Bringing Salmon Home to Kus-kus-sum

Chief Ken Price wants to see the salmon thrive again where the Courtenay River runs by the site of the traditional village of Kus-kus-sum.

Price, who is Chief of the K’ómoks First Nation, said his ancestors have lived at Kus-kus-sum for millennia, as far back as at least 400 BCE. A large weir made it a great place to fish, and Sitka spruces on either side of the river were used to hang cedar boxes for tree burials.

But when settlers arrived, the K’ómoks First Nation were removed from their land, and in 1949, a mill was built on the K’ómoks estuary, across from the former village site. When the mill finally closed in 2004, the site became desolate and vacant. Now, Project Watershed is working to restore life to the estuarine habitat and welcome salmon once again.

“Our goal is to rehabilitate the Chinook and other salmon populations that are so important to the nation, for future generations to come,” Chief Price said.

In 2020, the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society finally raised enough funds to purchase the eight-acre site from lumber producer Interfor, and in 2021, the land was transferred to the society. Since then, it has removed more than 12,000 cubic metres of concrete from the industrial site and revegetated five acres of it.

The project is being led by the society, with the help of an intergovernmental partnership between the K’ómoks First Nation and the City of Courtenay. Together, they’re aiming to restore this part of the estuary, named Kus-kus-sum in honour of the village, to benefit juvenile salmonids.

“The little out-migrating fish use the estuary quite heavily for feeding, rearing and hiding purposes,” said Caitlin Pierzchalski, executive director of Project Watershed. “If there are healthy estuarine sites within the estuary, it really increases their out-migration success.”

“Kus-kus-sum achieves many environmental goals to increase salmon habitat, protect shorelines from flooding and sea level rise, build social awareness of climate change adaptation solutions, and meaningfully achieve intergovernmental land stewardship and reconciliation,” said Pierzchalski in nominating Project Watershed for the Real Estate Foundation of BC’s Fresh Water Award.

The Fresh Water Award honours a project that is dedicated to conserving watersheds and recognizing the value of healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands. Project Watershed was recognized last month at the Land Awards in Vancouver, an event held biannually by the Real Estate Foundation of BC to honour projects that create more sustainable, inclusive and resilient communities. Other finalists for this year’s award included the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre Society, Living Lakes Canada, Nature Trust of BC and Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Pierzchalski said the partnership between the First Nation and the municipality for this project is unique. “There aren’t a lot of situations where you have a First Nation, a stewardship group and a local municipality all working in partnership to achieve a goal that’s not explicitly infrastructure based.”

For Chief Price, the partnership is an acknowledgment of the nation’s rights and connection to their land. Once Project Watershed is complete, land ownership of Kus-kus-sum will be transferred to K’ómoks First Nation for them to conserve for generations to come.

“As stewards of this land, we will be able to continue protecting these fragile and important habitats, as well as our cultural interests,” Chief Price said.

To help the revitalized habitat remain a haven in the future, Pierzchalski said, Kus-kus-sum is also being outfitted with resiliency measures to protect against the adverse impacts of climate change.

An elevated berm at the back of the site, where it borders a road, will make it more tolerant to floods, and drainage channels will provide a place for water to flow back into the river in case it ever breaches the berm. The river will also be widened as part of this process.

Once it’s revegetated, Kus-kus-sum will also tout carbon sequestration benefits, Pierzchalski said.

“These riparian tidal forests are one of the very best carbon-sequestering ecosystems that we have in the Pacific Northwest. So, restoring these also helps draw down carbon within our local environment.”

With only one-third of the site left to recontour and revegetate, Pierzchalski said, if funding is confirmed, the project could be wrapped up by late winter or early spring of 2026.

The last hurdle the project will face is the removal of a steel piling wall that has sat between the river and the former sawmill site for decades, often used by harbour seals to prey upon migrating salmon more easily. A barge will have to make its way up the Courtenay River to retrieve the deathly piece of infrastructure before rematriation of the site can occur.

Chief Price said that once the site is returned to his nation, he hopes the benefits of Kus-kus-sum extend beyond its role as a haven for fish.

“We hope that the restored area will not only benefit salmon habitat, but also provide an opportunity for K’ómoks and the surrounding communities to engage with the cultural and ecological importance of the area.”