Poplar River First Nation

"The land is so important to us it is
just like sacred or holy ground."
- John Charles McDonald, Elder

Poplar River, Manitoba
R0B 0Z0
P:204-244-2267
F:204-244-2690

"The Poplar/Nanowin River Park Reserve is an area that is a portion of the 4th largest piece of territory in the world that is untouched and untampered. It has a natural ecosystem that is the foundation of health and strength in our community. It is a model that we can all learn from to understand why protection is necessary." -Poplar River community member

"We as First Nation people in this territory have had this natural environment for generations. We have lived off this land. We have sustained our families on this land. We do not have pollution, our trees in their natural state are still there, including our boreal forest. The animals and all living things are well in our area and we want to keep it that way." -Poplar River community member

"There are communities like ourselves all over the country who have long looked after lands not as owners, but as caretakers of this great land. This is how we were taught as Native people; land is not something you own, land is a gift that you use, to live on it, to protect it and look after it. That principle was used by our people and continues to be used today." -Poplar River community member

"Life is about healing and nurturing your body, your spirit. Without the life we receive from the air, the trees, the water, and animals, we will not survive. Let us do all we can to help keep the natural forests that we have to sustain us." -Poplar River community member

Lands Management Plan

We, the Poplar River Anishinabek, recognize the significance and value of our traditional lands to the world. So, it is our honour and pleasure to now share our land protection initiative with our sisters and brothers in the global village.

The Poplar River Lands Management Plan is an outcome of several years' efforts by our First Nation to act on the community vision for protection of Poplar River Anishinabek Traditional Territory. Anishinabek relationships, needs and requirements for the land are the primary basis for protection and management of the area. Our plan recognizes relationships with a wider territory of ancestral lands occupied by certain neighboring First Nations as well as Poplar River's desire to cooperate in the protection and management of these neighboring lands.

Unlike other past, present and future users, the Poplar River Anishinabek have our very being, and future well being defined by our place on this land. The traditional lands that will be managed according to this plan are a fundamental and inseparable part of who the Poplar River Anishinabek are and who we always want to be. If this land should be compromised, life would go on for people in the wider society. The Poplar River Anishinabek are not and cannot be that indifferent. To suggest that our traditional lands need not be protected, or that only a part of our traditional territory needs to be protected, is to suggest to us that our lives can be threatened; that our children's future can be compromised or forfeited for some other purpose.

The area encompassed by the Poplar River lands management plan is the traditional territory of the Anishinabek of Poplar River. The plan applies to the entire area, including the portion of this area presently designated as the Poplar/Nanowin Rivers Park Reserve. The scope of the land management plan is the entire 862,000 hectares (2,500,000 acres) of the Poplar River Anishinabek Traditional Territory, including all 15 traplines of the Poplar River Trapline District.

Leaning Tree

Our goal in developing the Lands Management Plan is to protect the land from industrial developments, sustaining natural ecological processes for present and future generations. Under the guidance of the plan, Poplar River Anishinabek relationships with the land, water, fish and wildlife will be understood, communicated and sustained. The plan is based on traditional methods and knowledge, along with scientific techniques and data and the best knowledge currently available in terms of forests, land, water, wildlife, plants and fish management has and will continue to be applied (see Technical Work section below). Sacred and ancestral places and values are respected and celebrated. Resource use and access by community members will be managed according to traditional values and knowledge.

Visits by tourists from Manitoba, Canada and all over the world will be welcomed as long as they are respectful of ecosystem integrity, Anishinabe culture and traditions and Poplar River First Nation lands management requirements. Opportunities and facilities for environmental education and training will be provided for the youth of Poplar River First Nation. Emphasis will be placed on learning the values and skills of community Elders and creating respectful, sharing relationships with the Elders and throughout the community.

The land management plan is therefore intended to inform and guide different 'audiences'. The plan provides a frame of reference for our community members in their future use of the traditional lands. It provides a framework for other governments in their respective planning and decisions concerning protected areas and resource use. The plan also provides the framework for general public awareness, appreciation and use of the protected area.

Download the Lands Management Plan

Download the Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan

Download the Asatiwisipe Aki Management Mini Plan

Download the Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan Short Presentation

Download the Case Studies - First Nation Involvement in Protected Areas Management Frameworks, Mechanisms, Structures

View the Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan Map Gallery

These are compressed low-resolution files, contact the Poplar River First Nation Webmaster for a CD of uncompressed files.

Technical Work

The Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan was preceded by several earlier initiatives by Poplar River First Nation. We completed a variety of studies for the planning area that document and help describe the relationship of the Anishinabek of Poplar River to the land. These studies served as the foundation for our Lands Management Plan and were applied in its preparation and completion. Projects included traditional knowledge and community history interviews with Elders, traditional land use studies, archeological investigations, moose habitat suitability mapping, an indigenous plants study, and a wild foods contaminants study. Case studies for several First Nation protected area initiatives from across Canada were also developed in order to identify lessons learned elsewhere that could be applied in the preparation and implementation of our land management and land protection plan.

Technical and Traditional studies include:

Written stories, interviews, and transcriptions of land descriptions
Ojibway/English plant study, local plant species, and Elder knowledge
Traditional Moose habitat suitability study/mapping
Archeology study, three phases
Non-timber forest values study
Traditional land use and occupancy study/mapping
Healing and Learning From The Land - Poplar River School
Teaching camp on Weaver Lake
Wild food contaminants study

Further Research - Traditional Lands

Go to this page

Top

Contact Ray Rabliauskas, Lands Management Coordinator
Poplar River, Manitoba, Canada R0B 0Z0 Ph: 204-244-2267 Fax: 204-244-2690
E-mail: info@PoplarRiverFirstNation.ca or the webmaster@PoplarRiverFirstNation.ca