Timber harvest and prescribed burning in the Rocky Mountain Trench in southeastern British Columbia are part of long-term ecological restoration in the forest and grassland ecosystems of the region. Conducted in the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Nation, this restoration work has the potential to impact Ktunaxa precontact archaeological sites around kettle lakes in the Trench. The focus of this research project is the integration of cultural information into ecosystem restoration decision-making processes. Detailed inventory of archaeological sites was completed using standard archaeological site inventory procedures; this inventory information served as the baseline data prior to monitoring of timber harvest activities around the cultural sites, carried out under prescribed winter conditions of frozen ground and snow cover. Surface soil disturbance surveys were completed around the sites following the timber harvest activities, to assess impacts to Ktunaxa archaeological sites. Management recommendations are advanced pertaining to reduction of impacts of timber harvest equipment and prescribed fire on cultural sites. These include timber harvest only under prescribed winter conditions, use of low impact harvest equipment, exclusion of equipment from ecologically and culturally sensitive sites, and training of field staff in identification and protection of cultural sites. Ktunaxa Nation natural resources staff must be involved in all aspects of ecological restoration planning — including initial archaeological impact assessments, determining what restoration activities take place around cultural sites, monitoring of timber thinning and prescribed burning processes and post-harvest and post-fire impact assessments — to fully protect cultural resource values. Ecological restoration activities will be complemented by the successful integration of Ktunaxa cultural information and values into restoration practices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/1845 |
| Date | 13 November 2009 |
| Creators | Munson, Thomas Gregory |
| Contributors | Hebda, Richard Joseph, Higgs, Eric S. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds