I started out as a fisherman, but I wanted to see what was happening to our stocks because
the stocks were getting so low, so I figured I'd start working in the bush and doing stuff
like this.
Being born right in the house at one of the last few that I've ever been born in the house,
it's so isolated.
The only way you get in is by boat or by plane, and I bet you over 90% of the village depends
on these rivers for like food fish, like the clams on the front beach, oysters.
Even I used to go duck hunting at the mouth of the river, and I had to go deer hunting
up in the back of us here when they first logged it out.
I thought it was the greatest thing when they first logged out, but after seeing all the
devastation they did on the creeks and the rivers, something's got to be done about
it.
So we come into an area similar to this, like when you see all the canopy above us, it's
mostly alder trees as you can see around us, and what we're doing is we're just letting
more light in for the conifers, like the spruce trees and the hemlocks and the balsams.
We're working right now on riparian restoration of the river.
We're hoping that it'll work towards pulling some of the alders away from the banks, and
the banks become stable, and they're not falling into the creek as much, so they're not causing
problems with jamming up the river.
This is going to be the first stage of the project.
Next year hopefully we'll be back, and we'll be doing some creek restoration.
Usually start off where we finished the day before, and then just keep hiking from there.
We're girdling these trees down to the hardwood there, taking it out, and it's just killing
off these trees, slowly killing them off so the cedars can get their light and get their
chance to grow.
Before they started coming out with really strict regulations for logging, everything
was right through the creek, everything was right through the river, and that's what destroyed
it.
And it was all just for money.
I'm sure I'm doing this because I do need money, but at the same time I feel good because
I know we're providing better habitat for fish, for bears, for deer, wolves, cuckers.
I learned it's just a touch of what needs to be done around Vancouver Island and BC.
The time here, my grandson looked out the window as I'm leaving to work yelling out
at me, I love you grandpa, and now it's like who I'm doing it for.
And then the day you see, you see what's going on, what we've done, and feel good about it
after you've seen the end result.
I want my grandchildren as well to be used to eating fish, and right now they're living
in a big city and to them a treat is McDonald's out here.
Treat for the kids around here is what we call up-squeak dried fish.
That's like gold to us.
I had my kids home for the beginning of summer and when I first started, it was the greatest
feeling I had knowing what I was doing was for the future of our grandchildren.
I'd see my grandchildren run up to me when I got off the boat asking me what I was doing.
I would explain to them, they're making the creeks, the river's better for you guys so
you'll have fish when you grow up.
