Gulf Island Seaplanes Partnering with the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative

As an Indigenous-owned company, Gulf Island Seaplanes is deeply connected to the lands and territories in which it operates on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and across the West Coast. At the heart of these lands and territories is the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world.

Home to dozens of First Nation communities since time immemorial, the Great Bear Rainforest supports healthy populations of salmon, wolves, cougars, grizzly bears and the famed spirit bear, a unique subspecies of the black bear found nowhere else in the world.

At Gulf Island Seaplanes we are proud to announce our new partnership with the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative, an Indigenous-led carbon offsets project designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support local Indigenous communities and to protect this critical and irreplaceable ecosystem for future generations. By purchasing carbon credits through this initiative, we able to to reduce our carbon footprint and provide meaningful support for Indigenous-led environmental stewardship efforts here on the West Coast.

Formed through an Atmospheric Benefit Sharing Agreement (ABSA) between the provincial government and seven participating nations of the Coast First Nations (the Nuxalk Nation, Wuikinuxv Nation, Metlakatla First Nation, Kitasoo Indian Band, Heiltsuk Nation, Gitga’at First Nation and the Haida Nation), this revenue-sharing agreement gives Coastal First Nations 80 per cent of the revenue from carbon credit sales. It also provides Coastal First Nations the ability to harvest one million tonnes of ‘carbon offsets’ per year from the Great Bear Rainforest.

Like other intact tracts of coastal temperate rainforest on the western coast of Canada and the United States, the Great Bear Rainforest stores more carbon per hectare than any tropical rainforest, including the Amazon. When trees are cut as part of logging or land clearance, the carbon stored within them is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

Each carbon credit purchased by participating organizations like Gulf Island Seaplanes helps further improve forestry practices across Coastal First Nation Territories, including replanting and reducing the frequency and severity of logging operations.

Please visit the Coastal First Nations website for further information about the Great Bear Initiative and to read compelling stories from member nations.

At Gulf Island Seaplanes we offer regularly scheduled and chartered floatplane services to a number of destinations on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia.

With countless charter destinations to choose from, we are your link to bustling cities, charming towns, remote inlets and picturesque islands across Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Lower Mainland.