The management approach we adopt in our Community-Based Land Use Planning is firmly rooted in our Pikangikum Ahneesheenahbay culture — our traditions, language, values and principles, our physical, mental and spiritual well-being ― and our relationship to our ancestral lands we have occupied since time immemorial. It is this relationship to the land and water which is at the heart of our Pikangikum Ahneesheenahbay culture and way of life.

The Creator made this land, the water and everything living and non-living. Nothing living can be sustained without the Creator. We have been given the very life we possess as well as our Aboriginal way of life as a precious gift from the Creator. The ancestral lands on which we have been placed by the Creator have been provided to sustain us as Pikangikum people. We understand the land and water to be a blessing from the Creator. We must respect these gifts by caring for them.

It is in this way that we express our responsibility for Keeping the Land (Cheekahnahwaydahmungk Keetahkeemeenaan). Keeping the Land is for us a means of keeping a spiritual connection to the land and the Creator. Caring for the land and water is therefore not only a matter of physical survival but also one of cultural and spiritual continuity for Pikangikum people. Keeping the Land reaffirms a sacred trust between us and the Creator; it engages us in a duty to ensure future generations of Pikangikum people will be sustained.

Through our Whitefeather Forest Initiative, Pikangikum First Nation is seeking to provide new livelihood activities for our youth that are in harmony with customary land-based activities, our customary stewardship approach and our land-based Ahneesheenahbay way of life. The customary stewardship approach of Pikangikum First Nation, and our very cultural survival as Pikangikum people, depends on our people being on the land, learning from the land, and learning the teachings of our Elders. In this way, new land-based livelihoods in the Whitefeather Planning Area will compliment customary pursuits and both will be guided by our customary stewardship approach.

Our stewardship approach has been partnered with the approach of the Government of Ontario to protecting biodiversity in the province. Sustaining biodiversity has been adopted by Ontario as a key priority for guiding the activities of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

For example:
» http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/../StrategicDirections.pdf and
» http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/../OBS_english.pdf