About the Xaxli’p Community Forest.

The Xaxli’p Community Forest is many things – it is a place where Xaxli’p people have lived for thousands of years. It is a place where we continue to live with and utilize the plants, animals and waters that come from the land. Over the past century, Xaxli’p has worked to maintain control of the land, and has worked towards implementing ecologically and culturally appropriate 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 that would allow Xaxli’p to manage the forest resources in our territory. The community forest would be managed to restore degraded ecosystems and to create a sustainable community economy based on high quality 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. After many years of hard work and commitment by community members, the Xaxli’p Community Forest Agreement was signed in 2011. We are now working on carrying out eco-cultural restoration in several types of ecosystems in Xaxli’p Territory.