Gatherings · Paddle · June 2027

Pulling Water with the Moon.

Ancient forest, sheltered channels, hotsprings, and sea-beings. A self-supported kayak expedition along the east coast of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, navigating by charts and compass. No resupply, no cell service.

The brief

A light-touch study with a place, not of it.

For all its tremendous beauty, Gwaii Haanas carries real scars, as a park born through the fight to stop clearcut old-growth logging in the 1980s. We're paddling its coastline to experience the powerful legacy of the place, and to gain a sense of how the islands are adapting on their own terms, with active stewardship and co-management by the Haida and Parks Canada.

We'll visit the streams by old logging areas; kelp beds recovering from collapse; and take some readings of the warming, acidifying ocean that's threatening the ways of life, here and in every coastal community.

The question

What does a coast look like forty years after the logging stopped, and who is keeping it that way?

A reading

Echoes of Lives Lost on Haida Gwaii, Joanna Streetly, Hakai Magazine, 2015. A kayaker's arrival at SGang Gwaay.

Guardians of the Coast, Shanna Baker, Hakai Magazine, 2017. The Watchmen program's origin at SGang Gwaay.

§ 01  ·  The methods

Our practices to deepen our listening.

The measurable

Collect without taking

Water temperature and pH near each camp. Stream turbidity near old logging areas. Kelp forest photo tracks. Listening with hydrophones. Tagging species on iNaturalist.

The felt

Create by hand

Watercolor expressions. Collaborative sketches. Cyanotype prints. Field notes. Soundscapes.

The ingredients for creating a personal work of the journey and low-impact media (no photography, no film), with pending permission from the Haida Nation.

§ 02  ·  The course

Four legs, fifteen days of paddling, and four in reserve for weather.

  1. Leg 01

    Moresby Camp to Windy Bay

    Launch at Moresby Camp, south through Cumshewa Inlet to Skedans, then on toward Tanu and Windy Bay: sheltered channels, easy landings, three Watchmen sites we'll ask permission to visit.

    Days 1–7 · Skedans, Tanu, Windy Bay
  2. Leg 02

    Burnaby Narrows to Hot Spring Island

    A current-carved channel with rich intertidal life, timed for slack water, followed by the trip's longest open crossing, Juan Perez Sound, toward the hot springs at Gandll K'in. No clean bailout, so this one waits for its weather window.

    Days 8–11 · Burnaby Narrows, Juan Perez Sound, Hot Spring Island
  3. Leg 03

    Skincuttle Inlet & the Copper Islands

    Past Wanderer Island into Skincuttle Inlet, where tidal current starts to matter in earnest, then out to the Copper Islands, small offshore camps loud with nesting storm-petrels after dark.

    Days 12–13 · Skincuttle Inlet, Copper Islands
  4. Leg 04

    Houston Stewart Channel to SG̱ang Gwaay

    Run with the tide, not against it, since gap winds funnel hard through here, toward the mortuary poles of SG̱ang Gwaay, still lying as they fell.

    Days 14–15 · SG̱ang Gwaay, Rose Island
§ 03  ·  The return

The tide runs both ways.

Our efforts of noticing, sketching and recording are more than for personal transformation. As we grapple with the questions that arise, we will look to create something we can return to the island. A way we can make the data legible, to an existing group that can benefit.

Context

Acknowledging some of the existing context this work aims to connect with.

Co-management  ·  Gwaii Haanas

Council of the Haida Nation & Archipelago Management Board

Gwaii Haanas is jointly managed by Parks Canada and the Haida Nation. This voyage, and any public sharing of it, is contingent on their permission.

haidanation.ca →

Elizabeth May  ·  1990

Paradise Won

The definitive account of the decade-long fight to stop clearcut logging on Lyell Island and protect Gwaii Haanas, told through the Haida-led blockade that changed how this coast is governed. The book this whole trip keeps circling back to.

Paradise Won →

Inspiration  ·  Ancestral wayfinding

Haida Sails Resurgence Project & Haida Canoe Revitalization Group

Haida weavers, carvers, and knowledge holders reviving cedar-bending and cedar-sail weaving nearly lost to history. Work already well underway, in hands more practiced than ours.

haidasails.com → hcrg.org →

Watershed mapping  ·  Freshwater habitat

Riparian Fish Forest

John Broadhead's survey work has mapped over 15,000 barriers to fish movement across Haida Gwaii's rivers and streams. Logging roads and culverts still shaping the water we'll be reading turbidity from.

Read the report →

Seabird monitoring  ·  East Limestone Island

Laskeek Bay Conservation Society

Volunteer-run monitoring of Ancient Murrelets and other seabirds since 1990, one of the longest continuous seabird studies anywhere. Their research station sits on our route, near the Laskeek Bay crossing.

laskeekbay.org →

Council of the Haida Nation  ·  Salmon & marine stewardship

Haida Fisheries Program

Haida Guardians monitor salmon runs, herring roe on kelp, and nearshore fisheries across Haida Gwaii, pairing traditional stewardship with modern tools.

haidanation.ca/fisheries →

Haida-owned forestry  ·  Riparian restoration

Taan Forest

The forestry company now owned and run by the Haida Nation, doing active restoration work on the rivers logging once ran straight through.

taanforest.com →

Kelp & coastal research  ·  BC coast

Hakai Institute

Has partnered with Gwaii Haanas and Haida Fisheries to train dive teams and help fund kelp-forest mapping in Gwaii Haanas, part of a wider body of sea otter and kelp research spanning the BC coast.

hakai.org → Chiixuu Tll iinasdll →

Kelp monitoring network

KelpNode

A collaborative network supporting kelp forest monitoring and data-sharing across the Northeast Pacific.

kelpnode.org →

Citizen science  ·  Marine ecosystems

Reef Check

A global volunteer diver network monitoring reef and kelp forest health.

reefcheck.org →

Mission

Stroke by stroke, at first,
Pushing the water is effortful.
Then we notice the pull we feel.
The tide, the moon, and the slow gravity
of an island finding its balance.
Together, we glide, and we rise.

Pulling Water with the Moon  ·  An Island Lab Paddle-Study

Island Lab runs coastal research trips on chartered ships and members' own boats. Every gathering, past and coming, is at islandlab.dev/gatherings.

← Gatherings Who we are