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a year in review © Parks , D. Gardiner © , Christine Pansino

Archipelago Management Board members starting clockwise with top left: Cindy Boyko, Ernie Gladstone, Mel Koytk, Jason Alsop, Dave Argument, Trevor Russ. Photos by J. Shafto. Students from all over the islands are helping with salmon restoration on Lyell Island. Our cooperative management Heading out on the Land and Sea model evolves Getting young people out to experience the natural and cultural wonders in Gwaii Haanas Gwaii Haanas has been cooperatively managed by the Haida is important to us, but we also want future stewards to learn about protecting the land and Nation and the Government of Canada via the Archipelago the sea. In 2011, Gwaii Haanas teamed up with Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Stream to Sea Management Board since 1993. program to give students the opportunity to raise fish fry in their classrooms and release The Archipelago Management Board has always had an them in streams. Some of these eggs came from Lyell Island, where a project equal number of Haida Nation (CHN) and Government of called Yahgudang Dlljuu: A Respectful Act is underway. Canada representatives, but with the signing of the Gwaii The project goal is to restore streams to help re-establish salmon populations. Last May, 15 students of all ages chosen from each of the islands’ schools helped bring salmon fry back Haanas Marine Agreement in 2010 Fisheries and Oceans to logging-damaged streams. Canada (DFO) was added into the mix. DFO’s Mel Kotyk (from The students arrived by zodiac and the fish arrived in an oxygen-injected cooler by Prince Rupert) and the CHN’s Trevor Russ (from Old Massett) floatplane at Beljay Creek. The salmon had to get into the fresh moving water quickly so joined existing members Ernie Gladstone, (superintendent of students worked fast, carrying buckets of fry from the beach upstream. When the buckets were tipped, the inch-long chum salmon dashed into the creek. Gwaii Haanas), Cindy Boyko (CHN-), Dave Argument, It will be four years before the salmon make it back to Beljay Creek. Hopefully the students (Gwaii Haanas resource conservation manager) and Jason will be back before that. Gwaii Haanas superintendent Ernie Gladstone shared memories Alsop (CHN-Skidegate). of childhood trips and how he’s been drawn back again and again, to the point of making a The Archipelago Management Board is renowned as a career out of taking care of the area. “I’m hoping you’ll have some of the same kinds of memories. Talk to your friends and model for conservation and natural resource governance. family about the experience you’ve had here. Hopefully this will be an inspiration for what With the establishment of the Gwaii Haanas National Marine you choose to do in your life,” he said. Conservation Area Reserve, integrated land and sea planning is now a focus. In 2011, Archipelago Management Board We visited all schools on the islands, priorities included finding three leads (Parks Canada, DFO did you and CHN) for Gwaii Haanas’ marine plan. The Archipelago offering a variety of programs totalling Management Board expects to have an integrated land and know? 1,141 student interactions in 2011. sea management plan in place by 2015.

Celebrating our stories

Parks Canada celebrated its centennial in 2011, highlighting protected places across the country and Gwaii Haanas got its share of the buzz. Our precedent-setting collaboration with Haida partners was a key component of Parks Canada’s World Wildlife © Parks Canada Fund International Gift to the Earth award in May. Parks Canada also worked with the National Geographic Society to create the Guide to the National Parks of Canada, a photo-packed showcase of natural and cultural treasures across the country with Burnaby Narrows gracing the opening pages. In November, Gwaii Haanas made National Geographic again with a web story on Night Birds Returning, our project to restore seabird populations on remote islets. The story also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Tyee (a BC online newsmagazine), CBC Radio’s national show “The Current”, and on local CBC Radio’s “Daybreak North”. The Globe and Mail named us one of the country’s best National Parks and The Tyee covered a student trip to Joanne Collinson at the Lyell Island to learn about salmon habitat restoration. In November, a unique encounter with orcas made local news Centennial celebrations. on CBC Radio, The Observer and Haida Laas. With over 60 media stories overall, 2011 was a great year for Gwaii Haanas. Many thanks to our biggest news supporter, the Haida Gwaii Observer, which featured Gwaii Haanas more than 20 times.

HAIDA NATION kii.ngaay 2011 / 12 a year in review

Celebrating Culture in the Rockies

The largest celebration of Aboriginal culture ever

held in Jasper National Park took place in July 2011 © Parks Canada, M. Hiebert and featured the raising of the Two Brothers pole carved by Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw. The piece replaced the 140-year-old Raven pole brought from the islands to Jasper in 1915 and returned in 2010. Although the pole was commissioned by Jasper National Park, Gwaii Haanas was involved in all the pole-related events on the islands, such as A diver explores a kelp forest. the farewell ceremony attended by more than 600 guests on Aboriginal Day (June 21) in Old Massett. The Two Brothers story, about another set of brothers Diving in to Marine Management who travelled long ago from Haida Gwaii, was also Marine management in Gwaii Haanas is must be completed by late 2015. This document memorialized in a small book in Haida, French and innovation happening, according to marine will outline what activities will be allowed where, English and illustrated by Gwaai. biologist Norm Sloan. No other marine protected at what times of year and with what type of fishing area in the world will be managed from the gear. The plan will also map out marine ecosystem mountaintops to the deep sea floor in such a monitoring and how change will be measured. comprehensive way – nearly 5000 km2 of land Three project leads (Parks Canada’s Hilary Thorpe, and ocean. DFO’s Melissa Evanson and a CHN representative) Parks Canada has three other National Marine will work together with communities, the fishing Conservation Areas: Fathom Five in the Great industry, tourism representatives and others to Lakes with some land attached to it; Saguenay- ensure the plan fits a diversity of needs. St. Lawrence in Quebec, which protects both Developing baseline marine inventories estuary and fjord; and Lake Superior, which of eelgrass meadows, kelp forests and other includes small islands and a portion of the ecosystems is already underway, as is high quality north shore. As well, Gulf Islands National Park sea floor mapping on par with busy harbours such Reserve covers a mix of land and sea but has no as . complete watersheds under protection. Norm hopes Gwaii Haanas Marine and other “In Gwaii Haanas, we’re managing an areas like it will help Canadians understand how entire system of interconnected watersheds,” much their well-being is linked to the ocean. says Norm. Farmers in Saskatchewan may not think the ocean Since establishment in 2010, Gwaii Haanas is relevant to them. “But when the rain comes, it’s Marine has operated under an interim from the sea,” he says. management plan, and a comprehensive plan

Repairing Logging Damage on Lyell Island “Water is incredibly powerful,” says resource management officer Peter Dyment. He and the crew doing stream restoration saw habitat for © Parks Canada, B. Falvey spawning salmon improve only one year after dropping woody debris into logging-damaged Hundreds of people witnessed the Two Brothers © Parks Canada Pole raising in Jasper. creeks on Lyell Island. “Of course, real results are decades away,” says Around 70 islanders trekked to Jasper for the Peter. But this is the island where Haida stood Peter Dyment stands near one of the log structures in Sandy Creek. pole-raising on July 16. The Edenshaw brothers, along on the line in 1985 to halt unsustainable forestry with apprentice , completed a carver-in- practices. Restoring salmon runs is key to trees taken from the adjacent riparian forest, of residence program the week prior, allowing visitors Yahgudang Dlljuu: A Respectful Act, an Action which 8 ha was thinned from 800 to 500 stems to witness the final cuts. More than 200 people were on the Ground project (a nation-wide Parks per hectare to enhance biodiversity and mimic old selected to help raise the pole, but hundreds more Canada initiative to support conservation and growth characteristics. witnessed the historic event. Several promote ecological integrity). Equally important The structures help force water to dig pools below groups with ties to Jasper celebrated a renewed is honouring the efforts the Haida underwent to the wood, while others guard against stream bank connection to their traditional territory and at a protect the area’s natural and cultural heritage. erosion and provide sites for gravel to build up. The potlatch that evening, dancers from Haida Gwaii and The historic protests not only stopped the logging, fallen logs also provide places for salmon to hide the mountain region performed. but led to the creation of Gwaii Haanas and a from predators, something crews encountered in Back in Old Massett, where the old Raven pole unique cooperative management model for October 2010 when they went to collect brood stock resides again, construction of a new viewing gallery Canada and the world. from Sandy Creek to rear in the hatchery over winter got underway in 2011. The building, also intended as In 2011 the partners, Parks Canada, Haida for release in May 2011. a meeting and gathering space, is partially funded by Fisheries and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, added “We couldn’t get at them,” said Peter. “The chum Gwaii Haanas. woody debris to 600 m of Sandy Creek’s stream were hiding in the structures the workers had put in bed. Twelve in-creek structures were built with the year before.” Supporting Haida Songs

What started as a desire to respectfully use Haida songs in interpretive programs turned into an island- wide odyssey of song collection, translation, recordings and more. Several ideas came together when the Gwaii Haanas Visitor Experience team brainstormed how to best gain access to musical forms of intellectual property. As a member of Hl taaxulang Gud Ad K’aaju dance group, promotions officer Natalie Fournier was also keen to access more songs for their performances. In 2008, Nika Collison was hired to coordinate K’aajuu Hla! – Sing, an ongoing project to support the continuity of the Haida song tradition, song ownership and song use protocols. Through the guidance of chiefs, matriarchs, elders, language programs and other knowledge holders, and with the permission of those who have the rights to each song, the project kept growing, but always with the acknowledgment that copyright remains strictly with the owners. Several songs have now been translated and written out using the latest orthographies and pro-nunciations have been recorded so performers can more easily learn them. Lullabies and other songs for children have also been recorded in Haida and many new songs are being generated in the communities too. K’aajuu Hla! receives an ongoing support from Gwaii Haanas. In 2011, a CD that accompanied the book, That Which Makes Us Haida: The was created and Gwaii Haanas also supported the book’s printing. Interpreters now have a CD available to them for educational programs and more CDs will soon be available in the community. “The project is a success,” says VE Manager Drue Kendrick. © Parks Canada “We hoped the community would embrace the process and make it their own,” she said. “And that is Natalie Fournier sings with her dance group at SHIP. just what they did.” 2 kii.ngaay 2011 / 12 a year in review Seabird habitat on the road to recovery Gwaii Haanas ecologist Carey Bergman flashes through pictures from night-time monitoring cameras on Arichika Island like she’s looking through a flip book. In jerky animated time, rats skitter in and out of view – three frames every 15 seconds for an entire field season. “This is what a rat-infested island looks like,” she says. But the next series shows seabirds tottering on the

moss near ancient murrelet nesting grounds on Alder Island. © Parks Canada, Elin Price “Canada’s penguins,” she calls the ancient murrelet, a Species at Risk that comes and goes from burrows by night during breeding season. Restoring their habitat is one of the key goals of SGin Xaana Sdiihltl’lxa: Night Birds Returning, a multi-year partnership with two organizations specializing in invasive species removal, Island Conservation and Coastal Conservation. Between July and October 2011 crews maintained and monitored specialized bait stations on the Bischofs and Arichika Islands. Their goal was to eradicate Norway rats, a species which has devastated seabird colonies over the last two centuries. At the end of the field season, all signs indicated that the rats were gone, but continued monitoring must take place until 2013 before scientists can be certain of success. Carey continues flipping and stops at a frame where three bird species are captured at once – an ancient murrelet, a rhinocerous auklet and a fork-tailed storm petrel. “This is what we want to see,” she says. Along with the cameras, automated acoustic listening devices will help Gwaii Haanas staff measure the returning birds. Since the establishment of the National Marine Conservation Area Reserve in 2010, this kind of integrated land and ocean management planning has been top priority for Gwaii Haanas’ cooperative management team. The Night Birds Returning project is funded by Parks Canada’s Action on the Ground Program, a $90 million nation-wide initiative to support Resource Conservation technician Nadine Wilson heads out to the bait stations. conservation and ecological integrity in national parks and national park reserves.

Watching over Village Sites

The Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program began when concerned volunteers, using their own boats, started spending summers in areas they believed needed

© Parks Canada, J. Shafto safeguarding. They kept the cultural heritage safe and when visitors appeared, they offered a first-hand introduction to Haida culture. For many visitors, meeting the watchmen is their favourite part of a memorable trip to the southern reaches of Haida Gwaii. The program has its own Betsy Cardell’s Burnaby Narrows was created after the 2011 artists’ residency program. management and provides seasonal employment for Haida men and women as young as 16 and as old as 78. Teams of two to three watchmen work in two month Getting creative in Gwaii Haanas shifts at K’uuna Llnagaay (Skedans), T’aanuu Llnagaay (Tanu), SGang Gwaay (Anthony Island, ), Hlk’yah Artists travelled to secluded coves and exposed islands in 2011 thanks to a unique partnering GaawGa (Windy Bay) and Gandll K’in Gwaay.yaay arrangement between Gwaii Haanas and the Haida Gwaii Museum. (Hotspring Island). According to program manager Anita Tom Arnatt of Tow Hill Road on Haida Gwaii, Betsy Cardell of Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii and Moody, more than 1,000 watchmen have guarded old Véronique La Perrière M. of Montreal were chosen through a juried process and became our first village sites since 1981. artists-in-residence. Today, the program is funded by Gwaii Haanas Parks Canada resource conservation technician (and artist) Debby Gardiner provided her expert through visitor fees and direct operational grants of wilderness and boat handling skills to ensure the artists were able to sketch, take photographs and explore almost $400,000 annually. Gwaii Haanas also invests their creative responses to Gwaii Haanas. Once back at home, they turned inspiration into works of art, in training watchmen in cultural history interpretation, like the watercolours laced with moss, multi-hued batiks, and acrylics, all of which were exhibited from providing watchmen accommodation at the village sites and maintaining vessels and facilities. Since 1990, © Parks Canada November 2011 to March 2012 at the Haida Gwaii Museum. One piece from each artist will become part of a permanent collection of place-based contemporary art Gwaii Haanas has provided $8.7 million to the housed at the Haida Gwaii Museum. Watchmen program.

Volunteers spent 3,164 hours helping did you out in Gwaii Haanas. know? At peak level in 2011, we had 60 full-time,

seasonal and summer staff (50 % Haida). © Parks Canada, D. Gardiner

GWAII HAANAS ACTUAL EXPENDITURES These figures represent our general operating budget. Additional project specific funding for Action on the Ground 2010/ 2011 and Marine Area implementation also support the Gwaii Haanas Field Unit on an annual basis. Spend ing A Watchman speaks with visitors at SGang Gwaay by World Heritage Site. Fu n ER 6 % c t i AD 21 % o n GREAT WORK!

VE 31 %

RC 42 % © Parks Canada

LEGEND Ken Brillon (left) and Dave Martyniuk (right) received External Relations (ER) = Public relations, Resource Conservation (RC): Research and monitoring, ecosystem an award from Parks Canada CEO Alan Latourelle outreach and partnering. protection, public safety and cultural resource protection (villages, (centre) for their excellent work under arduous archaeology, poles). conditions on the Gwaii Haanas II. The National Visitor Experience (VE) = Promotions, tourism Marine Conservation Area Reserve Establishment industry, interpretation, orientations, Administration (AD): Admin office, warehouse, AMB, superintendent, team members from DFO, CHN and Parks Canada visitor services and Haida Gwaii Watchmen. finance, legal, human resources. were also honoured in 2011. 3 kii.ngaay 2011 / 12 a year in review © Parks Canada © Parks Canada

Barb Wilson (centre) works with elders at SHIP on a place name map. Putting Haida Names back on the land Youth Stewards at the .

Kii’iljuus, or Barb Wilson, Gwaii Haanas’s cultural Youth stewards gain experience resource specialist, pulls out a large map and unfolds Everything from hands-on experience in the biology, politics, law and physical education. The it on the desk. field to behind-the-scenes work in the office kept lead agencies hope the program will supply a steady “This is ,” she says, “and these are students busy during the Haida Gwaii Youth stream of home-grown energy to Haida Gwaii’s land the names we’ve put back on the land.” Stewardship program last summer. and sea management fields. On , there is a lake at the height of land In 2011, the federal, provincial and Haida The program ran from May through the end of called K’uuna Siiwaay and the mountain is K’uuna governments teamed up with Swan Bay Rediscovery August. Some of the students’ great experiences TlldaGaaw. K’uuna llnagaay (Skedans) is the village on Society to offer a program aimed at leading local were: wilderness survival training, tourism training the shore and K’uuna Kun is the nearby point. youth towards post secondary education and on a Haida canoe, log scaling, invasive plant This map, which covers the gateway to Gwaii careers in resource management. removal, public outreach, trail building and beach Haanas and two Haida village sites, marks the One of the 10 students, Jaasaljuus Yakgujanaas clean-ups. completion of a decade-long collaboration between of Old Massett, said she had no idea so many Fourteen other post-secondary and high school the elders at the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program people worked to protect and manage the islands’ students worked at the Gwaii Haanas office last (SHIP) and Gwaii Haanas. Six other maps honour the natural resources. She now wants to study marine summer in External Relations, Visitor Experience, Haida place names of Moresby Island’s west and biology and bring her expertise back home. Other Resource Conservation and Technical Services. east coasts. participants want to embark on careers in ecology, Watch for more opportunities in 2012. To create the maps, Barb and the elders at SHIP spent time with old books by people like John R. Swanton, an ethnographer who stayed on the islands for 10 months in 1900-01. He transcribed place names, cultural histories and more from local informants in the Haida language. The fluent speakers at SHIP discuss words to ensure they were written down correctly and work together to determine how they best fit on the map. Several elders and Gwaii Haanas staff also went on a boat trip into Gwaii Haanas in 2007 sparking

memories of place names used during childhood © Parks Canada, Geoff Skinner fishing trips and more. “Every rock, point, cliff, mountain, lake, everything A group of kayakers in Gwaii Haanas. had names at one time. When I think of that and what we have left,” said Barb. “This is very, very Visitors experience the land, sea and people important work.” Out of the 1753 visitors to Gwaii Haanas in 2011, at least two became engaged during their visit. We first talked with a gentleman who was looking for all sorts of advice, including information about the spot where he wanted to pop the question. Through our in-house reservation system, knowledgeable Gwaii Haanas staff members were able to guide him through the visitor fee, orientation and registration process as well. We know she said “Yes” because they wrote in our Visitor Trip logs: “We got engaged at SGang

© Parks Canada, D. Gardiner Gwaay!” They were two of the 990 multi-day tour visitors to Gwaii Haanas in 2011. We also had 501 independent visitors and 262 day tour guests. Visitors’ favoured mode of travel is powerboating. Parks Canada staff Carey Bergman and Elin Price survey the intertidal zone In 2011, Gwaii Haanas received $83,435 from visitor fees, which helps fund our operations. We receive dozens of wonderful comments through trip logs and a few that ask us to do better. Checking the Pulse of Here is a taste: “We really appreciated mooring buoys at the sites. It can be difficult to anchor in rocky/kelpy Ecosystems areas.” – Independent Sailboater

Researchers study the land and sea in Gwaii Haanas each field season. “I really appreciate the fact that there is no building on beaches and at Haida villages. In 2011 Dr. Anne Salomon and her colleagues at It’s a good way to feel like the first visitor.” – Independent Kayaker Simon Fraser University’s Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab worked with Gwaii Haanas on three “[We’d like] some ability for visitors to interact/observe/be informed about the baseline monitoring studies taking place in Gwaii archaeological & deep history of the islands from the scientific perspective.”– Kayak mothership Haanas related to kelp forests, one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. Other marine research includes surveys and genetic 1753 visitors travelled in different ways in 2011 identification of Gwaii Haanas’s incredible diversity of seaweeds and algae, geoduck monitoring, hake stock did you assessment and more. By kayak = 407 By sail = 377 On land, monitoring the impact of rats and other invasive species like deer and raccoons on songbird know? By kayak mothership = 164 By powerboat =725 populations has been ongoing. Gwaii Haanas ecologist Carey Bergman works with Simon Fraser researcher By air = 80 Luke Halpin using acoustic monitoring devices to determine how many seabirds are nesting in historic colonies. Jean-Louis Martin, a researcher from PARTNERING IS PART OF WHAT WE DO Montpellier, France, has been studying how introduced We partner with a variety of different organizations and community groups to help us reach more and more members of the public. deer behave in the absence of predators. Researchers Thank you to the following: Haida Gwaii Museum; Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program; Haida Fisheries; Hecate Strait Streamkeepers; Swan Mark Hipfner and Moira Lemon look at the impacts Bay Rediscovery Society; Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources; Skidegate Haida Immersion Program; Queen Charlotte Visitor of ocean climate changes on populations of Cassin’s Centre; Sandspit Visitor Centre; Haida Heritage Centre; Island Conservation; Coastal Conservation; Luckenbach Trustee Council; Laskeek and rhinoceros auklets. Coastal erosion and the loss of Bay Conservation Society; Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society; Research Group on Introduced Species; and School District 50. important cultural sites due to rising sea levels, ongoing archaeological research, water quality monitoring, salmon return assessments and more are also www.pc.gc.ca/gwaiihaanas important scientific studies underway in Gwaii Haanas. Box 37, Queen Charlotte, BC V0T 1S0 (250) 559-8818 or 1-877-559-8818 Watch for Speakers Series talks with some of these researchers in 2012. Kii.ngaay means “news” in Haida 4