Protecting the Biodiversity of the Ahousaht Haḥuułii via Indigenous-led Conservancies

“This ecosystem that we belong to and are dependent upon”:
protecting the biodiversity of the Ahousaht haḥuułii via Indigenous-led conservancies

As told to Erin Linn McMullan

“Ahous Adventures represents an opportunity for the Ahousaht People to show the world who we are.”
— ʔikaatius Tyson Atleo, hereditary chief-in-line of the Ahousaht Nation

My names are ʔikaatius and Tyson Dion Obe Atleo. I was given the name ʔikaatius by
my family at a feast hosted by my father in our village in April 2012. The name ʔikaatius belonged to my ancestor from eight generations past and was originally translated to mean, “making a continuous sound, saying the same thing” (E. R. Atleo, Tsawalk: A Nuu-chah-nulth Worldview, 2001, p. 251). My grandfather has offered a more recent interpretation and suggests the name was given as a reflection of my developing skills as an expert communicator and growing ability to use those skills to facilitate good circumstances for those around me and provide for our community in a modern world. I was given this new, adult name because the family felt it was time I started to more formally fulfill some of my father’s hereditary responsibilities in the governing and development of our community.

“Our culture and our governance and our spirituality have adapted over time, informed by the place that we live, and a symbiotic relationship that our community and People have with the life-giving forces of our haḥuułii – of our territorial lands and waters.” Tyson emphasizes that because of the reciprocal nature of that relationship for survival, “the laws of that community must respect and uphold that which sustains us.”

When you visit the Ahousaht haḥuułii with Ahous Adventures [https://ahousadventures.com/] whether on an eco-marine tour with its knowledgeable guides, hiking Lone Cone [https://ahousadventures.com/lone-cone-trail/] to its breathtaking summit, soaking in the luxuriant Mux̣šiƛa Hot Springs https://ahousadventures.com/tours/hot-springs/] at Nism̓aakqin or staying at the Waʔuus Wilderness Lodge [https://tofinowildernessresort.com/] in the heart of the region, every day is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and the result of Nuu-chah-nulth stewardship since time immemorial.

Tyson emphasizes “It is now sustained through the protection of these ecosystems, which are critical for our biodiversity, which people come from all over the world to experience and see and be in awe of: bears in the rainforest and on the beaches, salmon moving up the rivers, feeding the orcas, and coming to spawn on those beaches, feeding the whales and the whole web of life in our ecosystem.”

Ahousaht led the establishment of new conservancies in partnership with British Columbia and Nature United. [https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024FOR0028-000958#:~:text=Approximately%2076%2C000%20hectares%20of%20Crown,areas%2C%20such%20as%20Strathcona%20Park.] These new conservancies in Clayoquot Sound represent a critical shift in protected area management, ensuring Ahousaht-led protection of old-growth forests and ecosystems and restoring decision-making authority to Nuu-chah-nulth Peoples. There are now approximately 340,000 acres (138,000 ha) of terrestrial protected areas in Ahousaht territories.

Describing the establishment of these conservancies on June 26, 2024, as a tool to achieve all these wonderful benefits, Tyson reflects on the shift to thinking not only “locally about how the ecosystem benefits our People but how it benefits British Columbians, Canadians, and people around the world.”

“In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, otherwise known as Nature United in Canada, we began a journey that started with community consultation and visioning and mapping to develop a land use plan that had our values overlaid on the land,” says Tyson. Beginning in 2012, “this 12-year project involved negotiations with the British Columbia government, the Canadian federal government, and the forest industry or, in particular, the forest company in the region, to realize a vision of increased Ahousaht values and decision-making over the land base.

“Those values are adapted from our ancient traditions to a modern context, for example, still retaining some access to timber for a local forest economy” while” prioritizing preservation of old growth for climate benefits, in addition to cultural benefits” as well as “taking advantage of market opportunities like carbon credit markets” for Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Enterprises Inc. (M.H.E.I.), [https://mhssahousaht.ca/governance-structure/] managed by the Ahousaht Ḥaẁiiḥ (hereditary chiefs) in trust for the Ahousaht People.

These conservancies were accomplished, Tyson explains, within the laws of British Columbia, under the Park Act, [https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96344_01] “using it as a tool because of its benefits to us.”

The “ethos of that relationship” between the Ahousaht and their haḥuułii had been disrupted for over 150 years, their place-based reciprocal model replaced by the Western economic model, in particular, with the introduction of the Fisheries Act (1868), [https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/mpo-dfo/MA1-1868-eng.pdf] geographically disconnected and focused on maximum yield for economic gain.

“When that shift took place,” explains Tyson, “we can very clearly, using scientific data as well as knowledge within our community, point to an irrecoverable destruction of life-giving systems in our territory, particularly fisheries. And not just fish, but marine mammal management and forest ecosystem management.” He describes it as “living a reality of scarcity where there was once abundance”.

“That shift from the Ahousaht model of governance, which I’ve contextualized, to a non-Ahousaht model of governance immediately results in ecosystem decline.”

Now in 2025, as Tyson points out, is a time of resurgence, with the pendulum shifting slowly back to an ecosystem-based approach to decision-making and management.

“What we’ve realized collectively as a Nation is how precious and how sensitive these ecosystems are to destruction and how they can offer things to the world amidst biodiversity and climate crisis,” says Tyson, emphasizing that it’s critical to maintain marine ecosystem health in addition to terrestrial ecosystem health (freshwater and forests).

“We’re building a new working relationship with the British Columbia government that sees BC and BC parks valuing a partnership and working relationship with the Ahousaht to achieve to establish and then achieve mutually beneficial outcomes from protected area management.”

In 2017, Ahousaht also took over park management of Mux̣šiƛa Hot Springs at Nism̓aakqin (formerly Maquinna Park) which provides guests of Ahous Adventures with exclusive morning and evening access, as well as ensuring access for the community. Tyson expresses the hope that this too will shift to a conservancy in future, which under British Columbia legislation gives increased decision-making authority to First Nations.

He describes these developments as “acts of reconciliation between Ahousaht and the British Columbia government” which while small and incremental “are meaningful, resulting in improvements and increased Ahousaht value and decision-making over the territories to which we have an intimate relationship.”

Ahousaht, with an approximate population of 2,200, has also committed to the restoration of damaged ecosytems through partnerships with groups like REDD Fish Restoration Society. [https://reddfish.org/]

One of the biggest challenges, however, will be to repair the historical damage left by the logging industry with many watersheds destroyed, including lost salmon habitat and in many cases, salmon being extirpated from smaller systems. “Rebuilding rivers that were made by the Creator is no easy task and very expensive work.”

Tyson acknowledges that “the establishment of conservancies builds on many generations of legacy dating all the way back to pre-contact values for how Ahousahts relate to ecosystems and then moving through contact into many of our families’ histories who held on to our traditions.

“It’s in the time of my grandfather and the fathers and grandfathers of other hereditary leaders where they, in a period of significant racism and marginalization, stood their ground and said, no, our values matter and are very important and that ecosystem matters to us, and it’s very important.”

Tyson’s grandfather, Umeek, Dr. E. Richard Atleo wrote several important publications on Ahousaht governance and culture – Tsawalk: A Nuu-chah-nulth worldview (2004) [https://www.ubcpress.ca/tsawalk] and Principles of Tsawalk: An Indigenous Approach to Global Crisis (2011) [https://www.ubcpress.ca/principles-of-tsawalk] and served on a scientific panel for Clayoquot Sound. While initially the western science leads could not see the Nuu-chah-nulth way, with great effort his grandfather and other panel members were able to show them “exactly how valuable our knowledge was in the context of ecosystem management.” This resulted successfully in the Clayoquot Sound land use order, the best model for old growth forest coastal temperate management in British Columbia.

In Principles of Tsawalk, Dr. Atleo underscores the Nuu-chah-nulth way of approaching global crisis by understanding “the integration of human behaviour with the behaviour of the earth and it’s environment” and addressing this “relational disharmony”.

“One life form, the human, has critically disrupted the balance between other life forms and systems: the animal, the air, the forests, and the seas. Ḥaw’iłume, Wealthy Mother Earth, like any wounded life form, now seems quite naturally to be in the throes of fighting back, of roaring in severe pain and anger, in response to the behaviour of the human life form.”

“All visitors that join us through Ahous Adventures are now reaping the rewards of that effort, of the effort of our generation and generations before us, to preserve this biodiversity, which is, in terms of biodiversity, is the highest in the world. In terms of biomass, at times, higher than many tropical places,” Tyson emphasizes.

“They will see that and feel that when they’re on the boats with our skippers” and when they interact with staff, “who take a tremendous amount of pride in ensuring that people experience our territories in a way that is inspiring and magical.

“It’s not just having an experience; it’s contributing to the livelihood and well-being of a community. Ahous Adventures is a vehicle through which we can be supported in managing protected areas, restoring and rebuilding an intimacy between our People, and our territories.”

Through the Ahousaht stewardship program – Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (M.H.S.S.) [https://mhssahousaht.ca/mhss/] – our guests directly participate in restoring and protecting these ecosystems and helping to sustain biodiversity for generations to come. M.H.S.S. contributes to the strengthening of culture which is dependent on intact ecosystems and future opportunities for young people whether they want to be researchers or guardians or retain access to local foods such as fish.

“There’s always a pride in the Ahousaht spirit for the well-being of our territory whether they’re participating on the ground or on the water. Ahousaht are active stewards of the land who are rebuilding that connection to place.”

“What it means to be Ahousaht is to always connect to our place, our territories, all Ahousahts have that right. It is all of their birthright.”