Aboriginal economic development of forest resources: How can we think outside the wood box

This paper presents the rational and theoretical setting for research focusing on Aboriginal economic development of forest resources. Acknowledging that 1) previous initiatives to support Aboriginal involvement in the forest sector have had limited success to date, and 2) we have little understanding of what economic development of forest resources really means for Aboriginal people, this paper advocates a community-driven approach to forest development, where a First Nation community can address the following four questions: What do we have? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? How well are we doing? In doing so, the First Nation community will strategically define 1) its capacity to engage in the economic development of forest resources, 2) its goals in doing so, 3) the steps needed to successfully take advantage of the opportunities at hand, and 4) the criteria and indicators of success.