Chief Kerry’s Moose

Two non-profit organizations based in the province of British Columbia—The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and Ecotrust Canada—co-published Chief Kerry’s Moose, A Guidebook to Land Use and Occupancy Mapping, Research Design and Data Collection in 2000.  The 65-page guidebook was written in response to UBCIC’s need to provide quality methodology advice to member communities that had undertaken mapping of their lands under the auspices of the provincial Traditional Use Study Program.  It turned out however, that the demand for the book was far wider, which resulted in multiple printings and international interest, as when the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute translated much of the book into Chinese. The co-publishers had anticipated that Chief Kerry’s Moose would be the first of a number of publications by Terry Tobias: “Part one in a series of publications intended for First Nation researchers and decision makers, illustrating best practices in land use and occupancy research and mapping.”  The sequel was the much more detailed methods text, Living Proof.