Haida Gwaii

Haida Gwaii, a large and isolated archipelago located on coast of Western Canada, is home to over 6800 species of flora and fauna along with more unique subspecies than any other equal sized areas in Canada (Gaston et al., 2008). This rich biological diversity found throughout the lands and waters has sustained the Haida people and their ancestors for over ten thousand years (Banner et al., 2014). However, within the past fifty years, much of these lands and waters have been depleted via resource industries that have shown little to no regard for the consequences of their actions on both the environment and the Haida culture (Council of the Haida Nation, 2004). Consequently, the Haida along with community members and environmental activists

It does so by maintaining greater than 30 per cent of the natural proportion of old growth forest ecosystems within each biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification variant (Province of British Columbia and Council of the Haida Nation, 2007). This specific objective is vital for wildlife management, even moreso than the reduction of the annual allowable harvest to 800, 000 cubic metres, which is approximately half of the previous allowable cut level (Takeda & Ropke, 2010). This is because, this specific objective pertains to old-growth forest, and according to local Haida educator Gerry Morigeau (2016), knowing the type of habitat to protect for a species is more important than the amount. The brooski subspecies of the Northern Saw-whet Owls is globally restricted to Haida Gwaii, but were designated as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 2006 with one of their largest threats being the decline in older forest abundance (COSEWIC, 2006). This is because they rely on old-growth forests for nesting habitat and for potential feeding habitats, it is ideal because old-growth forests are generally structurally complex and also have a high relative abundance of nesting snags (Northern Saw-whet Owl Recovery Team, 2009). Similarly, Northern Goshawks, another species of management

It does so by mandating 100% maintenance of culturally modified trees (CMT), which are trees that have been previously modified by the Haida people (Province of British Columbia and Council of the Haida Nation, 2007). TEK is a way of knowing that accumulates observations outside of Western science, thus it is a knowledge that is encoded in rituals and cultural practices (Berkes et al., 2000). Recently, there has been increased recognition in the contributions that TEK can make to the conservation of biodiversity, protected areas, ecological processes, and sustainable resource use (Berkes et al., 2000). CMTs are a form of TEK as they can provide tangible records of historical human use of trees and information on traditional sustainable resource use (Turner et al., 2009). These trees are living models that humans can enable use of their wood, bark, roots, and leaves without destroying the tree itself (Turner et al., 2009). Thus they are an important tool for ecosystem-based management, as according to Galindo-Leal & Bunnell (1995), management should meet the needs of the present but not compromise the ability of future generations to do the same. Additionally, preservation of CMTs is particularly important for the Haida, as most traditional knowledge has been lost due to the passing on of