The grizzly bears of Glendale Cove are the stars that draw international visitors to Knight Inlet Lodge. They are also the catalyst for one of the more than 100 successful First Nations businesses launched with the help of Coast Funds, an Indigenous-led conservation finance organization created through the 2006 Great Bear Rainforest agreements.

“It is 100 per cent First Nations owned and it opened up our eyes to opportunities beyond resource extraction and shone a light on the opportunities and benefits of ecotourism,” Dallas Smith, president of Nanwakolas Council and Knight Inlet Lodge, told The Narwhal.

The former fishing lodge was bought two years ago from Dean and Kathy Wyatt by Nanwakolas — representing the Da’naxda’xw Awaetlala, Mamalilikulla, Tlowitsis, Wei Wai Kum and K’omoks First Nations — with a $6-million investment from Coast Funds, which allocates funds across the Indigenous communities of the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii.

“It was a fair chunk of change and one of the great things is it has shown First Nations can work together in ecotourism opportunities when we pool our assets and those of Coast Funds,” Smith said.

The success of the ecolodge can be measured in occupancy rates of 90 to 95 per cent, with the majority of visitors coming from markets such as Europe and Australia.

The Great Bear Rainforest covers 6.4 million hectares on British Columbia’s north and central coast — equivalent in size to Ireland. The land is home to 26 First Nations. The 2006 agreements outlined forest practices for the area, including protecting 70 per cent of old-growth forest.

Map: Coast Funds

Coast Funds was established with funding that came through First Nations’ reconciliation agreements with B.C. and Canada, in combination with funding raised through private donations.

In addition to financial help, Coast Funds has provided help with business management and scientific training so community members can learn more about the bears and other wildlife populations.

Knight Inlet Lodge now offers 13 wildlife viewing opportunities with seven bear viewing stands, an array of small boats that take visitors up spawning channels for a closer look at the bears and 52 wildlife cameras — down from 57 as five were destroyed by wolves or bears.

As much effort is put into bear monitoring and gaining a better understanding of bear life cycles, diet and migration routes as is put into offering a good experience for customers, Smith said.

“We make sure that we are not having an impact on bear health and there are not too many boats crowding into the same inlet. You are not even allowed to sneak a cookie into the boat,” Smith said.

Four Guardian Watchmen have been trained for Knight Inlet, with another three in training, and the monitoring program is a model for managing the surrounding territories. Indigenous-led guardian programs empower communities to manage ancestral lands according to traditional laws and values.

Guardian Watchmen are the eyes and ears on the lands and waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. Pictured here are members of the Coastal Stewardship Network — one of the first projects for which Coast Funds’ board approved funding. Photo: Alishia Boulette

Knight Inlet is an example of the achievements of the conservation finance funds, which promote community well-being and Indigenous-led sustainable development and stewardship, Brodie Guy, Coast Funds executive director, told The Narwhal.

Over the last decade, more than 1,000 permanent jobs have been created, 100 businesses have been developed or expanded and 14 regional monitoring and Guardian Watchmen programs, operating across 2.5 million hectares, have been created or expanded, according to a Coast Funds report released this week.

Funding approved for 353 projects has attracted more than $286 million in new investment to the region between 2008 and 2018 and every dollar spent by Coast Funds leverages three or four dollars, according to the report.

“We are demonstrating that conservation finance, led by Indigenous people, is the key to protecting the world’s most precious ecosystems, such as the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii,” Guy said.

One key is that funding is allocated across the communities, rather than one big pot, so it avoids the gold rush mentality or competition between First Nations, Guy told The Narwhal.

“It’s completely up to the nation based on their vision for moving forward and their stewardship of the land and water in this period of — hopefully — decolonization,” he said.

Spirit Bear Lodge in Klemtu sponsors the Súa youth cultural program to support cultural reconnection with Kitasoo/Xai’xais traditions. The lodge is owned-and-operated by the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation and employs 10 per cent of the local population. Photo: Súa youth cultural program

Fisheries technicians from Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries Stewardship program hold up a red rock crab while conducting Dungeness biosampling as part of surveys occurring year-round in Stumaun Bay and Big Bay. First Nations have conducted 222 species research and habitat restoration initiatives with support from Coast Funds. Photo: Lax Kw’alaams fisheries stewardship program.

Initiatives include more than 220 species research and habitat restoration programs, 71 projects involving access to traditional foods and 50 protecting cultural assets.

The larger projects range from a renovated grocery store in remote Rivers Inlet to a unique sustainable scallop project and, so far, of the more than 100 businesses started or expanded, only four have failed, Guy said.

Most are community owned and the low failure rate demonstrates the strategic, strong and smart leadership of First Nations applying for projects, he said.

“We are moving away from a totally extractive economy with publicly traded companies coming into the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii and extracting value and leaving little value there,” Guy said, underlining that a new way of doing business has taken root.

“We are shifting from an extractive and exploitative model of development to one that has benefits for everyone. It’s not just Indigenous people that are benefitting. It’s everyone of the Central Coast,” he said.

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The tiny community of Klemtu has been transformed over the last decade as funding from Great Bear Rainforest agreements allowed members of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation to revamp their tourism strategy and come up with new business opportunities while protecting their traditional territory.

The Spirit Bear Lodge was expanded from six to 24 beds, the single wildlife viewing vessel was replaced with a new fleet of boats and business tripled.

Tourists from all over the world now travel to Klemtu to watch grizzly bears, wolves, whales and — for the lucky ones — the rare white spirit (Kermode) bear.

“It has been huge for the community,” said Chief Councillor Douglas Neasloss.

About 50 people from the village of 320 are now employed in some way in tourism operations and have been trained for jobs ranging from chefs to tour operators.

Previously most jobs in the area were in forestry or fishing.

“Every family is involved in the lodge in some shape of form. There’s a lot of pride in the business,” Neasloss said.

Klemtu is the poster child for how investment in a conservation-based economy is bringing jobs and sustainable businesses to First Nations communities in the Great Bear Rainforest.

But the story is repeated throughout the area says a report released Wednesday by Coast Funds, the conservation financing organization created in 2007 as part of the Great Bear Rainforest agreements.

Coast Funds, a partnership of private foundations and government, was initially established with $118-million and has now approved grants of more than $62-million for 271 conservation and sustainable development projects in 27 communities in the region.

The spinoff is that First Nations have attracted more than $200-million in new investment, which is helping develop and diversify the coastal economy, and the projects have created 670 permanent new jobs in areas such as science, research, ecotourism and aquaculture, says the report.

The spread of investment allows coastal First Nations to avoid an over-reliance on single industries. Source: Coast Funds.

About 500 of those jobs are held by First Nations community members, amounting to nine per cent of the working age population of the 26 First Nations communities in the area.

Projects are as varied as the Haida’s Taan Forest operations, businesses exporting sustainably harvested seafood, Heiltsuk’s stewardship department and creation of the Coastal Guardian Watchman network to monitor and protect coastal ecosystems over 1.7-million hectares.

First Nations have also finalized 18 protected area management plans and have launched a story telling website and an interactive map illustrating ecologically and culturally significant protected areas.

“Over the past eight years we’ve seen an incredible diversity of new stewardship programs and sustainable businesses prosper across the coast,” said Brodie Guy, Coast Funds executive director.

“With over $100-million in funds under management, Coast Funds looks forward to the many exciting new initiatives that First Nations continue to spearhead throughout the Great Bear Rainforest,” he said.

B.C. Coastal #FirstNations Conservation Economy Booming: New Report https://t.co/M8W8xz8Odt #bcpoli #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/OtX8Sea6JX

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) September 20, 2016

Coastal First Nations president Marilyn Slett said that, for the coastal economy to continue to grow, the key is recognizing the link between economic and ecological sustainability.

“It is not possible to achieve one without the other,” she said.

An economy based on respect is possible, as was proved by First Nations ancestors, said Peter Lantin, Council of the Haida Nation president.

“They had ways of thinking and knowledge that put the needs of other creatures of the earth ahead of their own,” he said.

“We would like to replicate that understanding today and design an economy that considers others fully and equally and, in that way, we can benefit too.”

However, challenges remain, said Neasloss, pointing to the provincial government’s support for the grizzly bear trophy hunt — something the community has vowed to stop. Nine First Nations in the Great Bear have banned bear hunting in their traditional territories, but that ban is not recognized by the province.

Others communities, such as Hartley Bay, continue to worry about possible approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline, bringing a procession of bitumen-carrying tankers to the wild West Coast water and, while conservation agreements protect 85 per cent of rainforest from commercial logging, skirmishes over logging erupt intermittently.

However, overall, there is now infinitely more protection than before the agreements were ratified, Neasloss said.

“And we are looking at protecting sensitive wildlife habitat and cultural areas,” he said.

The Great Bear Rainforest, which covers 6.4-million hectares, stretching from northern Vancouver Island to the Alaska Panhandle, will get an additional boost later this month with a royal visit from William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who will endorse the region as part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, which aims to conserve forests.

Image: Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation cultural dance. Photo by Cael Cook via Coast Funds and Spirit Bear Lodge.

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