Restoring Tlchs: !

An Ethnoecological Restoration Study in Chatham Islands, British Columbia, Canada

Thiago Gomes, gothiago@uvic.ca School of Environmental Studies
Introduction
Chatham Islands are part of a small archipelago, Tlchs, in the Salish Sea off southeastern Vancouver Island, territory of the Songhees First Nation. Chatham and adjacent islands (Fig.1) comprise nationally endangered Garry oak ecosystems, supporting a wide diversity of habitats for plant and wildlife communities.


Figure 1: Tlchs: Chatham Islands and
Island, less than Discovery 5km from Victoria, BC, Canada.


Vancouver Island

Chatham Islands Victoria

Preliminary Results
Although this project is in its initial eld work stage, there are some signicant results that elucidate and address to the research questions.

Semi-structured interviews and participatory observation:

Focus on TEKW and memories, signicance and sense of place, restoration/intervention directions and values. From in situ interviews (Fig.3), some comments are highlighted:
- Youth: I feel home here. Peacefulnext time I want to explore more.
- Leader: mixed feelings strong and fragile at the same time.
- Another elder, with tears in his eyes: I remember hearing my mom crying because she missed this place. This is one of the happiest days of my life, and there were many... I was so honoured to be walking on my familys historical grounds for the rst time in my life.
- Sellemah: This is my home
For the rst ten years of my life I
was raised by my grandparents
and great-grandparents in
Chatham Islands. We were very
self-sustaining we had our own
fruit trees, vegetable garden, sh,
sea urchins, crabs I would love
to see the youth as well as elders
to come together in this project to
promote our sustainability we
need to get back to our roots.

Discovery Island

Today, Songhees territory at Tlchs (meaning island) totals160ha, including Chatham Islands, adjacent islets and the north portion of Discovery Island. Southern Discovery Island is a Provincial Park.
West Chatham Island is the birthplace and was childhood home for Songhees elder Joan Morris [Sellemah]. Tlchs has been uninhabited and untended for over 50 years now, entering in a process of rapid environmental change and degradation after the locals moved inland to the new Songhees Reserve in the late 1950s. Sellemah (Fig.2) longs to see traditional gardens and orchards in Chatham Islands restored, as well as her peoples relationship with their environment, for healthier and more sustainable ways of life. My research honours this vision by combining qualitative, quantitative and participatory approaches, exploring how to best intervene in heavily degraded cultural landscapes such as Tlchs in order to promote ecological and cultural integrity and long-term sustainability to people and target ecosystems.

Figure 2: Joan Morris, Sellemah (pron. /Se-hl-le-mah/) at the Songhees Band Ofce, where she works as the Coordinator for the Health and Diabetes Centre.

Terrestrial Cultural Ecosystem Mapping:

The following maps are samples of TCEM results for the southern portion of West Chatham Island (Fig.5 and Fig.6). This approach focuses on geo-referencing and mapping information about cultural features of the landscape, ecological communities, site characteristics, disturbances and invasive species.


















Figure 5: Ecological Communities of the southern portion of West Chatham Island.


Coastal bluff-meadow: agronomic grasses (Agrostis sp., Bromus spp. + bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) + yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Also: Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), camas (Camassia sp.), chocolate lily (Fritillaria afnis) Nutrient: poor Moisture: dry Disturbance: salty southwest winds, Canada geese (Branta canadensis) landing and grazing, trampling by unauthorized visitors, invasive species.
Cultural site: historical edible bulb gardens, frequent low-intensity res.
Woodland: shore pine (Pinus contorta subsp. contorta) + sitka willow (Salix sitchensis) + Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus). Also: Pacic crabapple (Malus fusca), Saskatoonberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium), Trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus), English ivy (Hedera helix) Nutrient: poor Moisture: dry Disturbance: salty southwest winds, invasive species.

Figure 3: Sellemah and Thiago Gomes lming a scene for the short documentary being produced as an outcome of this research project.

Objectives
The purpose of this study is to foster innovative processes for restoration intervention in Chatham Islands that will support the recovery of ecosystems, cultural and traditional knowledge revitalization in the landscape and community engagement, ultimately reversing trends of biodiversity and cultural losses within this region.

Approach
The following research questions and approaches (Table 1) emerged from the proposed objectives:

Primary Question Approach
How to best intervene in heavily
degraded cultural landscapes in order to Ethnoecological
promote ecological and cultural integrity restoration:
and long- term sustainability to people ecological and social and target ecosystems at Tlchs,
sciences
Chatham Islands, territory of the Songhees First Nation?
Subsidiary Questions Approaches
Are the principles of wild design* and the
concept of cultural keystone place** pertinent Participatory observation; Semi-structured
to determine the most appropriate intervention interviews. approaches to Tlchs?
Archival research;
What are the spatial attributes of present and Semi-structured
historical ecological and cultural patterns, interviews; TerrestrialCultural Ecosystem
structures and processes in West Chatham? Mapping (TCEM).
How can TEKW (Traditional Ecological Semi-structured
Knowledge and Wisdom) initiate and guide the interviews; Participatory
recovery of ecological and cultural features observation; In-situ community
and promote community engagement at gatherings.
Tlchs? Table 1: Research question and approaches employed in the present study.

!

*Wild Design has emphasis on free-owing ecological processes and deliberate human intervention to meet restoration objectives1
**Cultural Keystone Place is analogous to the Cultural Keystone Species concept, dened by culturally salient species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people, as reected in the fundamental roles these species have in diet, materials, medicine, and/or spiritual practices2.

Timeline for Land Use Change in Tlchs:
Archival research and interviews are generating a historical baseline for land use change in the islands (Chart 1 and Fig.4).

Chart 1: Illustrated timeline for land use change in Tlchs3.




Late Early Late 2011! Future!
Before 1862-3! 1800s! 1900s! 1940s- 1970s-! 1990s! 1800s! 1960s! 1980s!
Before 1800s: summer shing villages, reef-net locations, garden, Camassia beds, shing. Sellemahs childhood. home of the Sk.ignes (the people of the islands).
Families left the islands to join the inland reservations.

1862-3: Refuge for Songhees people during the smallpox 1970s-1980s: accidental re took over West Chatham, outbreak in southern Vancouver Island.
destroying the remnants of the old homestead and
Late 1800s: several families moved and settled in the facilitating the establishment of invasive species.
islands after the smallpox epidemic. Plank houses and Discovery Island Marine Park established (1972). smoke houses. Families soon became responsible for most Unpopulated, the islands became a desired route for
of the shing done by the group.
camping and outdoor activities. Songhees decided to close Early 1900s: Islands became one of only few sources of the islands for non-community members after recurring re
edible bulbs (mainly Camassia sp.), in prairies maintained accidents and garbage accumulation in the islands and by frequent intentional low-intensity res, since mainland beaches.

sites were being developed by European settlers. Sheep 1990s: First attempt to restore Camassia sp. and other were introduced to some of the islands. Population living edible bulbs through re and seeding treatments.

at Tlchs in 1915 was 22.

1940s-1960s: Chatham Islands became home of Tom the ecosystems today: novel
from 1940-1957. Modern potlaches and dances. 2011: State of appropriate intervention?
ecosystems*?
James Future: most Houses, fences, sheep, chicken, fruit orchard, vegetable










1954 (NAPL bc1671)
1930 (NAPL a3066)

Figure 4: West Chatham
Island, British Columbia.
Aerial photographs from the National Aerial Photography
Library and Capital Regional
District. 1930: small homestead on west side of
the island; 1954: expanded
homestead and fences, new construction on the
northwestern portion of the
island; 1980: no construction left after
accidental re; 2005: heavily
1980 (NAPL bcc248)
2005 (CRD)
invaded plant communities.

BC Archives: CM/C2291 BC Archives: PDP06962 BC Archives: PN05867 BC Archives: PN06489 Joan Morris Pers. Arch BC Archives: D02737 Beckwith, B. (1999) Gomes, T. (2011) Gomes, T. (2011)

and I dream about a place where our people could healsomewhere peaceful...take a break from troubles of life and heal at the land.

Figure 6: Important Species of the southern portion of West Chatham Island.

1 Camassia sp.
2 Rubus armeniacus
3 Cirsium arvense
4 Hedera helix

English Ivy
Himalayan blackberry
Canada thistle
Blue camas

Invasive species
Native species
Invasive species
Invasive species

Encroaching Dominant in shrub layer
Covering east Edible bulbs/
cultivated
Small patches

Encroaching native vegetation

portion of bluff area

5 Cystisus scoparius
Scotch broom
Invasive species
Colonizing rocky shrubs and small outcrop
trees on east side
Small shrubs

Considerations
The preliminary results indicate that Tlchs is a place with deep cultural and spiritual signicance, not only to Sellemah and her family, but also to other members of the Songhees Nation and neighbouring First Nations. Tlchs is likely to be a Cultural Keystone Place, as it represents today the closest state of landscape to the one of their ancestors. Much still remains of TEKW and memory associated with these islands. Ecological sensitivity is also an important issue as native species are struggling in heavily invaded environments. Wild Design principles of clarity, delity, resilience, restraint, respect, responsibility and engagement have been observed throughout the entire process. Intervention of these ecosystems will necessarily consider the sensitivity of target ecosystems and local values, ultimately following the guidance of elders and TEKW.

Future Directions
Prioritize sites for intervention and determine intervention activities based on historical, ecological, cultural and community information.
Risk assessment of target sites: ecological and cultural awareness (e.g.: species at risk and sacred sites).
Gatherings (work parties and traditional pit-cooking feasts) to promote community awareness and Songhees presence at Tlchs.
Initial steps for a long-term intervention plan towards sustainable land use that promotes ecological and cultural integrity.

*Novel, no-analog or emerging ecosystems are are dened as ecosystems that differ in species composition, abundance and function from present and past ecosystems, and that arise as a result of human action, environmental change, and the impacts of the deliberate and inadvertent introduction of species from other regions4. Novel ecosystems can emerge either from the degradation or invasion of native or wild ecosystems or from the abandonment of intensively managed systems.

Acknowledgements: the Songhees First Nation, especially Joan Morris [Sellemah] and her family, Band Councilor Ron Sam, Lkwungen Community Garden
Coordinator Wilfred George, former Lands Manager Cheryl Bryce, and the great volunteers from Songhees Youth and Garden team. Marilyn Lambert and Rod Davis for transportation. Cara Barter (LE,NONET Student Research Apprenticeship); supervisors Dr. Eric Higgs and Dr. Nancy Turner. The Sarah Spencer Research Fund.

References:

1Higgs,

E (2003) Nature by Design: People, Natural Process and Ecological Restoration. MIT. 357p, 2Garibaldi A and Turner, N (2004) Cultural keystone species: implications for ecological conservation and restoration. Ecology and Society 9(3): 1. [online] URL: http://

www.ecologyandsociety.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/vol9/iss3/art1/, 3Boas (1890), Hill-Tout (1905), Suttles, W (1974) The Economic Life of the Coast Salish of the Haro and Rosario Straits. Garlund: New York , Duff, W (1969) The Fort Victoria Treaties. BC Studies, no.3 Fall, Keddie, G (2003) Songhees Pictorial: A History of the Songhees People as seen by Outsiders, 1790-1912. Royal BC Museum. Victoria, Canada. 175p. ,Lutz, JS (2009) Makk: A new history about aboriginal-white relations. UBC Press: Vancouver., 4Milton, SJ (2003) Emerging Ecosystems: a washing stone for ecologists, economists and sociologists? South African Journal of Science 99. 404-406, Hobbs, R.J., Arico, S., Aronson, J., Brown, J.S., Bridgewater, P., Cramer, V.A., Epstein, P.R., Ewel, J.J., Klink, C.A., Lugo, A.E., Norton, D., Ojima, D., Richadson, D.M., Sanderson, E.W., Valladares, F., Vila, M., Zamora, R., Zobel, M., (2006). Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 15, 17.