Atlas of Cumulative Landscape Disturbance in the Traditional Territory of Blueberry River First Nations, 2016

S u m m a r y This Atlas follows from the 2012 Atlas produced by Global Forest Watch Canada, entitled Atlas of land cover, industrial land uses and industrial-caused land changes in the Peace Region of British Columbia, which provided a clear and stark picture of the significant scale and rate of clearing and industrial disturbance of the natural landscape in the Peace Region. [...] The members of Blueberry River First Nations rely upon the lands, waters and wildlife that lie at the heart of the Peace Region to sustain the First Nation’s way of life. [...] In 2015, Blueberry River First Nations brought a civil claim against the government of British Columbia asserting that the scale and rate of the industrial disturbances to the landscape authorized by the government has gone too far: the displacement caused by the cumulative impacts of all of these various activities prevents the First Nation’s members from meaningfully carrying on the traditional [...] Numbers and maps are only two of the tools that can assist in gaining an understanding of the nature and scale of cumulative effects upon the traditional territory of Blueberry River First Nations. [...] In 2012, Global Forest Watch Canada produced and released the Atlas of land cover, industrial land uses and industrial-caused land changes in the Peace Region of British Columbia,1 which provided helpful maps and tables demonstrating the extent of anthropogenic change to the landscape from oil and gas developments, logging, agriculture and other activities.