Pikangikum First Nation Atlas—Special Ecological Values

The Whitefeather Forest is an indigenous cultural landscape of the Pikangikum people. Since time immemorial, they have protected and enhanced the biodiversity of the landscape and nurtured the abundance of its diverse resources. The Pikangikum people have achieved this through customary resource stewardship practices and management tools supported by a rich indigenous knowledge tradition.

Under the care of its people, the Whitefeather Forest cultural landscape has been protected and enhanced as a rich, boreal ecosystem inhabited by black bear (Mahkwa), caribou (Atik), moose (Moos), timber wolves (Maaingan), wolverine (Kwiingwaagway), fox (Waagoosh), ducks (Shiishiib), bald eagles (Migisi), sandhill cranes (Oochiichaag), and many others.

With its vast tracts of jack pine, wild rice (Manomin) fields planted by the Pikangikum people, and rich muskrat marshes (historically burned to increase food for these fur-bearing animals as well as ducks and other animals that live there), the Whitefeather Forest natural landscape is of international ecological significance.

The ecological richness of the Whitefeather Forest landscape is complemented by a cultural heritage legacy that includes features such as pictographs, campgrounds, portages, and canoe channels. These enhance the numerous pristine waterways that flow through the forest.

It is the intention of the Pikangikum First Nation in the Whitefeather Forest Initiative to provide economic opportunities for its members while protecting the rich ecological and cultural heritage of the ancestral forests.