Anishinaabe views of boreal forest fire, forestry and renewal

This poster takes a step towards Aboriginal Forestry by examining indigenous understandings of physical and ethical processes involved in forest disturbance. Forest scientists promote incorporating biophysical legacies of natural disturbances into timber harvest practices to improve silvicultural sustainability. Anishinaabe elders from Pikangikum First Nation, Ontario have their own understandings of the processes and features that contribute to forest renewal. In this poster I present their understandings of the social and ecological impacts of clearcut forestry and forest fires in the boreal forests of northwestern Ontario. According to elders, modern forestry practices fail to reproduce healthy forests by churning the soil, planting trees in rows, introducing contaminants and using herbicides.  The Pikangikum elders have shared empirical observations of forest succession following fire and the ethical guidelines presented in traditional teachings found in the Creator’s Plan (Keechee Manidoo Oonuhcheekayween). These ethics and their observations of successional pathways present potential guidelines for aboriginal forestry that merit ecological investigation.