Efforts are being made to accommodate the interests of traditional landholders around the Kitkatla First Nation. In October 2006 the Gitxaala First Nation (Kitkatla) met provincial officials on Dolphin Island, 40 km from Prince Rupert, to sign agreements on Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs).

Through the LRMP the Gitxaala and B.C. will work together on areas of common concern, including all areas of the environment. "This agreement gives us an active role in how and where business is done in our traditional territories," said Gitxaala First Nations Chief Clifford White. Teresa Ryan wears many hats, including one as science advisor for Gitxaala, and she is an example of the First Nations potential that is coming to be realized in the new century.

It is time, according to this generation, to exercise formerly held powers and demonstrate the acumen that kept these cultures alive through a litany of abuses in the 20th century. Naturally for Coastal nations the survival of the nation depends on the waters, access to resources in or from those waters.

Teresa is Tsimshian from a North Coast First Nation townsite, educated in the environmental sciences with a university degree. She said, "In the access to resources and management of resources our ability had been severely diminished. We want access to salmon, forests, and genuine investment opportunities." First Nations are striving for entitlement to the same self-determination as other Canadian and other Tsimshian people.

First Nations are aware that public acceptance is important to their ambitions, and they find that key players in Canadian society are on their side. She said, "Industries are recognizing it. They want Aboriginal rights issues carefully respected, but we still see governments that have not been regulating in favour of First Nations."

Teresa said, "Resource industries are the backbone of these territories," that were inhabited from time immemorial. "First Nations are looking for the industry to engage in ownership and partnership together, sharing the return on investments, and permitting expansion of First Nation capacity." Teresa cited the example of the Maori in New Zealand who invested 30% into a seafood processing plant and re-invested their profits to increase their investment to higher levels of ownership.

She cited the Maori project has become a successful model for Aboriginal investment, no less than, "Kitasoo," the most southerly Tsimshian village, "which took profits from a kelp harvest and re-invested into fish farming," and hardly lost step with the previous prosperity of commercial fishing. Teresa and others recently visited Norway to examine the various aspects of the marine economy which sustains that northern European nation.

Gitxaala is working with the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (CAHS) and DR Systems Inc. to develop a prototype, environmental modeling tool for resource management decisions. The organization will model use environmental management models that will incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and help prioritize future research needs. Ongoing monitoring by Kitkatla will refine the model over time.

Linda Sams, CEO of the Center For Aquatic Health Sciences said, "Our role in the Gitxaala environmental (LRMP) project utilizes the broad range of expertise provided by BC CAHS and introduces leading edge technology and scenario modeling techniques, while fully integrating First Nations knowledge and personnel."

BC CAHS has established offices and laboratory spaces in the Maritime Heritage Centre in Campbell River, BC. BC CAHS now has a core group of staff handling administration, diagnostic laboratory operations and veterinary services. Through contracts and collaborative funding, BC CAHS is working with First Nations, industry, government and academia.

Dr. Ted Needham is a close observer of the Inside Passage. He works in aquaculture, fish farming on the west coast of Canada and around the world. He describes the waters of the Broughton Archipelago as a pasture that provides food for out-migrating Pacific salmon fry. Ted said, "Wild salmon, like any wild species, compete for a finite food supply."

On the other hand, "When a small number of fry have access to abundant resources, those fish are capable of tremendous growth and enhanced oceanic survival." He noted that as recently as 2000 and 2001 the highest numbers in recorded history occurred for pink salmon returns in the Broughton Archipelago. "With more than 3.6 million spawners in 2000, and 1.5 million in 2001, the Broughton was awash with pink fry," said Ted.

He recalled that when an excessive number of fry compete for food, the pasture becomes limiting. Problems from over-spawning occur, including stressed environmental conditions such as reduced oxygen levels in spawning beds. He said, "Food resources and pink salmon fry numbers are the primary factors influencing the return of pinks in the Broughton," adding, "This is exactly what happened in 2002.

"Millions of salmon competed for limited resources resulting in a subsequent crash. Even-year returns are typically strong, yet 2002 saw less than 250,000 pinks returning to spawn." In a low pink migration year, however, fish have abundant food and grow rapidly. "In an exceptionally large pink migration year," he said, "fry are weakened, grow more slowly, and many starve." As a result they remain in coastal areas longer and accumulate lice.

"The population crash was both predictable and explainable by science," he said, and reputable scientific organizations have gone on record to say, "We have not seen any direct evidence to date linking transmission of sea lice from sea farms in the study area to wild pinks." Ted added that some activists don't mention what the DFO has said about fewer pink salmon spawners arriving in 1960, 1972, 1978, 1998, and 1992, than in 2002. "During three of those low return years (1960, 1972, and 1978) a salmon farming industry had not been established in British Columbia."

Another thing never heard is how much pink returns are on the rise. Ted said, "Two thousand four was a 37 fold improvement over the disappointing 2002 run. According to Dr. Beamish of the DFO, ocean survival is an almost unprecedented 31 percent. Feast was followed by famine, followed by feast once again." He said, in closing, "Focusing on real, science-based solutions is the key to keeping pink salmon runs healthy."

Sea lice have been around since long before salmon farms came to the Broughton, perhaps millions of years longer. Ted was once informed that, "pink salmon are referred to by First Nations as 'ginathcow', meaning 'always having lice'."

Skimikin Nursery in Salmon Arm, B.C. is growing hundreds of thousands of trees for silviculture plantations that Stuwix Resources will be putting in the ground in coming months. "Basically we work for the forest companies, woodlot owners, and the Ministry of Forests," said Jim Kusisto. "We also produce trees for the Little Shuswap Band, Adams Lake Band, Shakan Band, Shuswap Native Tribal Council, and companies like Stuwix Resources Joint Venture."

Kusisto said, "These are good contracts for us that come as a result of changes to the Forestry Act, and we are seeing new business develop as we do a lot of work for First Nations, and have a number of First Nations employees." Kusisto said changes are creating a lot of work for everybody and yet there are growing pains, "however, there is no doubt that this mix of entrepreneurs is new and everyone is great to work with."

He noticed the Merritt area has seen increased development since the opening of the Coquihalla Highway. "We have seen an uplift in the cut in the Merritt area but there is diversity in the forestry industry, and it's not just about harvesting. Today it's about putting local human resources into the picture, which makes it relatively complicated while the economy is trying to move forward. With the Stuwix group it will be our first year in their replanting program, as it is the first year for them to need seedlings."

Even as people dream of change, it s occurring for more and more communities. Kusisto said, "It's an eye-opener for people to see the sustainable side of forestry at work." Often times First Nations are in the front of the wave, while sustainable forestry practice are spreading far and wide. "Skimikin Nursery produces trees for Little Red River First Nation Forestry out of High Level. We grow white spruce that are sown early in January and delivered for planting the first week of July."

They work in a combination of greenhouses and outdoor compounds. He said, "Spruce and Douglas Fir are started indoors, and are sown at different times between January and March depending on seedling plant dates. We sow the pine crops outdoors in May." Seedlings are produced for companies as far away as Northland Forest Products Ft McMurray operations.

"We have a lot of nursery activity for the Alberta forestry industry. We also do reclamation work for oil patch," some of which requires a great deal of attention. Kusisto and the rest of the nursery industry wait for major harvesting to occur before they are called upon to grow the huge volumes they are known to produce. "As for our name, Skimikin Nursery it is located in the Skimikin Valley close to Skimikin Lake. I'm not sure of the origin of the name "Skimikin" or if the word has any translation."

Robin Dawes is nursery manager of K&C Silviculture located south of Oliver B.C.. (The company has other nursery operations in Red Deer, Alberta.) "We are on Highway 97 south of Oliver," said Dawes. "We employee anywhere from 50 to 120 people on the 50-acre site, activities vary that much through the year. We grow indoors and outdoors." K&C has made new business contacts with First Nation forestry companies, including Stuwix Resources.

They have lots of experience growing trees. "The company has been producing forest seedling for over two decades, including all of the usual species, some fruit trees, lodgepole pine, Ponderosa pine, White pine, cedar, Coastal and Interior fir, larch, hemlock. We grow trees for customers all the way from California to Alaska and east to Alberta."

Malcolm McColl

Celtic Reforestation Services Ltd. has been replanting the forest for 20 years, operating in "pretty much the whole province," said Dave Wilson, Celtic's owner. "We plant the coast, Central Interior, North Interior, and North West Coast. We supply the labour and the expertise." The tree farm license requires harvesters to replant areas they cut, and timber harvesters hire Celtic and supply the seedlings to replant a cutblock. Silviculture plans are made before logging. Plans for cutblocks are carefully laid out and operators follow them throughout the entire process of harvesting timber and leaving a plantation in place.

Wilson employs 480 planters throughout the year in two companies with operations that occur during optimum planting periods, which vary from region to region. Wilson said, "We plant on the coast from mid-January to mid-April. We plant from April to July-August in the Interior. In the fall we plant on Vancouver Island. We are in steeper terrain out there." Sites in the Interior are easier to plant.

The species prescribed vary depending on the area. On the coast are cedar, hemlock, Douglas Fir, white spruce, and Sitka spruce. In the Interior they plant spruce, lodgepole pine, and interior Douglas Fir. "There is even a cedar zone in the Interior, which runs in a vein from the Rocky Mountains toward Prince George," said Wilson. "They are not like coastal cedar, which can grow as big as a house at the butt, however, they are pretty big."

The B.C. logging industry supplies 75 percent of the timber produced by Canada. Almost every hectare cut or destroyed by fire or harvested in emergency (mountain pine beetle) is replanted. "We deliver crews in various troop carrying vehicles and all-terrain vehicle. Fly-in crews are delivered to sites where roads are deactivated. In particularly remote places the crew will be flown to place for up to 10 days. "They will plant from 700,000 to a million trees in ten days."

Crews operate from tent camps. "The facilities include hot and cold running water, electricity, and refrigerated food, and the food is fantastic but it is still a tent camp." Finding planters is no problem. "They come from all over Canada," said Wilson. "Our crews are made up of 75 percent veterans and planters who jump in from other operations. We maintain a policy of recruiting new employees (rookie planters) to fill 15 percent of our planting crews."

Sixty percent of planters are students some of whom spend three to five years in the field. "A good planter makes between $225 to $300 per day. We try to give them a 90 day stretch on the job, then two weeks off, then another two months straight." Both genders work in the industry, "Thirty-five to forty percent are women." First Nation planters comprise between five and ten percent of Wilson's labour pool on many job sites, and relatively few on other job sites. "First Nation silviculture operations take up a lot of those experienced planters."

Reforestation of the areas infested by mountain pine beetle are creating challenges for Celtic. "We are planting these areas earlier in the year and the work is intense. We have a short window of opportunity to plant," then crews are idle for a couple of weeks. "Our company has always tried to build continuous bodies of work." Another challenge is the veritable future of the forests in the Central Interior. "The beetle harvest will be dealt with in five to seven years. In the future there won't be as many trees to cut. The region needs a long term strategy that is creative and innovative."

The plans require intensive silviculture, including fertilizer, brushing and spacing, and pruning after plantations are underway. "We have to ask which species to plant in certain areas. Why plant pine when it's only going to happen again?" Furthermore, a potential crisis exists in the present forest. "The infected pine is building a tremendous fire hazard with the build up of dead trees and litter latticed into perfect kindling," said Wilson. "Fire would be big, fast moving, and extraordinarily hot, extremely eco-destructive and impossible to control." Communities are at risk.

The suppression of fire risk is another area of long term work. "We have to deal with these problems by brushing and spacing, slash abatement, chipping and even collecting the bio-mass," to use for fuel or other economic benefit. "The problem is that forestry funding is at a 20 year low. Up until 1999 we were reforesting equal to the number of trees cut or otherwise lost to fire. After 1999 the amount of planting is 80 percent of the loss," said Wilson.

This loss occurs in the face of catastrophic forest fires, "and we are not keeping pace, which I don't think the public realizes. Governments and communities need long term spending policies in forests." Wilson said, "Silviculture is expensive but it puts jobs directly into local communities where harvests or burns occur." He said it is the first time forestry operations have occurred without both federal and provincial funding agreements like FRBC and the Ferta agreements 1 and 2.

"I believe it is an oversight and not intentional but the public needs to be aware because the time is now to do the spending. It takes a few years to get programs ramped up. The good news," said Wilson, "is our trees are growing at phenomenal rates, much faster than predicted. Perhaps this is linked to global warming but we have thousands of real good performing plantations. Yes the cutblocks exist, but these sites are impressive to see in reforestation. I wish we were cutting less. Equilibrium will be found after the mountain pine beetle. We should be cutting sustainable amounts of timber."

An interesting suggestion was made by a woman from Kingcome Inlet, who said cedar trees were once used as burial tombs, and she explained how on the west coast those giant cedar trees once entombed the precious relations in a process described as a common practice among all nations. The arrangement included digging and carving out space in the base of a well-grown cedar tree, and once inside the tree trunk entombing the body in a shroud that had hooks to keep it snug in an upright position inside the tree. They left the area to look untouched.

A moment is afoot in the coastal region to ensure the giant coast cedar trees remain available and accessible to First Nations by working out a ‘cedar strategy.’ Pacheedaht councilor Jeff Jones said, "We have serious concerns over what's left of the old growth cedar. We want something left for our children. We have concerns about the amount of cedar that leaves the area, deep concerns about how much old growth cedar leaves the forest. We see a need to express these concerns."

Tom Jones, RPF, (no relation to Jeff) said, "I’ve been developing a Pacheedaht forestry plan for cedar for almost three years and it takes that long to get anything to happen. When I came to work for Pacheedaht, they said there were long simmering concerns about cedar use, and they expressed the concern that everything went past them without a formal strategy. We basically have been working to bring together various interests to measure how much cedar is involved."

They are working on a preservation strategy to span several centuries into the future. Even the First Nations themselves are split in how to develop plans that involve signatures and commitments on plans that go that far. The demand for immediate action is real, however, and the parties involved, including logging companies and some of the official types in government have agreed to a referral process.

The referrals will be implemented in the five year plans that award cutblocks, and will include surveys and cedar blocks earmarked for use within a 400 year plan. "We talked with Elders and carvers to define the cedar needs of Pacheedaht today, and they acknowledge that the amount has shrunk from the previous years when the Pacheedaht people numbered 3,500 and was reduced to 275 souls," Jones the forester.

"The cedar strategy is designed to permit First Nation access to cedar, which would ultimately be part of any treaty. Nevertheless, we view the process of cedar conservation we have embarked on as a timely initiative that will assure conservation and continued cedar access even if treaty is never ratified. It is not related to treaty, it is more associated with rights. If a future treaty enshrines the process so be it."

Councilor Jones said, "Resources continue to flow out of the traditional territory and it includes these cedar trees that leave. It takes 400 years to grow one of these puppies and they are being harvested right in our midst." He said the First Nation’s cedar strategy amounts to a 400 year commitment to quantities required by a culture to live at any given time, including totem poles, canoes, community centres, "they last about 100 years," he said.

Jones the forester said the conservation strategy identified a need for cedar at 1,500 total to come from either the Timber harvesting land base, reserves and constrained areas, and Parks.(PFN traditional Territory). Jones said, "This assumes that current second growth (70 yr old trees) are part of an old growth cedar recruitment process as well and will deliver suitable old growth cedar trees in 330 years." They are looking for the best of the trees, not gutted ones, and the criteria for quality trunk is met by forest service approval on a per tree basis.

• Inspiration comes from no set place

• Wind energy surpassing expectations

• A bit of everything good in Hupacasath economic development strategy

• Douglas First Nation hydro: From where the crow flies things are looking pretty good

• Tidal offers Canada boundless sources of electrical energy found on her coasts

• Days of bogus deals gone from Pic River (or, People get lost)

  
  

  

  CANADA - SUMMER '07 - It is a job full of difficult travel to exotic places with minimal services. But the motivation is clear – to empower people to grow self-sufficient communities and to ‘green up’ the world as we know it. David Carter seems to have been born to this mission. This weekend he went to Stewart, BC, where the town mayor sees an opportunity to develop a hydroelectric site as part of the reclamation of an old gold mine.

  Few locales are as remote as this. It is territory for big dreamers and big players. David explained how strangely wonderful it can be to meet such people in the most surprising ‘business’ environments. He told a story of walking deep into the wilderness between Dease Lake, BC, and Telegraph Creek, to examine prospects for one of his special projects, which are run-of-river hydro electric projects by Regional Power Inc.

  He was standing next to the Stikine River in northern BC, a long famous home to unruly trout and steelhead. Out of the wild woods, Chief Jerry Asp of the Tahltan Nation emerged to introduce himself at the meeting place of the Stikine and Tahltan rivers. It was an awe-inspiring moment for David. For Jerry, this place was more than home – it is precious territory.

  This is back country paradise seen once in a lifetime. Mountainous rock faces abutting staggeringly swift rivers, with fish the size of your thigh beneath the surface; a thunderous noise of rushing water both calming and confusing to everything.

  To get there, fly to Terrace, BC, and drive east on Hwy 16 to Kitwanga, turn north, and step off the edge. David went up this week. He has positive experiences generating electricity for the Tahltan and others in the region. He worked with a few different groups to salvage a failing hydro project. “They had invested heavily and it went bankrupt, until we got it going and salvaged the project.” At a public meeting in Vancouver, Jerry Asp later concluded: “We should have partnered with Regional Power.”

  David described standing before a sacred Tahltan site, called Eagle Rock. “It is sacred to the Tahltan. It is highly visible, a 400 ft rock face where the Tahltan River enters the Stikine.” David said the rock is hugely visible in the formation and unmistakable for the eagle.

  “Jerry told me this place was a major food fishery spot.” Bear in mind where they were standing. Jerry was forthcoming about the large measure of protection afforded by a special breed of dog called ‘bear dogs.’ These small fearless animals are used to confront bears in packs to bother them away from the essential human task of the fish harvest. Bear dogs attack grizzly or black bears, allowing the Tahltan to function without fear through a busy and important season. The bear dog is a lost breed, said the chief.

  In these wild and surprising places and situations, David meets positive thinkers working for the future of their communities. “Roy Michano paved the way for the Pic Heron Bay First Nation to join the 20th century. He dragged them into modernity,” said David. “He was chief of Pic Heron Bay for 20 some years – probably the longest standing elected chief in Canada.”. At first David was told to avoid Michano at all costs, “He was considered a radical and a lot of people in Thunder Bay warned me off.”

  Michano had apparently removed a shoe from under the table at one meeting in the 70s or 80s and banged the table to make a point, à la Nikita Kruschev during the famous missile crisis debate. Following Michano’s leadership, David installed the first-ever privately financed (with any First Nation) hydro project in Canada, in 1988 on the Black River. He met Camille Nabigon, a Pic-Heron Bay elder, “He was the only one who had a boat! Camille took me up the Pic to the confluence of the Black River. He and his wife Ruby used to live in a cabin on the shores of the Black River.”

  Camille asked David to describe the process of installing the hydro development and what was going to take place. “I drew the project in the sand beside the cabin on the shore of the river. When it was done, Camille said, ‘It's just like you drew it in the sand,’ and, Ruby said, ‘God must have held your hand when you drew it in the sand.’” It was a moment David never forgot.

  In more recent times, he who lit the fire beneath the project of yore, Roy Michano, was appointed Honourary Elder by the Union of Ontario Indians, representing the 1850 Tribal Council Robinson Superior Area. It was meeting Roy Michano that turned David Carter onto the idea of proposing economically viable and relatively self-sufficient First Nation communities. “I wanted to make a difference, to come up with a formula that solved all kinds of problems.”

  Aboriginal communities came to the fore of David’s attention and he quickly learned about their love-hate relationships with INAC. At a time when it was almost comical to approach investors about dealing with Indian Reserves, “I went 20 years ago to Bay Street (Toronto), and back to those reserves, where there was a real welfare mentality.” Sometimes it was too much for aspiring leaders to overcome. On some reserves to this day, people with jobs are ostracized for working.

  Yet rapid change is underway because mentoring and success stories are taking root in communities. “The problem I have seen is how often leaders focus on land claims. It becomes all-consuming. Victimization is not something on which to base a future. You have to get past it. Put away false expectations. I've listened about land claims – the rewards and opportunities around them are immense. A pot of gold does exist, but they are looking in the wrong place.”

  Opposition naturally delights when the opportunities are lost to Aboriginal claimants, saying, ‘But we offered them this and we offered them that,’ pointing to millions of dollars in negotiations. David said, “Sometimes First Nations need people from outside (with no INAC affiliation) to point out the opportunities.”

  Meanwhile under the present regimen, the poorest managed communities get the attention in a dysfunctional reverse of the norm in Canadian society, rewarding bad behaviour. It is frustrating when struggling communities fail to engage in the search for opportunities before them.

  David Carter could be reflecting on 20 years of lost opportunities, asking “Why?” Instead, he looks ahead at the huge expenses of investing in these communities, and asks “Why not?” It is amazing how often others agree and persevere with him to succeed.

  
  
  
  
  Pic River First Nation made a decision to think of economic development as the priority for this Ojibway community. Byron LeClair was the Economic Development Officer who proposed investment decisions on electrical power generation to create solid foundations for economic and social development on the northern shores of Lake Superior.

  Funds that flow from ownership of power generation facilities are needed to grow strong, healthy communities for years ahead. Byron said, "Most First Nations are not into electrical energy development and few have any ownership, even though rivers and lakes affect our people from coast to coast."

  He said, "My message to First Nations is always the same: Look for the opportunities to get involved in long term non-government sources of revenue. Look at developments in the territory and find the role to play. For First Nations who have no economic base, no developments around them, they are seriously challenged."

  Byron said non-government funding provides a different structural basis to approach the future, "Electrical energy development made the biggest change in small ways. The number of challenges in our community was too high to be specific." Most of the problems stemmed from lack of funding, Byron agreed.

  "Today when proposals for development come into the community," he said, "you see First Nations have earned their place at the table. Companies that come to our communities demand far more than we can supply. We've made it worse for ourselves by having tremendous new responsibilities and lack of skills to meet them.

  "To see our role expanded in things like forest management, watershed management," conducting reviews for mining prospectors, "where we have no expertise; Paying for it from outside is costing us a lot."

  Nevertheless the Pic River experience provides a positive example in the business of resource sharing. "It's not the utility or anybody else proposing these developments. We have been successful building two generation stations, and now a third project is under construction, and the agreements include 50 years of investment income."

  Pic River First Nation is part owner of two facilities and in 2008 a new one is coming onstream, "enough power to supply 35,000 homes." They started at 5MWh, then added 18.5MWh, and are adding another 25 MWh. The present investment to generate 25MWh is $61 Million. The new plant will be running directly east of the First Nation, a run-of-river hydro project.

  Byron said, "Our electricity is sold into the Hydro One grid. We're in the middle of negotiations to develop wind power. Coming environmental assessments will determine the direction of wind; we have two or three more hydro projects impending. Life in our community has changed because the days of bogus deals are gone."

  Pic River has 1,000 members split 50/50 between reserve and elsewhere. "We have the lake We have huge hills," strongly resembling mountain tops, and endless lakes, "We had a company in here tree planting last year." People get lost and sometimes never get found.

  David Carter began Regional Power to develop environmentally lean and clean energy programs that reverse notions that industrial footprints have to wreak havoc. Regional Power was Blue Planet Prize Winner at the UN Environmental Conference in Montreal this year (hosted by then-Federal Environment Minister Stephane Dion).

  Carter said, "We've got a lot of issues to deal with about renewable energy, including poor air quality, often from sources of power," (not to mention automobile engines the world over), "and coal-fired power generation plants. Regional Power is developing power projects in Canada to produce electricity in pristine environmental conditions while leaving conditions pristine. It is do-able, and David Carter is doing it (often), with First Nations.

  "Distributed energy developments benefit regional centres like Wawatay," Carter said, (Wawatay is Pic River First Nation's concern), and he worked with Byron LeClair, then, "a young economic development offier who wanted to invest the community into power generation."

  Carter said, "Regional Power is owned 80 percent by Manulife," which he explained has been a financial boon to his ambitions of developing environmentally and economically stable projects. "It's a challenge that big governments have never been able to meet," he noted, with their monopolistic and bureaucratic operations.

  "In days gone by the development of this kind of energy project was really tough. It used to be window dressing, if anything, and provincial power corporations had no incentive to change." Now big energy companies have incentives to drop the monopoly and listen to their own governments telling them to buy 'renewable resource based,' sustainably-developed, energy, a good thing.

  "The moon and the stars seem to be lining up for renewable resources. Governments are behaving in a way they were not doing twenty years ago." Carter said, "Kyoto prompted at least some behaviour change. As popular culture hit the early 90s people were saying, 'We have to do things differently,' and Aboriginal people have had a huge effect on the changes in public policy about the environment. They are good lobbyists who know how the press behaves."

  Regional Power installed 16 MW at Sechelt, B.C., and won the aforementioned Blue Planet Award from the United Nations in late 2005. The company installed 3 MW at Dease Lake, B.C. to increase the region's hopes for economic development in mining and forestry. "We operate as far north as the 59th parallel and provide the necessary expertise in three time zones across Canada." David Carter
  

  

  Chief Darryl Peters is leading Douglas First Nation at the north end of scenic, picturesque (even hallowed) Harrison Lake, B.C., and works for 213 members whose aspirations have never been anybody's concern. They decided to work for themselves and the benefit of a scattered membership to change their prospects.

  "I have worked for seven years to bring the run-of-river hydro project into being," said Chief Peters, even while untold megawatts of electricity hummed through giant transmission lines running over Douglas First Nation. He said, "We do this on a strictly economic stream. We found the business plan was very positive. The electricity will supply two other Inshuckch communities not presently found on the BC Hydro grid."

  These communities are generally about 15 minutes from Whistler B.C. as the crow flies (and often does), and are not the only Inshuckch communites not on grid, either; Canadians would be astonished by the ways and means that power is generated in this territory, and at what cost to the 11-community Stl'atl'lmx Nation (to which Douglas First Nation members belong).

  This valuable electrical power is a true study in how larger interests control the destinies of little folks, while Vancouver turned into one of the world's premiere jewels of economic development funded by huge amounts of electrical energy sold to Americans that is generated entirely, almost clandestinely, in the Stl'atl'lmx Nation..

  It is hard to imagine the dislocation, yet, on the other hand, the chief of Douglas community (who made several tries before succeeding at politics) is completely sanguine about the difficult issues confronting these communities. (Douglas First Nation families once lived on prosperous salmon and trout fisheries of Harrison Lake, but no more.)

  "This energy program reduces the costs of other projects for our communities," said Peters. "This grid provides us with badly needed infrastructure and ownership." They run the environmental assessment and construction phase and ensuing skills development will be both valuable and greatly appreciated by membership of Douglas, a number of which once worked in logging, in silviculture curtailed in provincial forestry policy.

  "I never thought of my vision," but knew they had no infrastructure. "We needed to make the supply of electrical energy a priority. There was electricity once supplied to Douglas First Nation from a micro hydro system. We finally completed a renovation in 1999, with INAC assistance."

  Micro hydro failed to produce enough electricity, and was prone to system failures. Nothing bigger than a cottage could be added to the grid, and they stopped building anymore after half dozen of those, a community unable to accommodate anymore homes.

  "We could sustain a mere 70 of 213 members." The community Peters began to lead was hanging on with sheer determination to be a community where they had always been. "We would have no commmunity without more juice." At that point Peters encountered Cloudworks Energy and began consulting to clarify where they stood in dealing with Councils.

  "We informed them about what we believed was appropriate impact on our rights and title in these lands. A negotiation began based on Cloudworks' prior success with Mt. Currie Indian Band," a larger, but no less determined community located closer to Whistler as the crow flies (and often does).Elders endorsed Cloudworks' development proposal, which is, that Douglas First Nation own Douglas Creek Project and Tippella Creek Project, with four other run-of-river generators built in Inshuckch territory (of the bifurcated Stl'atl'lmx Nation) including Stokke Creek, Fire Creek , Lamont Creek , and Upper Stave River.

  "The whole project develops 150 MW/H of new electrical energy, and we are attached, to join the BC Hydro grid," he said. "My negotiations with governments took us back to the days of BC Electric. Electrical transmission lines were installed on our lands," promises were made, rivers were dammed, waters were diverted in often bizarre constructions of dams, lakes, pipes through mountain-sides, down to other lakes; changes occurred to water courses, and water ecologies, in unprecedented ways.

  Today they live in a separate world of drive-in forests, in dwellings of tiny houses often two or three perched on a corner of a logging road, four-wheel-drive access only, no telephone, no hydro, and no drive-in restaurants, (in barely drive-in-able forests). Hundreds of families live in tiny communities that seem to predate the hands of time, found in the middle of nowhere,15 minutes to Whistler (by helicopter).

  The construction for phase one of power development began with ground breaking Dec 8 06. "We will soon open a facility to house 200 employees and carry forward these developments for the area. We established an Education Endowment Fund from Cloudworks Energy that will provide members with scholarships and badly needed funding for educational training opportunties and longterm planning for programs." Peters recently negotiated ownership of a $100,000 sawmill.

  David Andrews is a co-founder of CloudWorks Energy Inc., a B.C. company specialized in renewable energy, and presently working in partnership with Douglas First Nation and others. Cloudworks applied experience and wherewithal to the concerns of Inshuckch Nation people.

  Andrews said, "These are small run-of-river projects that have received BC Hydro contracts." They received the go ahead to proceed with project developments as part of the 2006 provincial call for power. "Having met those conditions and in keeping with permits and all other regulations, we can start on building the projects."

  He said, "Weather has an effect," and winter in Coastal B.C. was no picnic in '06-'07, but things are calming down. "Next month we start with what will take four years to build. It involves First Nation communities with the primary purpose to get them connected to the BC Hydro grid. Douglas First Nation will be receiving electrical power as part of the benefit, and jobs, too, and so with other Inshuckch Nation communities, and members."

  Andrews said, "We build facilities that are urgently needed, and create jobs that have skills and transferable heavy construction experience." Cloudworks entered the territory by building a project in Mt.Curry Band (Lil'Wat First Nation at Pemberton). He said leadership organized a conference that tabled benefits to the community, then entered into business arrangements that were acceptable within forthcoming treaty negotiations.

  It provides Mt. Curry with non-government income, and, furthermore, "Those Mt. Curry people trained in Pemberton are working in Olympic projects," said Andrews. There have been bumps on the roads to projects, which comes as no surprise to people who have driven those bumpy roads.

  CloudWorks projects, "abide by the wishes of the people in their homes, their territories. We are a private company with 15 years of involvement in this line of work. My colleague and son set it up with me and we dedicated the company strictly to green energy and working with First Nations." Andrews said, "You do not dare develop resources without dealing with First Nations in B.C.."
  

  

  Hupacasath First Nation took a running start at creating non-government income from energy generation, completing a project to generate 6.5 MWh in run-of-river hydro electricity and they opened for business just over a year ago.

  Chief Judith Sayers, LLB, said, "At full capacity we can power 6,000 homes. We operate at capacity (or very near it) year round, though available generation capacity drops off in dry spells," or at certain times in winter.

  She said, "It was year ago in December that we started generating electrical energy," and their system has rarely dipped below capacity in the closely monitored operations. She said, "Our community, the Hupacasath First Nation, led and developed this project, found partners, and equity, and spent two years in development before starting."

  Chief Sayers said, "We chose China Creek, 10 km south of Port Alberni, for flows of water at a location that had no questions about impact on Hupacasath traditional use," neither anthropological nor environmental dislocation would be acceptable. In fact, the project ended up making no damage or imprint on the environment of central Vancouver Island.

  She said, "We put the powerhouse on in existing gravel pit, and the water intake was 4.5 km of construction buried, a pipe to create down-flow and 'head build-up' required to hit the turbine. We had a BC Hydro interconnect right there and the project was constructed on private land, through existing gate access."

  Hupacasath economic strategy continues, "We launched another project and are now designing another 10 km further south of China Creek, to add 7MWh of power to BC Hydro's grid with a 20 year contract." Provincial water licenses are being acquired and proceedings with adjoining First Nation are underway, and Hupacaseth consultants are doing preliminaries for environmental studies, especially on fish.

  Chief Sayers noted, "There are no anadromous salmon on either of these creeks, neither China nor Corrigon. Our projects create new energy, employ Hupacasath people and build community capacity," which is so essential when the City of Port Alberni surrounds Hupacasath.

  "Our community members have gone on to other related skilled jobs, and we retain many other construction benefits. We have had community members go into the environmental world for their careers," a particularly snug fit considering the surroundings.

  The community enterprise employs two full time to run the system, "Our main operator has computers running 24/7 remotely running, monitoring the generation station, water flows," and a host of environmental data inputs.

  Chief Sayers said, "We plan to do quite a few of these projects. It is a good dollar generator from long term income sources. It is doing the province a favour creating Green credits." It is adding opportunities to the future of her community members.

  She said, "Ours is a unique partnership with 72 % in Hupacasath ownership, 10% in Ucleuelet, 12.5% in Synex Energy, and 5% owned by City of Port Alberni." The chief is pleased to say the city of Port Alberni has become an exceptionally good neighbour to her First Nation community, and fully supportive of Hupacasath energy projects. judith@hupacasath.ca

  
  
  

  (Updated Late Spring '07) A group of tidal energy experts including Clayton Bear, Robert Moll, Chris Knight, and others, continue to put exciting prospects for tidal energy power into action for electricity generation. They wait for governments to unleash the power and the public purse to release permits and facilitate community liaisons to expedit this exciting direction for nationwide electrical energy production.

  "The Ocean Renewable Energy Group is pressing government to step up with commitments to the developers of this technology in the country," said Bear. The BC government released its energy plan in Mar 07, and are currently working through the logistics of implementation, but risk falling behind the east coast where the governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick who are aggressively moving forward in supporting development of the industry. While the amounts of tidal energy potential are different on the various coasts and waterways of Canada (whereas the largest potential is indeed Hudson's Bay), they each have untold, untapped potential.

  Clayton said, "You start out and the first few aren't going to be money makers. It is engineering expenses, and once 'over the hump' the tides will produce electricity in abundance at market values." New Energy Corp is receiving calls about putting their process to work in the spillways of large hydro dams. These dams have spillways with no issues about fish, ice, debris, and the program means incremental additions to the amount of electricity in the grid; all dams have spillways, and the world-wide increase of electrical energy would be an instant 5 percent.

  As with everything else, the thing to do is find somebody to throw money and kick start the process. "It's not a huge amount of energy but if you have a one gigawatt in a hydro plant and you find an additional five percent out of downstream energy, that's 50MWh, and it's huge. New Energy Corp stands ready to make some announcements about the directions of the company for the future. They are testing the EnCurrent Turbine on run-of-river pilot projects (as previously reported), "We have a couple on the go, still in the environmental review process on them."

  A west coast consortium is leading the way to harnessing energy from Pacific tides. Chris Knight is president of Canoe Pass Tidal Energy Corp., operating where the world's largest tidal energy potential exists, the redoubtable Inside Passage. Respecting the people who live in these surroundings, Knight said, "The best thing for First Nations is that tidal energy is the renewable energy source where opportunity in economic development is wide open."

  Knight said, late last year, "We will see communities powered up by tidal energy. The International Energy Association, a cooperative that studies energy development, said tidal power is starting out cheaper to research and develop than windpower. Ocean energy will fall to within 4 to 8 cents per KWh kWh at commercial scale deployment."

  The consortium, including partner New Energy Corp., is operating at Canoe Pass in traditional waters of the Cape Mudge Indian Band next to Campbell River, B.C. and has been testing the EnCurrent Turbine at various sites in western Canada, including the outfall from the Bonnybrook Water Wastewater Outfall Treatment Plant in Calgary (where they are presently increasing the electrical generation in that site).

  Robert Moll, New Energy V.P., said, "The Canoe Pass consortium found optimum coastal conditions for deploying the EnCurrent Turbine, vigorous currents with flows exceeding three to four knots." They also have close proximity to the transmission grid, of BC Hydro on Quadra Island adjacent Campbell River. "Two EnCurrent Turbines 250 KW each, with 12 to 14 metremeter rotor diameter will generate 500 KW as a demonstration, gradually expanding to the 7 MW potential at Canoe Pass."

  New Energy Corp. formed Dec 2003, after people researched the energy potential and a few of the turbine configurations for many years. "We are among a group looking at tidal energy developments," and bringing projects to market with their own turbine. Moll said, "We focus on man-made canals, irrigation canals, and water outfalls from sources like the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment facility in Calgary; then, river systems; and, perhaps greatest of all, tidal currents."

  Moll said the market exists for renewable energy generation that delivers in the range of 2MW. "We are working toward a turbine and generator that provides that amount of energy. We are positioned to offer solutions to remote communities and resorts and fishing lodges. The economic drivers are short term savings in diesel, rural electrification, and satisfying the growing demand for renewable energy."

  He is pleased with coastal communities showing interest, "We are working with a First Nation community to install a demonstration system put on their river with a power generator in the 5KW range," but they will configure several turbines to raise the total electricity generation to 25 KWh. "Our path forward is to make larger systems up to 2MW."
  

  

  Wind energy is on a major upswing in Canada. "Three years ago Canada installed 81 MW of new wind energy, the next year it was 122 MW, the next was 240 MW, and this year it is already 365 MW, shooting for 500MW." That was '06, said Robert Hornung, the President of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, a national association for the wind energy industry. He said wind turbines are now operating in all provinces except B.C., New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, but even these three provinces have plans to bring wind power on-line in the next couple of years.

  CanWEA members include project developers, manufacturers, and service providers that do things like assess the viablilty and financing of large energy projects, or do the engineering and technical work to projects on the ground. Hornung has been there three years, "It's changed a lot, and the pace is continuing to change faster," after a third consecutive year of record installations in Canada, and a fourth on the way.

  CanWEA is 21 years old, "with 250 corporate members, including project developers, turbine manufacturers, utility companies, and whole range of service providers to the wind energy industry." Wind energy comes from Alberta, "still the leader in installed capacity with 280 MW of wind energy," which is going to be surpassed by 2010 in Ontario, "and by 2013 Quebec will pass Ontario," said Hornung.

  "Quebec has stated the intention to obtain 4,000 MW of wind energy by 2015." In the U.S. last year the second largest build of energy projects was windfarms; between 2005 and 2007 they will bring on an additional 10,000 MW of energy from wind. Hornung said it is possible for wind to meet 20% of Canada’s electricity needs in the long-term ( something like 50,000 MW).

  "It will be an evolutionary process. Wind on the grid was hardly mentioned five years ago. It's a big deal now, making a significant contribution because of environmental concerns related to energy, plus favourable economics, and quick installation." There are many drivers to the growth of windfarms in Canada, including the increased costs in fossil fuels, and a shift in the world toward use of sustainable and renewable resources.

  "There are market and public forces, and different scales of wind energy." Wind power is being delivered through windfarms or a single 2 MW turbine. Remote communities, many of which are First Nation town-sites, have seen diesel fuel cost go through the roof. In these cases smaller wind energy systems can make an important constribution to future energy needs.

  Hornung said the wind energy industry has to make education a priority. "With any new technology people have to be experienced to get comfortable with it. We have to get them familiar with the concerns and concepts. We have to communicate with local governments, utilities, and the general public." Hornung said, "The variability of supply can be resolved by dispersal of wind farms , because wind varies but it keeps blowing somewhere. Weather forecasts make it possible for operators of wind energy grods to make adjustments," basically chase the wind. He said, "The myth behind wind energy used to be that 100 MW wind farms need 100 MW of backup energy from other sources. Now we know that the amount of backup energy required is actually 10 MW."

  The other fact about wind energy is that governments are setting initial targets for new projects, and expected to exceed them. "When we look at renewable energy sources they are at different stages of development in Canada, which has four hydro dominant provinces moving at different speeds to introduce alternatives. Hydro Quebec has declared they will not build any fossil fuel plants. The future will all be hydro and wind. Manitoba is a keen wind champion, and frankly it's economically sound because wind energy peaks in winter, the time when hydro energy is least available."