Communicating 'forest': Co-managing Crises and Opportunities with Northernsecwepemc First Nations and the Province of Britishcolumbia

Communication by speaking and listening and bysharing stories continues to be important formaintaining culture- but communication by reading andwriting is the dominant method currently used bymanagement authorities. There is little presentlyknown about how the Province of British Columbia andFirst Nations can communicate so that acceptableco-management of forests can be achieved. Nevertheless, co-management is required as the methodfor resolving the Canadian constitutional conflictbetween First Nations? title and rights and thenatural resources jurisdiction of the Province. Crises in forest management can create opportunitiesfor cross-scale institutional improvement ofco-management if First Nations and Provincialdecision-making is shared in learning organizations. This project used the case study survey method forinquiry. Research findings indicated that there ispotential for transformation of forest management inNorthern Secwepemc territories in times of crises,however certain conditions, such as adequatestaffing, funding and training, must first exist atthe site level of management in order to make thebest use of emergent opportunities for collaboration.