Partnership is the key to business development for the Upper Nicola Indian Band (UNIB).

The Band has a long history of joint ventures, such as Nicola Pacific Forest Products Ltd., a partnership with Ardew Wood Products of Merritt. Established in 1996, the company manages a 15-year non-replaceable Smallwood Forest License in the Merritt Timber Sales Area (TSA) and directly employs First Nations people in all areas of operation.

UNIB is also partners with eight local Bands, including the Upper Similkameen, in Stuwix Forest Products, the only First Nations’ company in the B.C. Interior to hold a replaceable forest license. And the Band has full ownership of Upper Nicola Post and Rail, which employs 14; the company produces untreated fence posts and rails, which are sold to another firm where they are pressure treated and sold on the open market.

Looking ahead, UNIB has been working towards the designation of 400 acres of land on the Quilchena Terrace, which currently operates as a Post and Rail Production facility, as an industrial park.

The Band also has design concepts in place for eco-tourism that will showcase their culture and landscapes through an outdoor school, interpretive tours, photo safari, and grasslands tours.

“They have very beautiful land holdings, which would be ideal for resort-type development and eco-tourism,” says Geoff Greenwell, head of the Okanagan Nation Alliance Business Development Unit.

“There’s also great potential for biomass because the biggest transportation line from the lower mainland to the Okanagan goes right through UNIB territory.”

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