Ditidaht First Nation takes step to rescue salmon

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The Ditidaht First Nation has come to the rescue of their salmon, decimated from decades of irresponsible logging practices.

Joining traditional with scientific knowledge, the Ditidaht Nation officially opened a spawning side channel where the Caycuse River once flowed.

Tsuk-si-tay (the place behind) is a 1.3 km-long salmon spawning side channel fed from an underground spring on the south side of Nitinaht Lake.

Before poor logging practices negatively changed the area landscape, the Caycuse River emptied into the lake at this spot. But log jams and landslides changed the river's route, decimating not only resident salmon stocks, but the ecosystem as a whole.

"The Caycuse River is so badly damaged from logging that tonnes of silt and mud get pushed into the lake with the first rain," said Phillip Edgar of Ditidaht Fisheries. "So, two years ago, we started work on a side channel for the fry to go into."

The Ditidaht Nation then began talks with MacMillan Bloedel, TimberWest, Forest Renewal B.C., and the BC Ministry of Environment to get the project moving.

Initially, the plan was to build a side channel off the Caycuse, but it was soon decided the waters would be too silt-laden for such a plan.

Elders told of the river's former path, and after some testing by Ditidaht biologist and project coordinator Seaton Taylor, an underground upwelling was discovered where a deep pool was once located. Being groundwater fed, the side-channel would not have the extreme water-level and temperature fluctuations of other streams in the extensively-logged watershed. The result is a stable environment, which can improve egg-to-fry survival, and produce large numbers of salmon smolts.

With FRBC funding, Taylor trained a team of Ditidaht bioengineers to construct the main side channel and its two small spur lines.

At a total cost of $250,000, Tsuk-si-tay was a major project infusing life into a depressed West Coast economy, and giving hope to future generations left wondering if there will still be salmon when they grow up.

Children from Ditidaht's daycare and primary school, Asaabuus, were involved in the project from its beginning. Edgar would bring the children to the construction site often, showing them the things being done to protect their futures.

"This is the first time something like this has happened here," said Edgar. "It's one small step towards self determination."

Now that the side channel has been carved out, and stumps, rocks, and cutbanks added to give salmon smolts protection, chum, coho, steelhead and cutthroat trout will be reintroduced to their former spawning ground.

"We haven't had our coho food needs met for many years now," said Edgar. "This way we know how many coho are here, and even plant some if we need to."

As more than 100 community members and industry representatives gathered on the banks of Tsuk-si-tay to witness its opening, Edgar was already looking towards the next salmon rehabilitation project.

"We want to do four more over the next 10 years," he said as he watched everyone enjoying the singing, dancing, and salmon barbeque at the water's edge. "This is just project number one. We have many more to go."