Supporting Indigenous landscape stewardship in the British Columbia Interior with ST-Sim

Earlier this month, our team member Leonardo Frid visited the communities of Williams Lake and Clinton, BC to participate in a series of landscape planning meetings that brought together rightsholders from Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) and other Indigenous communities, as well as land managers from the BC government and forest industry.

As a part of these discussions, Leonardo supported Dr. Andrea Norris from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Indigenous Science Division in presenting a project focused on forecasting the cumulative effects of anthropogenic and natural disturbances on cavity nesting excavator habitat and ecosystem carbon. The presentation demonstrated how ST-Sim and SyncroSim can be used to forecast habitat outcomes for key species and compare ecosystem carbon consequences under different land stewardship scenarios.

By developing forecasting tools like this, we aim to support Indigenous communities in making informed landscape stewardship decisions that align with their traditional land use practices and values.

We extend our gratitude to Williams Lake First Nation for their hospitality and look forward to continued collaboration in advancing landscape conservation efforts.