The 1.7 million hectares now negotiated for protection exceeds the protected areas within the coastal region now known as the Great Bear Rainforest, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said at an event to update progress on Friday.
“There were vast herds and the Canim Lake people protected these herds with our blood and lives,” Archie said April 1.
Archie said his elected council now a forest stewardship plan of its own, and has “led the charge” to increase the share of annual allowable cut reserved for Indigenous title holders.
Archie endorsed Conroy’s move toward Indigenous-led land use planning that considers cumulative impacts of roads and logging.
Implementation of B.C.’s old-growth preservation strategy is shifting to a new Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship, as the province regains control over decisions such as where resource roads can be built.