RECAP: Quw'utsun Estuary Field Day

“This was our grocery store,” says Jared Qwustenuxun Williams, traditional foods champion and chef, educator, and consultant at Qwustenuxun Consulting, gesturing to the estuary land we are standing on. This area where the Quw’utsun (Cowichan) River meets the sea was an incredibly productive food source. It provided food and medicine in such abundance that it supported a population of at least 25,000 people, with extra to trade with neighbouring communities. Each family had a specific area they owned and stewarded where they could harvest. The land was a maze of tidal streams, with salmon weirs and duck nets, each structure owned and operated by a specific family.

Back on a sunny day in late September, a group of about 40 farmers and community members gathered in the estuary to learn this history and witness the beginnings of the Quw’utsun Estuary Food System Revitalization Project. This exciting project is a collaboration among many groups to restore an old hay field to the thriving food system it once was, using Indigenous food and medicine plants, and involving the community in implementation and stewardship. We heard from Jared Qwustenuxun Williams, Dr. Jennifer Grenz, Nava, and Alyssa of the UBC Indigenous Ecology Lab, Tom and Steve of the Nature Trust of BC, and Jill of Satinflower Nurseries about the project.

Qwustenuxun started the day with a song and welcome, and then we all introduced ourselves during the introduction circle, heard about the plans for the site, enjoyed a delicious lunch from Hungry Bubbas, and spent time sharing stories and getting to know the plants onsite.

Steve and Jill shared that the team had just built a 4-acre fenced nursery area to propagate their own plants for the restoration, since no nursery in BC has the capacity to supply all the plants they would need. They are propagating plants by seed and root divisions to plant out, with support from Satinflower Nurseries. In total, 17 acres of land will be planted with Indigenous food and medicine plants in the coming years!

Onsite nursery rows planted with native plants

Since the estuary was taken over by European settlers around the 1860s, the land has been diked, drained, filled, rivers moved, and habitat destroyed for decades to make way for log shipping and storage, construction, growing hay and corn for cattle, and more.

“This place was a farm before hay,” adds Jennifer Grenz, head of the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC. Many people don’t think of farming specifically when they hear about Indigenous food systems, but Indigenous peoples were -and still are- skilled agriculturalists, producing a bounty of food on the land.

Through a unique partnership between the Nature Trust of BC, Ducks Unlimited, Cowichan Tribes, the Indigenous Ecology Lab, Satinflower Nurseries, and more, the site will finally be restored back to its historical agricultural use, healing the community and habitat along the way. We were thrilled to be able to bring some of the Young Agrarians network onsite to learn about this initiative working towards Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

Dr. Jennifer Grenz shows the group the scotch broom seed pods she found that show beetle damage from a new species that is helping to control the spread of the plant

Early History of the Land

This is a history of the early days of colonization in the area, has told by Qwustenuxun, and paraphrased here. We tell these stories not the make people feel bad or guilty, but to tell the truths of this land, and to help us understand how we got to where we are today.

This estuary was taken from Indigenous people around the 1860s. The open, grassy fields that were used for growing camas, an important Indigenous food crop, looked like great cattle forage to the early European settlers of the area. So they turned their cows loose on the camas farms, and the cows would graze down the camas plants to nubs. Then when someone from the Indigenous community came to harvest from their camas patch, they had nothing left to harvest. But they saw a cow grazing on their land, so they tried to harvest the cow so they’d have something to eat. That was not appreciated by the early settlers, who sought legal action against Indigenous peoples. On at least one occasion, a local chief was hanged in Victoria for attempting to harvest a cow on his land, even though the cow survived.

Qwustenuxun shares about traditional plant uses

Around 1868, smallpox hit the community. The estimated population of 25,000 in the largest village dwindled to 300 people in all the surrounding villages combined. Then in 1878 children were stolen from their families and taken to residential “school” on Cooper Island. That “school” ran until the 70s in an attempt to sever Indigenous peoples’ connection to the land and their culture. It’s incredible that knowledge of traditional foods and culture is still around, which speaks to the resilience of the Quw’utsun peoples, and all Indigenous cultures.

While the damaging actions in the past cannot be undone, this project is a step towards healing. Historical wrongdoings have lasting impacts on the land and people, that are still very much felt today.

Alyssa and Nava of UBC share about the research they are doing in the estuary

The Cowichan Estuary Food System Revitalization Project

The Cowichan Estuary is one of the largest and most productive intertidal zones on Vancouver Island. The Nature Trust of BC purchased the land around the 90s from the Dinsdale family who had owned it before and operated Dinsdale Farm. They have been phasing out the haying, and are transitioning the land to growing Indigenous food and medicine crops again. This is a win not only for local food security and Indigenous food sovereignty- it’s also beneficial for enhancing habitat for wildlife such as salmon, birds, and pollinators. In total, the project will re-establish of over 70 hectares of natural tidal marsh.

The project involves the removal of dikes, which will restore natural tidal processes and help the estuary provide essential climate services such as flood water absorption and protection from storm surges, as well as being a powerful carbon sink, with sediments capable of capturing carbon ten times as quickly as forest sediments. Without implementing these changes, 60% of the estuary marsh habitat will be lost due to sea level rise.

One unique thing about this project is that instead of restoring the site and limiting human interaction, like in a traditional park, people will be part of the restoration process and ongoing stewardship. Community members will be able to harvest and tend to the plants, fostering food security and connections to the land for generations to come.

“When we write ourselves out of the script, it leads to failure”, says Jennifer Grenz, referring to old-school types of restoration projects that exclude human interaction. “Building relationships to the land is equally important as the restoration work itself.”

Close up of the scotch broom seeds with tell-tale beetle damage

Benefits of the Project

We wanted to put together a list of benefits of this exciting project, so community members can see what this project offers at a glance:

Enhancing Indigenous Food Sovereignty and economic development
Improving local food (and medicine) security
Indigenous food plants will produce more calories than hay
Creating more and better habitat for birds, fish, pollinators, and other wildlife
Involving the community in restoration and food production, fostering connections to nature, exercise, and encouraging future farmers
The removal of dikes will help the estuary provide essential safety services such as flood water absorption and protection from storm surges
Fighting climate change by capturing carbon – estuary sediments are capable of capturing carbon ten times as quickly as forest sediments
Preserving estuary land from being lost to sea level rise, so it can continue providing habitat, safety, and climate services

Gratitude

Our hearts are full after a full day of learning and unlearning, song, and stories. Huge gratitude to everyone involved who made the day so special.

We were limited in how many people could join due to parking constraints, but this event had a waitlist over 70 people, indicating the excitement and community support for the project. We hope to collaborate on future work parties here. Sign up for the Young Agrarians newsletter to hear about future events and ways to support the project.

Watch a short video of the day on our Instagram.