Indigenous Land Recognition
The Old-Growth Forest Network is created from the original forests across the continent that were often inhabited by indigenous people (the ‘First Nations’). We acknowledge and honor the legacy of indigenous relationships with the forests in the Network. Many imagine “old-growth” as a lack of human intervention in a forest, but this attitude discounts both indigenous and natural histories of these landscapes. With full knowledge of the way European settlers frequently removed the original inhabitants from the land and embarked on widespread forest destruction, we embrace our responsibility to both recognize and rectify these past injustices. Our forests span many territories across the country: some are presently populated by indigenous people while others are not. A land acknowledgement recognizing the tribes that are the original stewards of the forests in the Network can be found on each forest detail page. We draw this information from Native Land Digital (https://native-land.ca/).