The Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada launched the Forest Communities Program in 2007. This new program is intended to facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge, tools and practices to empower forest-based communities to participate in informed decision-making on the forest land base, allowing communities to sustain and grow forest resource benefits while capitalizing on emerging forest-based opportunities.
The Forest Communities Program will work with local community organizations, Aboriginal organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), federal, provincial and municipal governments, resource industries and other key stakeholders to address the challenges being faced by forest-based communities where forest companies and other resource users are rationalizing operations and making other transitions in response to current economic and environmental realities. The program will take a broad, landscape level approach to addressing these transition challenges and is seeking to involve as wide a cross-section of natural resource managers and stakeholders as possible.
The Forest Communities Program replaces the Model Forest Program, which operated from 1992 to 2007. The Canadian Model Forest Network, a not-for-profit organization, was formed in 2006 to continue the Model Forest connections and activities, with particular emphasis on maintaining connections in the International Model Forest Network.
Forest Communities Program Sites:
British Columbia
This is a partnership involving the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations and Ecotrust Canada. The partnership intends to create economic opportunities for the forest-dependent communities of the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, while protecting ecosystem integrity.
Building on the past success of the McGregor Model Forest, this expanded partnership will help forest–based communities in northern B.C. to diversify their economies and address the many forest management issues in the region.
Saskatchewan
The Prince Albert Model Forest will develop new approaches to capacity building in resource-based communities and facilitate cross-sector relationships involving forestry, agriculture and the rapidly developing mining and energy sectors of Saskatchewan.
Manitoba
The Manitoba Model Forest is developing new partnerships with the forest industry, forest-based communities and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. The Model Forest is seeking new opportunities for communities to participate in informed decision-making about landscape management and to develop alternative uses of forest resources.
Ontario
This new partnership will bring new economic dynamics to forest-based communities in Northern Ontario. Several communities will work together on common economic objectives with an emphasis on developing opportunities involving non-timber values of the forest. The Northeast Superior Forest Community also intends to use technology to stimulate economic and educational activities.
Located near Ottawa, the Eastern Ontario Model Forest has a unique opportunity to demonstrate to national audiences the importance of forests and forestry to Canada’s rural communities. The partnership is well-positioned to address the challenges facing rural and urban forests, including planning issues and economic diversification.
Quebec
Le Bourdon Projet
This partnership brings together a diverse group of interests to challenge the current economic realities of the forest industry in rural Quebec. Le Bourdon will encourage community development through improved forest management and explore new opportunities for recreational tourism.
The Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec has proposed a new partnership of communities, including First Nations, to seek new opportunities for the forest industry and economic development. The main emphasis will be on workforce training to ensure the long-term sustainability of the region’s communities.
New Brunswick
With an emphasis on innovation, the Fundy Model Forest will advance the sustainable development of private forests and public forests in New Brunswick. It will encourage the development of community capacity to adjust to changes in the forest economy and promote diversification into the bio-economy.
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
The Alliance represents four distinct forest areas in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The Nova Forest Alliance will address the long-term utilization of the region’s forest resources and the potential for additional social, environmental and economic benefits.
Newfoundland and Labrador
The Western Newfoundland Model Forest will be expanding its work with communities in watershed management and other emerging issues facing the forest sector. It has expanded its partnership to include an area in Labrador where it will use its expertise to address some of the major social, economic and environmental stresses in Innu communities.
For more information about the new Forest Communities Program, please contact Wendy Vasbinder or Mike Slivitzky at Natural Resources Canada – Canadian Forest Service.
