Abstract

The protection of known cultural values poses few problems in forest management planning. Known sites are easy to protect because once they are located, they tend not to move around too much. As long as the location of the value can be placed on a map, an appropriate reserve can be identified to ensure its protection. Difficulties arise when protecting presumed values; that is, values predicted to exist through modelling efforts, but for which no physical evidence has been verified and no exact locations identified. Current archaeological predictive models applied in Ontario can result in up to 18% of a forest management unit as high archaeological potential, which in some cases can equal more than 150,000 hectares of unverified cultural value. This paper will introduce a discussion of methods for protecting cultural values which may not necessarily require complete avoidance of the value by the forest industry. It also discusses a range of cultural values currently being protected in Ontario, including the protection of social values as perceived and identified by native communities. Finally, this paper will discuss how it is imperative that all this information must be packaged in a manner that can be understood and implemented by forest planners, and in a language and format compatible with forest planning terminology and scheduling.