Parks Canada, Ditidaht First Nation restore three salmon streams in Pacific Rim National Park

Parks Canada, Ditidaht First Nation restore three salmon streams in Pacific Rim National Park
Parks Canada
Parks Canada and the Ditidaht First Nation announced on Wednesday the successful restoration of three important sockeye salmon streams in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Parks Canada and the Ditidaht First Nation announced on Wednesday the successful restoration of three important sockeye salmon streams in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

The news was announced by Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, and Elected Chief Brian Tate of Ditidaht First Nation.

According to a press release from Parks Canada, workers from the Ditidaht community joined the organization in removing more than 3,000 cubic metres of debris from three salmon streams in the Cheewaht Lake watershed within Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

“The pandemic reminded Canadians of the benefits nature has on our health and well-being, and the importance of protecting the forests, lakes and wildlife that we cherish,” reads a statement from Parks Canada.

The project was funded by a $1.1 million federal investment through Parks Canada’s Conservation and Restoration Program, notes the release.

“Wild Pacific salmon are vital to the culture and livelihoods of many on the West Coast, particularly Indigenous peoples. This important partnership between Parks Canada and Ditidaht First Nation supports on-the-ground conservation work that will help local sockeye salmon populations recover, and in turn, support the health of the Ditidaht community and surrounding ecosystem for generations to come,” said Wilkinson in a written statement.

The restoration efforts were initiated because the Ditidaht First Nation said it had been noticing the decline of salmon for approximately 30 years – an important food source from the Cheewaht River.

According to the Ditidaht First Nation, past upslope logging practices outside of the national park reserve were causing stream banks to erode and habitat to fill in with sediment.

“Logging practices very nearly wiped out the Sockeye in the Cheewaht tributaries and river systems with fewer and fewer spawning beds for Sockeye to spawn in. The Cheewaht Lake Watershed has been a very important system to the Ditidaht people, as they gathered their salmon needs – more importantly, Sockeye – as this was a favourite salmon,” said Brian Tate, the Elected Chief of the Ditidaht First Nation.

“Families owned rights to certain spots on the Cheewaht River and built fish weirs to harvest their Sockeye needs. Young men would camp out on the Cheewaht River during the Sockeye run and harvest for families at Wyah, Clo-oose, and Cheewaht villages. These salmon harvest practices built family bonding and unity through helping and sharing with each other.”

Since the summer salmon streams restoration project, Parks Canada and Ditidaht First Nation “were heartened by the discovery” of adult sockeye spawning in restored streams – with as many as 1,300 spotted in one day – this fall.

Parks Canada suggests that the efforts in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve have not only led salmon to return to the area for spawning but also have created a habitat that offers eggs a much-improved likelihood of survival.

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