Between weeks 1 through 3, our team has begun the initial planning of our research. During Week 2, we finalized our members as Nelly Leo, Donna Liu, Alison Fung and Julia Wakeling.
The tasks we completed during these weeks include:
- We were assigned to work with the Alex Fraser Research Forest
- Half of the group members visited the False Creek Flats and did a walking tour; collectively, we wrote a reflection on the experience and interpreted our findings in relation to the Eastern Core Statement of Significance document
- During Week 2, we made contact with Cathy Koot from the Alex Fraser Research Forest
- On Friday, January 15th, we had our first Skype with Cathy
- We discussed the Alex Fraser Research Forest as an organization, Cathy’s role, and Ken Day’s role
- Cathy introduced to the smaller organizations we will be working with and more details of the two potential project ideas
- We decided that we will be focusing our research with the Williams Lake Community Forest and more specifically, in the Flat Rock Block area
- We discussed our potential roles as the collective designers of the Access Management Plan
- We decided that we will need to conduct interviews and have conversations with the stakeholders and the steering committee of the community at Flat Rock
- Cathy explained the importance of understanding the values and objectives of the Williams Lake community at the outset
- We set up our blog and began to write up our individual reflections
- We started composing a variety organizational tools such as: a calendar, a task sheet and documents keeping track of our preliminary research
- We made a plan to meet with Cathy Koot in person on Friday, January 22nd
- Most importantly, we have begun to research about the different stakeholders involved in the Williams Lake Community Forest and how their different values can be prioritized in the access plan.
- We discussed that going forward into the next week, we will create visual map of the different stakeholders and community members; this will help us to clearly organize the different values inherent in the community and see where conflicts may occur
We are all very excited about working on an access management plan for the Williams Lake Community Forest with the different stakeholders in the community. Our group gets along very well which makes it easy to discuss and collaborate on ideas. It is also very exciting to get to go to Williams Lake at the end of the term, and meet different community partners we will be interacting with.
We have been working mostly on preparation work, such as researching about the Williams Lake Community Forest, as well as community forests in general. So far, we have decided to work with the Alex Fraser Research Forest on an access management plan for the Williams Lake Community Forest. We are hoping after our meeting with Cathy, on Friday, we will have a clearer outline and schedule of our tasks and role in this process.
As a team this term, we aim to learn from each other and our community partners to contribute towards the sustainability of the Williams Lake Community Forest. While we will be focusing on the community forest as our main project, we would also like to be at least introduced to the Climate Change and San Jose project. Additionally, it would be ideal to visit the Community Forest during our site visit if time allows.
Potential research proposal:
Which groups want access to the community forest, and how much access are they looking for? What values of the community forest need to be taken into consideration? Which stakeholders need to be consulted? How can we think about prioritizing the different values and stakeholders in the fairest and most sustainable way for Williams Lake? Which interests conflict or work together? (ie., logging vs conservation). How can creating maps help communicate and make decisions for the access plan to the Williams Lake Community Forest?
As a team, we have also created a team agreement and compiled list of our strengths and skills.
Great progress so far you guys! It’s exciting to see the progress you’ve made so far after speaking with your community partner 🙂 I’m interested in what you said in your last line – how are you guys going to prioritize the different values of the stakeholders? What factors will you guys be taking into consideration? Thanks!
Hi Cheng Yee!
Thanks for the question. As it is right now, we are looking reading through the compiled reports on some of the different values that have already been identified by the community partner as well as their vision. Our game plan for the time being is to create a map of some sort and to categorize these values, and see where the intersections are (there will be a lot of mapping going on with our group here!). We are thinking of also doing a cost benefit analysis on the various land use and seeing which one might be the best option for the communities at Williams Lake. That being said, things will probably get more complicated when we map out the relationship between the different stakeholders and decision makers.
Thanks for sharing your updates! I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about your role as the collective designers for the Access Management Plan. It sounds really cool, – do you have an idea of what that role will entail?
Keep up the great work!
I think your research is going in a very compelling direction! Having a clear sense of the stakeholders you will be dealing with, aside from being reasonable, will teach us more about the intricacies and complexities of resource exploitation. Something that appealed my attention is your last point where you mention the importance of “the different values inherent in the community and see where conflicts may occur.” I am curious to know more about the possible causes of conflict and which parties could generate frictions. Any clue?
Very interesting topic you guys!
Very interesting question, Gabriel! We are trying to come into this project with a neutral position and hence we don’t really want to antagonize any parties. I think the conflict would come simply from what each stakeholder sees as being most important in the land use allocation for the forest; money for sustenance, cultural activity, recreational use, etc. Speaking for myself, I think there is a possibility that there will be conflict regarding the allocation of revenue from forest products-but this is me coming from a place of cynicism.
This question you’re asking is also precisely why we are making the relationship map as our priority for now as not only will it help us identify who to talk to but also help us understand how decision making happens and whose voices are represented in that process. I hope that answers your question! In short, TBA, we’ll get back to you when we know more 😉
This is great! I am curious to know what the team’s motive and interests were in choosing between the two options provided to you. Was there something that stood out more to the team when choosing one compared to the other one? In my opinion, it is important to understand the team’s motive or “why” for doing something so everyone can align for a common purpose. It is also a great way to shed light on each other’s values, motives and interests as well. But great work and I am looking forward to see how your project goes!
It looks like your group has had a great lift off so far with a lot of logistics and research down and organized communication with your community partner. I find it amazing that you guys were able to meet up with Cathy in person! I hope that was a special experience for you, it would be great to hear how that was like (my group has yet to hear back from our community partner to merely set up a time for a Skype call!). I think that laying out the different values and opinions of the parties involved is incredibly important since they are all affected and will want to have a voice. Picking what decisions will be best will definitely be a challenge considering the potential conflicts that you be encounter, so it looks like this will take quite some time to complete. It is great you are taking this time meanwhile to research the different stakeholders as a start though. Keep it up.