Natural gas deal fuels salmon restoration in First Nation waters

A financial deal between theHuu-ay-ahtFirst Nations and a natural gas exporteris allowing a decades-oldsalmon renewal plan to go ahead, according toHuu-ay-ahtChief Coun.Robert J. Dennis Sr.

TheSaritaandPachenaWatershed Renewalprojectaims to restore depleted salmon spawning areas and juvenile salmon habitats in key waterwaysonHuu-ay-ahtNations' territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The project is projected to cost $150 million over thenext 25 years and mostof this funding will be provided bySteelheadLNG, a Vancouver-based energy company that plans to create a liquefied natural gasexport facility onHuu-ay-ahtlands,Dennis told JasonD'Souza, the host ofCBC'sAll Points West.

Watershed stripped of chinook

Bringing back the chinook salmon population to the watershed has been a priority for theHuu-ay-ahtFirst Nations since the1990swhen elders called on the nations to take urgent action, said Dennis.

Decades of commercial fishing and logging stripped the watershed of chinook and the necessary conditions for the salmon to spawn, he said.

BobBockingisa senior biologist withLGLLtd., an environmental consulting firm hired by theHuu-ay-ahtNations to develop the renewal plan.

Bockingsaid he was involved with early restoration work onHuu-ay-ahtlands and waters in the1990sbut when provincial funding dried up, so did the watershed renewal work.

The Huu-ay-aht's Dennis said restoration work has depended on receiving intermittentgrants over the years, butthe SteelheadLNGfunding agreementguaranteesfinancialsupport for the watershed renewal each year, throughout the project's lifespan, ensuring stability.

Co-management agreement for export plant

The original proposal for thefacility, onMalahatNation land on south VancouverIsland, was cancelled in 2017.

TheHuu-ay-ahtFirstNations then entered into a co-managementagreement with Steelhead LNG giving theHuu-ay-ahta seat on the company's corporate board,and three seats on thesix-person oversightboard governing the new export facility project.

The facility, namedKwispaaLNG, is expected to cost $18 billion and the plan includes an underwater pipeline.

Concerns over the impact ofLNGexports

Aaron Hill the executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society based in Victoria said in an emailthat he applauds thework of theHuu-ay-ahtFirst Nations in restoring importantsalmon habitats.

Hill said the benefits of the watershed renewal project should be weighed against the environmental damagegas fracking maycause in other parts of theprovince.

According to Steelhead, natural gas for the proposed project would come from northeastern B.C. and possibly Alberta.

Hill said that some opposition to the facility is based on concernsthat the gasexported from the Steelhead LNG plant will be extracted from other watersheds in B.C., which could be damaged in the process.

Dennis said theHuu-ay-ahtFirst Nations council is also worried about theimpact of theLNGfacility on local salmon habitats butthe nations' co-management deal with SteelheadLNGwill allow it to address any environmental concernsin direct partnership with the company.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it has not yet conducted anenvironmental assessment of theproject, as it is still in the early stages.

With files from All PointsWest

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