The Xaxli’p Community Forest is many things. Xaxli’p people have lived here for thousands of years. We continue to live with, respect, and utilize the plants, animals and water to meet our needs.
Over the past century, Xaxli’p has worked to maintain control of our land by implementing ecologically and culturally sustainable land use throughout Xaxli’p Survival Territory.
In the 1990s, Xaxli’p began negotiations with the Government of British Columbia to obtain a Community Forest Agreement (CFA) that would allow Xaxli’p to protect and manage the forest resources in our territory. That is now a reality—the Xaxli’p Community Forest Agreement was signed in early 2011.
The community forest is managed to restore degraded ecosystems, to restore cultural resources and activities, and to create a sustainable community economy based on high quality, value-added timber and non-timber forest products. Xaxli’p prepared an Ecosystem Based Plan and a Traditional Use Study in the early 2000s, which now form the management plan for the Community Forest. Our current focus is eco-cultural restoration in several types of ecosystems in Xaxli’p Survival Territory.
For more info, please visit Xaxli’p Forestry website at xaxlipcommunityforest.ca.