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Our Challenges in Koeye.

Temperate rainforest British Columbia coast Canada So what remains to be done? We have the appropriate designation for the watershed; it is safe from industrial use and from grizzly bear hunting; we have viable social and educational programs in place; we have established partnerships with a wide variety of government and non-government groups; all the private lands in the watershed have been secured. We still have a lot of work to do.

1. We must complete the required baseline research to measure our impact over time and to apply the lessons learned to other watersheds.
2. We must work to mitigate the continuing threats to the watershed to the extent possible.
3. We must find ways to insure that the funds are in place in perpetuity to enable the programs and safeguards to be maintained.
4. We must continue the work to help raise a new generation of people who are as committed to this important place as we are.

Research in Koeye.

At the present time we have numerous research projects going on in Koeye and many partnerships developed to help us keep western science available as a tool to help us in our work to understand and protect Koeye.

1. Round River Conservation Studies is in the first year of a multi-year project that will help QQS Projects and the Heiltsuk Land Use Planning Group to develop a suite of tools for assessing the health of an ecosystem and making activity decisions based on research and analysis. This will make a major contribution to the summer culture/science camps and to our ability to make wise decisions on the other 22 Conservancy areas the Heiltsuk have identified.
2. The Institute of Ocean Sciences, DFO and UBC, with support from the federal government and other universities have begun a major hydrology study on the entire Koeye system. This project will study the nutrient interchanges and interactions of various parts of the watershed as a model for how a system should work, that can then be applied to other systems to enable restoration. They have already established a weather station and will be installing time-lapse cameras and measurement implements over the next little while.
3. The Institute of Ocean Sciences and RainCoast Conservation Society are conducting studies on contaminant pathways and the role of salmon in delivering contaminants to grizzly bears. This parallels a Heiltsuk study, funded by Health Canada and conducted by QQS, to develop the basis for a risk/benefit analysis of salmon, based on intake surveys and the analysis of fish.
4. QQS Projects has committed to partnering in a Coastal Crane Research Project that will bring together US crane researchers, RainCoast Conservation Society and the Heiltsuk. This project began this year and will continue over the next several years. Research teams from several of these projects have begun to work collaboratively and we hope to host a research forum in Koeye next fall.

Threats to Koeye.

1. Despite the fact that the watershed has been designated as a conservancy, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans controls the inter-tidal waterway. As a result a large number of sport fishing boats continue to fish in the outer bay and up the inter-tidal estuary with little regard for grizzly bears, campers or schools of fish. This is despite there being a safe zone around Koeye that keeps commercial fishing from occurring near the mouth of the estuary.

2. Last August over 130 boats anchored in the Koeye bay. This sensitive estuary is subjected to this level of use for several months every year. Despite the large number of boats in this small bay there is no monitoring for bilge-pumped fuel and other pollutants being dumped into the water. We need a better understanding of how the inter-tidal system flushes and whether this large number of boats is having an impact.
3. As the reputation of Koeye as such a beautiful system becomes better known more and more people visit the area. Bear viewing and eco-tourism combined with the sports fishing can’t help but have an impact on wildlife and how it behaves. We must make some enforceable decisions about type and amount of access that this system can tolerate without long-term negative impacts.
4. Global warming, sea level and weather changes and pollution are beyond our direct control. But if we understand the watershed systems and can monitor them over time, we at least have the opportunity to measure the impacts and mitigate them to the extent possible. Without the baselines we have no chance for intervention.