Non-timber forest products in British Columbia: The past meets the future on the forest floor

Abstract

Introduction: Forces and Trends Until about ten years ago, the non-timber forest products (NTFP) industry in British Columbia was a minor part of the patchwork of rural and small-town economic life part subsistence, part recreation, part commerce and of little concern in the formulation of forest policy or the management of forest lands. During the past decade, however, a number of trends and developments have combined to focus increasing attention upon this industry, and, in particular, upon the role of First Nations in the use and protection of wild plants and their habitats. First, the current, and anticipated further, declines in timber harvesting and forest industry employment provide a strong incentive for land managers and forest workers to consider the economic potential of a wider variety of forest products and services. This reorientation is more strongly established in the Pacific Northwest United States, but is beginning to emerge in British Columbia. Unfortunately, this growing interest is only slowly being translated into efforts to better understand this forest industry: (In the past) ... govemment and private land ownerslmanagers who saw little value to these plants ... (that is, non-timber species) ... have spent very little money conducting research about them. Due to a lack of research, we know very little about: life cycles, effects of harvesting, effects of fertilizing, importance in the microand macro-plant association communities, wild life uses, resistance to pests, genetic differences, seed zones, growth habits, effect on soil stability, responses to over-story management techniques, and product potentials (Freed 1996: 153). Workers displaced from traditional resource employment and recent immigrants have swelled the ranks of primarily parttime harvesters who once supplied the relatively modest markets for non-timber forest products. Large international markets are now well-established, and demand for natural, ''wild,'' and ''organic7' foods, pharmaceuticals, landscaping materials, and craft items is growing rapidly and is generating continuing pressure for new products and new harvesting areas (Freed 1994, Savage 1995). The combined impact of these developments includes an accelerating potential for conflict among resource users, over-harvesting, dissipation of potential economic and employment benefits, and other long-term biological, social and economic consequences. For First Nations in British Columbia, a rapidly growing nontimber forest product industry presents both opportunities and problems. Although more than 70 per cent of Canadian reserves are located in the province, most are very small, with many amounting to only a few tens of acres Wtchell and Tennant 1994). Such a restricted land base has seriously hampered the ability of most First Nations to participate in the commercial forest sector and has also jeopardized access to traditional uses of forest resources in many parts of the province. The nego-