Band-aid solutions are not going to fix the #flooding problems in the #Chemainus River #watershed - Chief James Thomas from the #Halalt #FirstNation told #NorthCowichan council last month. He said the watershed and its #salmon are in #jeopardy mainly due to #logging practices that were conducted upstream in the watershed over the past 50 years.

Read more at: https://saanichnews.com/2025/12/14/island-first-nations-chief-says-band-aids-wont-solve-chemainus-river-flooding/

#StopDeforestation #StopEcocide #BCForestryReform #environmental #ClimateAction #BCpoli #CDNpoli #Cowichan #CoastSalish #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW

Mini cascading #waterfalls along #FellowsCreek - one of several tributaries that feed into the #KoksilahRiver. It's part of the Xwulqw’selu #Koksilah #Watershed on Southern #VancouverIsland.
Backroads access view. In Summer, it dries up in multiple areas.

Fellows Creek is part of the #TwinnedWatershedsProject, which is co-led by #CowichanWatershed Board, #CowichanTribes & #Halalt #FirstNation. It launched in 2021 to document the state of the watersheds & identify possibilities for improving their #ecological health. #Salmon are specifically being studied as part of this 5 year project because they are a #KeystoneSpecies that helps signal the health of a watershed.

The Xwulqw’selu & Chemainus watersheds are both located in the highly privatized, highly degraded landscape of southeast Vancouver Island & face similar issues. The #rivers and their #tributaries have been deeply impacted by land use & #ClimateChange. Unlike the neighbouring Quw’utsun (Cowichan) watershed, the Xwulqw’selu & Chemainus rivers have no lake to store water, which leaves them more vulnerable to drought & dangerously low flows.

Learn more about the Twinned Watersheds Project:
https://cowichanwatershedboard.ca/twinned-watershed

#BCWatersheds #WaterIsLife #PacificNorthwest #BritishColumbia #Cascadia #PNW #ecosystems #ProtectWatersheds #Nature #Streamkeepers #WaterMonitoring #WaterHealth #Environmental #WaterfallWednesday #Ecology #hydrology

#Halalt #FirstNation near #Chemainus is seeking the #return of #land taken from its reserve for the #ENRailway in the early 1900s.
It earlier went to the #SupremeCourtOfBC asking for land taken for the now closed #railway . That #lawsuit remains active.
They said #SnawNawAs First Nation at #Nanoose is getting back 10 acres of Island corridor land running through its reserve & the province is putting in $18 million for consultation.
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/halalt-first-nation-also-seeking-return-of-land-used-for-rail-corridor-6708101

#landback #VancouverIsland #PNW #BCPoli