Overview
Co-management is sometimes about important details. Mistik Management, operating near Beauval, Saskatchewan, recognized the need to consult local people on harvest plans for the land where they were also active. The result was a committee that included local hunters, trappers and wild rice growers (among others). They met monthly over years to discuss harvest plans and impacts. The result? A community that felt valued, a company that improved local practices and a healthier forest.
Photo credit: Beauval Community Plan
Background
Breaking EBM down into its component elements reveals that it is very much about people. In each of the 12 elements that we propose, you will find fingerprints. And none more than in decision-making. For decades, Mistik Management has recognized this, and acted upon it. Beginning in the 1990s, Mistik has engaged communities near to their forestry leases to learn more about the land, improve their practices and move closer to an EBM ideal. Co-management boards, like the one in Beauval, Saskatchewan helped Mistik manage their Norsask License Area more effectively and to the benefit of local forest resource users.
Photo credit: Mistik Management
Innovation
Co-management is simple on principle, but difficult in practice. The key innovation of Mistik’s co-management approach in Beauval was its commitment to the process. It didn’t always work and it faced significant regional and provincial criticism. But they believed in their approach, bringing greater opportunities to learn about the regional forest from local people on the land and for board members to learn about forestry practices. As time passed, the relationship grew, board membership changed and the links between how and where Mistik operated became clear. The EBM in co-management was both the difficult challenge of creating an opportunity to hear local concerns and the simple process of listening.
Discovery
The Beauval co-management board incorporated local knowledge into forestry management and decision-making. This local knowledge included protecting moose calving areas, eagle nests and beaver habitat, road decommissioning and closed to limit access. Traplines, trails and other current forest uses were identified, and a buffer placed around sloughs and other sensitive wetlands. Timber strips were left along traplines and road corridors to offer extra protection to wildlife. Intermittent streams were identified, while smaller and irregular-sized harvest blocks created to limit hunting opportunities.
Because of the positive experience in Beauval, Mistik is engaged on 10 other Advisory and co-management boards on most of their licensed areas.
Where in the wheel?
Increased trust and stronger working relationships that evolved among board participants (community members, Mistik, Saskatchewan government) was cited as the major benefit of their co-management experience. More than just a way for companies and the government to inform local residents of forestry activities, co-management was found to be a more effective way to manage the forest. Although participants felt that co-management was imperfect, they agreed that it improved regional forest management.