to this approach is NBSF’s focus on collaborating with land-embedded communities—who play a decisive role in determining how land is used in their areas—to create new protected areas for the most endangered ecosystems. NBSF uses a proven “conservation financing” approach to help communities plan for new protected areas and transition to more sustainable economies that thrive with nature.

Founded by some of BC’s most experienced conservationists who bring decades of successes working to protect native ecosystems in western Canada, NBSF’s current programs are leveraging this expertise to safeguard the at-risk, productive (i.e. “big tree”) old-growth forests of BC. Currently, NBSF is supporting the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation and half half-a-dozen other communities to support IPCAs in BC.

For more information about NBSF, please visit www.naturebasedsolutionsfoundation.org or watch The Key to Protecting Canada’s Most Endangered Ecosystems.

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