Head deep into the Heart of Great Bear Rainforest, Pacific Salmon and Bear Country with Vern Brown and the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Creekwalking team.
The whisper of Fall descends upon the Great Bear Rainforest well before summer warmth fades away and days grow shorter.
Five species of Pacific Salmon begin their return to natal streams throughout Great Bear and down the British Columbia coast, nourishing all from ecosystem to apex predator. It’s a breathtaking time of year on the NorthWest Coast and a key to stewardship of traditional territory and salmon conservation.
Each August, the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Creekwalking Program kicks off, running for several months and covering 22 different systems. Each system is walked three times, pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn/dead pitch, to count salmon returns of Pink, Chum, Sockeye, Coho and Chinook
Salmon. Once upon a time DFO employed an entire creek walking squadron on the BC Central Coast for this very type of work. Now it is merely a couple able bodies and the Coastal First Nations have stepped up to do this crucial conservation work.
Vern Brown has long been involved in Kitasoo/Xai’xais Stewardship, alongside Chief Doug Neasloss as an original bear guide with Spirit Bear Lodge, as Director of the SEAS Program for Kids and now in his current stewardship role. Brown leads a small crew of Creekwalkers into some of the most amazing terrain rarely seen by mankind. It’s wild and home to the rare Spirit (Kermode) Bear. For this is not only the Great Bear Rainforest, it’s the heart of the Spirit Bear Conservancy itself.
Isolated. Oftentimes daunting. Walking bear trails along remote streams and rivers that may only see a handful of humans each year is not for the faint of heart. It’s a coastal frontier like none other and this stewardship work is a shining light in a world where resources are seldom valued enough. Nor are wild, healthy and pristine places.
After several months of extensive boat travel, dinghy time, creekwalking, counting salmon and dodging bears, the crew has more than had a full season. All-in-all that’s some incredible data procured through some 66 creekwalks and a ton of perseverance in sometimes harsh coastal climate.
In an important age of reconciliation with First Nations, the work of our coastal brethren should be well respected and held up as example. Stewardship of the land and resources is a cornerstone belief rooted in time in territory and deep respect. The Kitasoo Xai’xais crew walks that walk.
