Andrea Lyall’s leadership abilities have made her an asset in co-developing economic opportunities with First Nations.
Andrea Lyall (BSF’01, PhD(Forestry)’23) is a Natural Resources Consultant with her own company, Dzunukwa Resources Management, in North Vancouver, BC. Andrea grew up in Victoria, often spending summers in northern Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland on the mid-coast of BC.
“We went up there to visit with my mom’s family, for ceremony and for potlaches,” recalls Andrea, who is of mixed heritage and a Kwakwa̱ ka̱’wakw Nation member.
The lush greenery of the area captivated Andrea’s imagination. After high school, she joined her brother tree planting, traveling by truck and helicopter in Kingcome Inlet, about a 1.5-hour motorboat ride from Port McNeill. Still deciding on her career path, Andrea happened upon a flyer advertising UBC Forestry’s academic streams. The science component of the programs caught her eye, along with the opportunity to become a Registered Professional Forester, which she received in 2006 following the successful completion of a Bachelor of Science in Forestry in Forest Resources Management.
Andrea’s early career covered the gamut, from forest industry positions to roles in economic development and with First Nations Governments.
“After gaining experience in forestry on the First Nations side, I realized that there was a disconnect between what community members wanted and what was happening in industrial forestry. I heard recurring questions from Indigenous communities that I wanted to answer.”
“The challenges can be binary and diametrically opposed,” she adds. “While forestry practices can bring a lot of wealth to Indigenous communities, they too often come with negative impacts on traditional food sources, such as fewer salmon in rivers, and too few economic advantages to outweigh the costs to communities and the environment.”
Finding answers to these questions drew Andrea back to UBC Forestry, where she completed a PhD and worked for a time as a First Nations Coordinator/Sessional Lecturer. Her PhD thesis, “Kwakwa̱ ka̱’wakw People, Forests Relationships: The Forests are Our Cupboards, the Ocean is Our Refrigerator,” received a UBC Forestry Best Doctoral Dissertation award and the prestigious UBC Dissertation Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities.
This work explored Indigenous People’s relationship with the forest, taking Andrea to Indigenous communities where she spoke with community members about their traditional and contemporary uses of the land and waters.
As an inaugural UBC Public Scholar, Andrea also received additional support to share findings from her research with Indigenous communities. A milestone from this time is the two-day conference, Awakening the Spirit: Indigenous Culture and Language Revitalization through Land, Water and Sky, that Andrea and three other Indigenous women — Jo-ann Archibald, Shelly Johnson and Corrina Sparrow — co-launched in 2017. Hosting 200 participants from across Canada, the United States, Europe and New Zealand, the conference featured engaging talks on culture and language revitalization, as well as opportunities to forge provincial, national, international and academic partnerships.
“Part of my work is trying to increase the benefits of forests for the people who live in them,” says Andrea, whose present consulting role harnesses her leadership and relationship-building strengths.
“Working alongside First Nations communities on economic development and negotiations, we’re creating wealth and job opportunities, as well as protecting valuable forest areas from being logged,” Andrea notes. “It’s about building self-determination through decision-making with and for First Nations communities.”
This article was originally published in Branchlines Magazine. Read the magazine here.