Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of the evaporation of water from the Earth’s surface and the total transpiration from plants.  Spatially calculating ET is necessary because it is a major component in quantifying a water budget, and maps provide the spatial ability to display the distribution.  Geographic information systems (GIS) are a powerful and capable tool which can spatially process and integrate equations in order to quantify ET rates.  Probable ET equation types that best fit with ArcMap software were investigated, and the methodology of España et al was evaluated in terms of usefulness and ease of replication, while beneficial areas for future expansion were also commented on.  Interpolation of some weather and other variables, as well as the use of the raster calculator in ArcMap was the basis of the project methodology.  Temperature based ET equations were selected as the best equation category, and then specifically the Blaney-Criddle, Thornthwaite, and Hargreaves equations were used to calculate potential evapotranspiration (PET) rates in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The methodology of España et al provided a relatively easy way to spatially display algebraic evapotranspiration equations.  The results were compared to values of sixteen reference stations, which had been computed by the Penman-Monteith equation.  PET values that were interpolated were not as accurate as hoped, however the Hargreaves and Blaney-Criddle methods produced better results than the Thornthwaite method, which resulted in underestimates.  Nonetheless, the PET distribution pattern was displayed, and of use to show the areas of highest and lowest rates of PET.  In order to produce more accurate values, regional or crop coefficients could be applied to calculate actual evapotranspiration (AET), but time constraints placed on the project restricted the trial of this.

Legal decisions on Aboriginal rights and title and treaty negotiations with First Nations in British Columbia (BC) are inextricably linked. While much has been written on the impacts of a small number of such legal decisions, there has been very little research that critically examines how legal decisions on Aboriginal rights and title, in general, influence the way the parties to the BC treaty process conduct treaty negotiations. In-depth interviews with ten First Nations, provincial, and federal chief negotiators/advisers, together with British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC) commissioners and senior-level program staff, suggest that legal decisions on Aboriginal rights and title influence the conduct of treaty negotiations in an indirect and serpentine manner. Further to this, the results suggest that legal decisions on Aboriginal rights and title may act to simultaneously facilitate and constrain the conduct of negotiations.