ABSTRACT
Logging is and has been a primary industry for the forested province of British Columbia, Canada, expanding with colonial settlement. Industrial logging has impacted their heritage, damaging and eroding archaeological sites, including the logging of culturally modified trees (CMTs), which are living examples of that heritage. Meares Island represents one of the earliest cases where CMTs surfaced as a political problem. This chapter discusses the impact of industrial logging on First Nations' heritage and traditional territories and highlights some cases where conflicts have erupted in litigation and direct action. It indicates how corporate social responsibility can work for forest companies to avoid such conflicts in the future as well as enhance the protection of indigenous heritage sites. The chapter focuses on culturally modified trees and how those lasting marks of indigenous heritage should be respectfully handled to engender support from First Nations communities, as part of the social licence to operate.
