Who Decides the Future of the Wabanaki Forest?

By Thai Hwang-Judiesch, Posted on March 27, 2026

Climate change is urgent, and yet, the Indigenous organizations we collaborate with and look up to have taught us that consensus-making and rights-based approaches take time. These two truths are not at odds. In fact, following the leadership of Indigenous knowledge holders and experts is the best way to understand the Wabanaki forest and protect it from irreversible damage. 

In fall 2023, Community Forests began a unique collaboration that brought together four Indigenous organizations from the Peskotomuhkati, Wolastoqey, and Mi’kmaq Nations in New Brunswick, and the Nature Trust of New Brunswick. The goal? To protect 9,000 acres of endangered Wabanaki forest land and bring it directly back into the care and ownership of the Wabanaki Nations. Over the course of 18 months, this collaboration exceeded its goal. Together, the partnership protected 10,190 acres of Wabanaki forest land, available for the use and enjoyment of Indigenous communities and all New Brunswickers. 

I had the opportunity to sit down with Anne Herteis, Grants and Operations Manager, to hear about how this partnership got started.

Moving at the Speed of Trust

Relationship building is not a feature of a funding partnership with Indigenous Nations; it is a mandatory prerequisite. 

In May 2023, Community Forests International was approached to participate in an invitation-only grant by the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. It was a large land conservation grant in the Wabanaki forest, and yet, no Wabanaki Nations or organizations had been invited into the application process. We knew that ethically we could not move forward without the partnership of the Nations whose territory the grant would cover. 

For non-Indigenous conservation groups requesting Indigenous Nations to join or collaborate on a project, the goals and rights of the Nations need to be the primary goal. Without a foundation of trust, environmental organizations can easily become extractive. This can look like environmental organizations assuming Indigenous Nations want to work with them, even if the work is something they are uninterested in or not strategic for their communities.¹ 

We had varying levels of existing relationships with the Peskotomuhkati, Wolastoqey, and Mi’kmaq Nations in NB, including some knowledge exchange and advising around forest carbon. “From the initial proposal to collaborate, the partnership held many in-person and remote conversations to understand our shared goals before we moved forward,” Anne expressed. There were initial concerns that Community Forests shared in; the grant would be in our name, meaning that we would serve as the go-between for the federal government and our partners, and funds would flow through us as the lead applicant. These collaborative and open conversations allowed us to build trust to move forward and develop a proposal.

Honouring the Peace and Friendship Treaties

To honour commitments made in the treaties and ensure that Wabanaki communities can practice their culture and rights, protected lands must be available for Indigenous communities to hunt, gather, or just enjoy the land. 

This notion challenges traditional conservation models that promote a mythology of a pristine and untouched wilderness. Throughout Canada’s history, in the name of conservation, Indigenous peoples have been systematically displaced from their territories. Human activity in forests was seen as a threat, even though Indigenous peoples have practiced their own systems of ecological and land care since time immemorial. Colonization and traditional conservation models have assumed that humans are a detriment to nature, and yet, the long history of Indigenous stewardship has shown that humans are and can be an integral part of the land.²

The change in conservation practices we are working toward with our partners respects our commitments and responsibilities to the treaties that we all live with. The Peace and Friendship Treaties–signed over 300 years ago–are unique in Canada; none of the land or its resources have ever been ceded, and the underlying title still rests with the Wabanaki Nations. The treaties have guaranteed hunting, fishing, and land-use rights for the nations and remain in effect today. 

Ensuring Indigenous Governance

The collaboration of the Indigenous-led organizations on this grant has shown us the ways in which conservation funding and practices continue to exclude and minimize Indigenous governance. 

IPCAs (Indigenous Protected and Cultural / Conserved Areas) are lands that are protected, cared for, and managed by and for First Nations. Through IPCAs, Indigenous nations have access to lands that serve the priorities of their communities and protect ecosystems through Indigenous laws and knowledge systems. However, several Canadian federal conservation grants do not fully recognize IPCAs as a conservation measure. 

Funding for the Wabanaki Climate, Forest, and Land Back Initiative was partially based on the government of Canada meeting its international carbon goals and reducing its emissions. This means that for a portion of the land protected, the Canadian government could claim entitlement to the carbon stored in the forest to meet its targets. Currently, there is no available public policy on how the Canadian government will respect or account for Indigenous Carbon Rights on IPCAs.  

“As the partnership was developing the goals for our collaboration, we agreed to keep as many options and resources as possible under the control of Wabanaki Partners, and would work to limit any federal ownership of carbon on lands conserved by them,” Anne explained. One way that we managed to keep the land under Indigenous governance was to negotiate with Environment and Climate Change Canada to report on only the carbon stored on lands conserved by Community Forests and the Nature Trust of New Brunswick. 

This project was a small intervention in a broader vision of working towards the recognition of Indigenous governance and IPCAs as the longest-standing environmental protection measures. We are so grateful to have been a part of this partnership, a small step towards protecting the Wabanaki forest for future generations through solidarity, care and justice.  

Curious about learning more about the IPCAs of some of our Indigenous partners? You can learn more here: Skutik IPCA and Mi’gmaq Land Trust .

Resources 

1. The Circle on Philanthropy. 2024. “The Upwelling Learning Agenda: An Invitation to Action.” https://the-circle.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/The-Upwelling-LEARNING-AGENDA-_-September-2024.pdf
2. Littlelight, Wacy. “We Are Still Here: National Parks, Colonial Dispossession, and Indigenous Resilience.” https://graphichistorycollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/RRR20-ConservationisColonialism-Web.pdf