Líl̓wat Forestry Ventures Ltd. (LFV), in collaboration with Stillwater Consulting, Chartwell Resource Group Ltd. (Chartwell), and the Líl̓wat Nation’s Lands & Resources Department, is leading an Old Growth Stewardship Data Collection Project. The goals are to identify and assess old-growth areas within Lil’wat’s traditional territory to better understand how to manage the forest for all its values like wildlife habitat enhancement, the growth of medicinal and food plants, and more.

“The management of old-growth forests have been a contentious issue throughout the province,” shared Klay Tindall, Registered Professional Forester, General Manager of LFV. “We want to educate the community about the state of old-growth and ensure we collected data on the ground and identified culturally important areas.”

Currently, about 15-20 per cent of Líl̓wat’s forests are managed for timber harvesting and trees can be legally cut down by LFV crews. However, while the rest are protected, they are still vulnerable to fire, pests/insects, and disease.

“The protection of these areas means that 80-85 per cent of our forests are unmanaged and that’s a large amount throughout Líl̓wat. There are risks to not being able to thoughtfully manage these areas and through this project, we are trying to identify what’s needed for management practices throughout the forests, not only looking at the timber harvest landbase but at the entire forest,” shared Tindall.

The project, funded by the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP), began with training provided by Stillwater Consulting for LFV staff and Líl̓wat Nation’s field technician staff from the Lands & Resources Department.

“This training gave our team the knowledge to assess the old-growth criteria, which we developed based on the original Ministry of Forests’ old-growth deferral template. We then added other important details like the values culture and wildlife habitat play to really capture the information that is out there,” noted Tindall.

The training was completed during the Spring of 2025, lasting a total of 24 days. Through a comprehensive program that included soft skill development for leadership and team building, communication, and problem solving, as well as technical field skills such as natural resource inventory and measurement, Indigenous ecological knowledge, and cultural heritage, crews were better prepared to go through the data collection process.

“We have done so many different types of training with LFV over the last 12 years, but this one was definitely different,” explained Jody McInnes, BSc, President and Senior Project Manager at Stillwater Consulting. “The goal was to be able to assign timber and non-timber values to forest lands, which is different than the traditional forester lens. It really changes the landscape in terms of how you assess a block, and I think it’s something we will get to see more training in.”

LFV further consulted with Líl̓wat’s Lands & Resource Department throughout the development of the training and the creation of the data collection forms, as well as during the identification of plot, or area, locations throughout the territory.

Data collection began in mid-October after the risk of wildfire was diminished and throughout this process, Chartwell’s foresters have provided their expertise in gathering information from ancient trees and selecting the most informative plots.

“We have now begun to gather information on everything that is in these plots, which is huge for our Nation because it’s going to deepen our understanding of what’s actually in these areas as far as things to manage,” shared Logan Bikadi, Field Technician at Chartwell. “On the way to every one of these plots, we are constantly looking at what’s around us, looking at the forest as a whole.”

As the project continues to progress, crews are comparing data from different plots to understand forest variations and improve future management.

“It’s a big picture that combines our cultural burns as well as they all tie in to help us understand how we can manage old-growth forests better,” shared Jordon Gabriel, Forestry Technician at LFV. “We have been going out to different areas to do research, comparing differences in these plots to understand why some old-growth areas are thriving while others are not. We want to get a deeper understanding as to why values that used to be there, such as pine mushrooms, berries, and wildlife like moose and bears, are no longer there.”

With support from the Provincial government for funding, comprehensive training from Stillwater Consulting, and expertise from Líl̓wat Nation’s Lands & Resource Department referrals, Chartwell professionals, and LFV crews, this project has highlighted why the need for collaboration to bring the expertise and experience of many people together for these large-scale projects is more important than ever.

“LFV members and Líl̓wat Nation’s staff who took the training have been essential in identifying true old-growth forests. They’re noticing things we hadn’t considered,” noted Bikadi.

Echoing this sentiment, Tindall added, “It’s not something that we could have done alone. It took all of us to work together to make this happen, and it will take all of us to implement the recommendations for good forest management when the project identifies what is next.”

As data collection progresses, Lil’wat Forestry Ventures aims to identify what forest management practices are needed throughout the forests in Lil’wat, looking at the forest in its entirety.

“I’m hoping by the end of this project, we will show that we do need to manage all forests for so many different values from safety and resources to wildlife and people,” shared Gabriel.

Lil’wat Forestry Ventures believes the Old Growth stewardship data collection project is a small step in the right direction and provides a guideline other First Nations can replicate to assess forest health in their territories to make more informed land management decisions.

Photo Credit: Líl̓wat Nation’s Lands & Resources Department