by Jennifer Lang

TERRACE - The new Nisga’a government has boosted the price of a permit to pick mushrooms on treaty lands by 1,000 per cent and officials are bracing for a backlash.

Any non-Nisga’a wanting to pick in Band territory will have to pay a $250 fee, up form $25 last year. Band members have to pay $100.

"There will be people who are not too happy about it," said Collier Azak, director of lands and resources for the Nisga’a Lisims Government, formed after the Nisga’a, the federal and provincial governments ratified the historic treaty in 1999.

The Nisga’a executive hiked the fees after public consultation during the winter, Azak said.

One local buyer isn’t happy.

"People are coming in here irate," said Tory Charlton, who runs TC’s Shroom Shack. "It’s going to be scary. There’s a lot of anger right now."

Charlton said about 35 per cent of the mushrooms he buys in a season come from the Nass Valley, where the treaty lands are located.

"It’s definitely going to affect me as well. It’s going to deter a lot of people," he said. "I’ve got pickers who come from all over the world and they don’t have $250 when they get here."

Pickers are also angry that non-Nisga’a pay higher fees than Band members, he said.

Under the new rules, fines will be issued to anyone harvesting without a permit. Azak said, adding warnings will be given first allowing people who may be unaware of the permit system, time to obtain one.

The Nisga’a government opened their new treaty lands to non-Nisga’a pickers last fall.

Under the treaty, the Nisga’a own all surface and sub-surface resources on 2,000 square kilometres of land.

Non-Nisga’a people are not permitted to pick on village lands.

The mushroom industry in the Nass Valley has been the subject of scientific, economic and social impact studies by both the provincial government and the Nisga’a themselves, Azak said.

While the province has not regulated this lucrative industry, the Nisga’a embarked on a management program last year, introducing regulations and harvesting permits.

"Our main concern is in the sustainability of the industry and protection and environmental concerns that keep cropping up," Azak said.

The regulations weren’t enforced last year because lands and resource officials were trying to collect data last year.

"We did get relatively good cooperation, particularly form buyers," he said, adding the Nisga’a sold 247 harvesting permits last year.