When most people think of forests and economic opportunities, their thoughts turn to trees and all the items they are transformed into, from lumber for construction to pulp used to make paper products. But for one couple in Green Lake, wood products are just one part of what can be harvested from Saskatchewan's northern woods.

On Aug. 17, a dozen youth from Sturgeon Lake First Nation and James Smith Cree Nation became the first graduates from Saskatchewan's fledgling Junior Forest Ranger program.

Kelsie Bighead, Mervin Bosdi, Katie Burns, Ryan Ironchild, Regan Lambert, Shannon Sanderson and Clarence Turner Jr. from Sturgeon Lake and Trevor Head, Adam Sanderson, Chantal Sanderson and Lacy Whitehead from James Smith made up the graduating class.

The federal government will be providing Whitecap Dakota First Nation with $2.1 million in funding to allow the First Nation to make the infrastructure improvements needed before it can go ahead with its planned commercial ventures.

Those ventures include a casino, a hotel and spa, an RV park and campground, an ice arena and a light industrial park as well as retail and resort residential development. Also in the works is an expansion of the award-winning Dakota Dunes Golf Course.

It will truly be a time to celebrate at the 2006 First Nations Cultural Celebration and Powwow being held in Saskatoon Oct. 27 to 29, as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, one of the event's hosts, uses the powwow to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The powwow, which will take place at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, will also be a celebration of the Year of the First Nations Child.

More than $80,000 in prizes are up for grabs during the powwow, with competition in all age categories.

Cree country crooner Shane Yellowbird will be the featured entertainer on Oct. 5 as the Saskatchewan First Nation's Women's Commission (SFNWC) hosts its second annual banquet celebrating First Nations Women's Day.

Celebrating the Seasons of Our Lives will be the theme of the event, which will be held in Centennial Hall A and B of the T.C.U. Place Arts and Convention Centre in Saskatoon. All proceeds from the event will be used by the commission to fund the many events and activities it organizes regarding missing First Nations women and children.

Curtis Peeteetuce is an actor, director, playwright and musician. As of Sept. 1, he is also the Saskatoon Public Library's Writer in Residence.

Peeteetuce, who is from Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation, has been involved in the arts since 2001 when he first stepped onto the stage as part of the cast of Love Songs from a War Drum, produced through the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company's Circle of Voices program. In the five years since then, he's performed in 17 stage productions and eight staged readings. He's also directed nine productions and written nine plays.

The number of Aboriginal students completing high school is still lagging well behind the national average, according to a report released recently by the Caledon Institute of Public Policy.

The literary talents of Aboriginal authors from Saskatchewan and beyond will be promoted and celebrated during the third annual Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival being held in Saskatoon Sept. 27 to 30.

An arbitration panel has partially upheld a grievance against the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) filed by Dr. Blair Stonechild, a professor in the school's Indigenous studies department.

For 35 years the Yorkton Friendship Centre has given Aboriginal people in the city a place to find friends and be part of a community. During that time span, it's attracted families and drawn leaders from at least three generations.