UNBC-MK Collaborative Partnership Agreement

The Muskwa-Kechika Advisory Board and the University of Northern British Columbia recently renewed their long-term partnership founded on a joint vision for the research needs and priorities of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-KMA). The 6.4 million hectares of the M-KMA in northern British Columbia comprise a globally significant area of wilderness, wildlife and cultures, to be maintained in perpetuity, while allowing for some resource development and use in special management zones. The Advisory Board and UNBC seek to ensure that wilderness values, the abundance and diversity of wildlife, and the ecosystems on which they depend can be sustained if timber harvesting, mineral exploration and mining, oil and gas exploration and development, or ecotourism activities also occur on the landscape in the future. The partnership’s contribution to this immense challenge is to support research that provides knowledge and advice for informed decision-making and integrated resource management in the M-KMA. Seven faculty members, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows as well as seven graduate students at UNBC have helped in this endeavour. The Advisory Board of 14 members continues to provide valued guidance and advice to provincial decision makers regarding natural resource management issues, as they relate to maintaining the dynamic ecosystems for which the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area is globally known.