Like your community -- like any community -- we'd welcome the jobs, economic opportunities, and tax revenues such a development would deliver to the province. But, like any community, we have concerns. Much of the Fort Nelson First Nation’s traditional lands have been modified intensively over the last century. This modification, predominantly by forestry and energy industries, is accelerating. Rarely do we stop to examine the whole picture of the impacts of these modifications. As stewards of our land, we have the responsibility to take this wide and long term view.

About Cumulative Impacts

"The combined effects of the energy, forestry, and agriculture industries are threatening the integrity of the forests of the WCSB; integrity in this case is defined as the degree to which all ecosystem components and their interactions are represented and functioning. The forest land base is shrinking, human access is steadily increasing, and forest stands are changing in composition and becoming younger and more fragmented (Alberta Environmental Protection 1998a [1]). The root of the problem is the current system of management, which lacks meaningful ecological objectives and fails to integrate the overlapping activities of resource companies."[2]

The Map below details cumulative impacts in our core traditional territory. 

The maps displayed on the Fort Nelson First Nation Lands Department web site are for reference only and do not imply any judgment on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.The maps do not denote shared territory with our neighbouring First Nations.

References:

1. Alberta Environmental Protection. 1998a. The boreal forest natural region of Alberta. Alberta Environmental Protection, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 
2. Schneider, R, Stelfox, B, Boutin, S and S Wasel. Managing the Cumulative Impacts of Land Uses in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin: A Modeling Approach. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol7/iss1/art8/