Any chance I get to pick this guy’s brain I do it! Garry has spent decades considering the clashing of two cultures, Indigenous and western culture, and how the miscommunication between them has built up barriers that are difficult to break through. Garry lays out his experience, as an Indigenous person, and as a forester, regarding the past present and future of land management, communication, and collaboration. He explains the earth-based land ethic held by many First Nations cultures, and how this land ethic may be the answer to many of our questions, or at the very least worth considering.
Episode highlight
Garry Merkel is a member of Tahltan First Nation and a Registered Professional Forester. He has spent his career helping to build First Nations governance. Here, he speaks about the role that earth-based land management practice can play in restoring ecosystem integrity and health.
Resources
Studies discussed by Garry in this episode regarding moose browse;
The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323399911_The_exceptional_value_of_intact_forest_ecosystems
Roads and their major ecological effects
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.29.1.207
Nutritional Quality and Tannin Astringency of Browse in Clear-Cuts and Old-Growth Forests
More resources
Reconciliation with Garry Merkel: https://yourforestpodcast.com/episode-1/2021/11/29/btlw1dfftblgwjopr1bsspxc8zvelt
Yellowstone series: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4236770/
Old Growth with John Innes, Andy Mackinnon and Garry Merkel
Sponsors
West Fraser: https://www.westfraser.com/
GreenLink Forestry Inc.: http://greenlinkforestry.com/
Damaged Timber: https://www.damagedtimber.com/
Giveaway
Enter YourForest10 at checkout at the Damaged Timber store for a 10% discount!
Quotes
13.54 - 14.10: “We heard from thousands of people that… they want the way we manage our forests to change; they don’t want to see this intensive style that compromises other values to continue any longer.”
1.21.10 - 1.21.20: “The likelihood of you being earth-centered increases significantly when you understand that your survival is completely dependent on taking care of the earth.”
Takeaways
“As foresters, our job is to translate public expectation into forests” (06.44)
Garry explains how the role of the forester has expanded over the years to address a multitude of expectations, including economic demands. Unfortunately, this has often resulted in a lack of focus on the ecological which has led to the loss of ecosystem function and interconnectedness, biodiversity and the carbon stored in ancient species. However, indigenous communities’ earth-centered and earth-centric orientation and land ethic are about taking care of the land as a responsible part of nature.
Large-scale industrial forestry (10.54)
Garry talks about how the negative effects of large-scale industrial forestry in BC have only been recognized in the last 2-3 decades. It is difficult to redesign land management from a resource-focused approach to a care-based approach, but the indigenous model can provide guidance on how to do that. He discusses the problem of multiple access points into a forest that are also used by predators.
Clear-cutting (19.45)
Garry points out that, because of wide spread pine beetle and fire salvage logging, the primary harvesting system in BC has been landscape level clear-cutting which sets the ecosystem back because of the vast size of the disturbance. He uses the example of the caribou, who are dwindling because they feed on the lichen that grows on trees. According to Garry, the food and habitat of moose and mountain pine beetles have also been affected by clear-cutting.
Our species learns everything the hard way (26.38)
Garry claims that our society is now making different choices after seeing the impact of past choices. A paradigm shift is needed from the deeply-ingrained living on the earth to living with it as land stewards maintaining ecosystem integrity and health. Because of the ease of our life, we have lost our personal relationship with the land.
Synergistic land care (34.44)
Garry highlights how New Zealand and Australia have modified their land management systems to align with the indigenous land ethic. Menomonie in Wisconsin has been managing its forest and maintaining its ecosystem integrity under the guidance of an elder’s counsel for more than a century. He speaks of other models too which think about how one can care for the land and how industries can support one another in caring for the land.
Radical regenerative forestry (41.16)
Garry states that in some places, so much damage has been done that something dramatic needs to take place to reverse that. He shares about groups who are working on regenerative forestry to restore the health of the ecosystem by shutting down industrial activities for a while. These groups are rallying up so much support that external parties aren’t able to refuse permission. Groups that are not doing so will see their communities revolting, he says.
Indigenous ethic leads the way (45.46)
Garry is working with UBC to create an indigenous land center whose purpose is to gather and document the earth-centered land ethic in communities, various stewardship approaches, planning and practices, and associated institutional development. He believes that an indigenous government’s land framework which focuses on ecological units and administrative units that are also tied to indigenous territories is needed to plan correctly.
Trial and error (48.16)
Garry laments that one of the failings of land management is administrative planning fragmentation. He shares some examples from a stewardship planning level and from a forest operations level of forest management while maintaining ecosystem integrity. He is working on promoting managing ecosystem integrity and ecosystem health in BC, using natural disturbance type (NDT) appropriate silviculture systems at a mass scale.
Focus on the outcome, not output (1.00.05)
Garry says that we need to be very conscious of cost and efficiency so that we can afford to conduct sustainable land management. Indigenous communities, too, are working on building their economies while dealing with chronic social issues. More successful communities have focused their work on larger outcomes, such as an overall better quality of life and restoring culture. Research has shown that indigenous engagement brings more effectiveness to plan development and implementation.
Land-Community Relationship plans (1.10.27)
Garry shares that when he was in school (and in some cases still today), popular opinion on indigenous knowledge was that it was “second class”. However, as a scientist, he has found many instances where indigenous knowledge has “turned out to be way more valuable than scientific knowledge”. Indigenous peoples understand land patterns, though not all communities have built stewardship patterns. Land management plans grounded in local knowledge have been found to be most effective.
Earth at the heart of the matter (1.17.50)
Garry dispels the myths that earth-centered management is uniquely indigenous and that all indigenous groups have it. He explains earth-centered as putting “the earth at the center of your being and your relationship to land and life”. By surrendering to being an equal part of nature, we can learn to take care of it as a family. He cites examples of indigenous populations that were decimated because they were not earth-focused and non-indigenous populations that are.
“If you don’t look after the land, it won’t look after you” (1.24.38)
Garry is a strong supporter of how earth-centered ideologies are translating to land stewardship systems, some of which are pragmatic and economically effective. Climate change is the outcome of not caring for the land. He believes that we need to find the correct way to use land. You may make mistakes even with earth-centered management but it won’t be catastrophic. Large scale adaptive earth-based management has significant benefits.
“The whole notion of predictability and certainty in nature is an illusion” (1.34.15)
Garry states that you are doomed to frustration if you assume that nature is predictable. “Build resilience into your landscape so it can adjust and bring a more widespread change”, he advises. Groups that boast that they have the best system for land management often show a lack of faith in one’s cause and fear of being overwhelmed. However, he recommends changing one’s thinking and building practical transition measures to get onto the right track.
“In any positive change, there’s always going to be casualties” (1.39.44)
Garry finds that people are speaking up now because there’s only so much they can take of being marginalized - financially, culturally and spiritually - and watching the lands around them being compromised. He acknowledges the uncertainty of the way ahead and the anxiety that brings. Garry’s way is to educate and engage all the relevant parties, bring in the best scientists and foster a covenant with everyone to achieve the best outcomes possible.
If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it, share it on Instagram and Facebook and tag a friend, and send your feedback and comments to yourforestpodcast@gmail.com.