Kebaowek First Nation Community Feed

Kebaowek First Nation

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Skills training to meet a community’s vision

April 6th, 2021

While working with many Indigenous communities, we have heard time and again their vision of Indigenous-led land management. Communities want to manage their water resources and track the effects of industry and climate change. As a result, communities are seeking ways to strengthen their technical capacity to do so.

Environmental technical training is a well-established field. What sets Water First apart is our approach.

First, we consult with our Indigenous partners about their long-term environmental water goals. By understanding their goals, we help to determine priority areas and local training needs. Then, we design a training program based on a project that is carried out by the interns and aligns with the long-term vision of the community.

This map features where our Environmental Water Program Team have worked and features two training programs that are set to start this summer.

Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation (SIFN) in Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL has begun to develop a 100% Innu owned and operated environmental tourism operation in the area. SIFN reached out to Water First to train their guides in order to have the local capacity to sustainably manage activities related to water quality, and fish habitat assessment and restoration.

Water First will support the training of seven community members from Long Point, Kebaowek, and Kitigan Zibi First Nations. The goal is to build environmental monitoring skills and to gain certification in a standardized protocol for assessing stream health called CABIN.

Our Land, Our Water

September 4th, 2020

This beautiful video was made by McKaylii Jawbone from Témiscaming, Quebec, a member of Kebaowek First Nation. McKaylii is one of the alumni from a 2-year restoration project in partnership with Kebaowek First Nation. Three large walleye spawning shoals were constructed at restoration sites identified in consultation with community elders, restoration biologists and Water First staff.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to McKaylii and to the community for their support throughout the project, and for for the dedication and hard work to make this such a successful fish habitat restoration project.

We called ourselves The Food Crew

April 5th, 2019

By: McKaylii Jawbone of Kebaowek First Nation, Water First Intern

I was a part of a two-year project to restore and enhance walleye spawning habitats in my community. Working with Ivan and Kacie made the project run so smoothly, we worked well as a team and we always had fun to make the days seem a little shorter. We called ourselves ‘The Food Crew’ because we needed a team name, and we always seemed to be talking about food. We spent our days driving in the bush, fighting off mosquitoes, and moving rocks into the water. In the end, we were able to restore three walleye spawning beds.

To start off the project, we got in the truck with a GPS and a map, and a fishing rod. We investigated many potential sites, and talked to community members and elders about any potential areas we could restore. The second step was to agree on a site with the Water First team and Richard Rowe the biologist.

Then the work began of gathering rocks, a lot of rocks. We would get a dump truck to drop them off on the side of the road for us, then we would slide them down to our worksite using a homemade slide. One by one we placed the rocks in the water, wearing our hip-waders or rubber boots to start building the shoal.

I know that this can probably sound boring, “we moved rocks”, but these rocks will provide a safe space for the walleye eggs to drop into and hatch. The end goal of this was to have walleye fish use this spawning bed successfully for years to come.

We wanted to make a difference in the Kipawa Lake fishery, as well as gain knowledge of our land and ways to help preserve the ecosystem, and I think through this project with Water First we were able to accomplish that.

We monitor each site, and will continue to monitor them in the coming years. This work has taught me a lot about walleye fish, their ideal spawning habitat, and also about the importance of sustainable fishing practices.

It’s been great to work with such amazing people from Water First, our mentors throughout the project, Jesse and Jag. It was always so fun to have them come to Kipawa and spend the days in the bush. They would teach us about water science, and we would teach them about our Indigenous culture. The hard work that’s been done together throughout this project is truly rewarding, and I’m looking forward to more restoration work in the future.

Put the big fish back… and other fish facts

April 5th, 2019

Walleye spawn in the spring as soon as the ice is out by depositing eggs over rocks and cobble shoals. The fertilized eggs fall into the cracks and spaces between the rocks to safely incubate and hatch.

Female walleye can carry up to 26,000 eggs per pound of body weight. So, a large female walleye (10 lbs) can carry as many as 250,000 eggs. Of those, only 1% of fertilized eggs will survive under ideal conditions. This is why it is so important to release any large female walleye that are caught, and keep them in the lake to spawn again. It ensures the future of a healthy fishery, and good genes for more big fish!

You can differentiate male from female walleye by size and shape:

Males tend to have a longer body shape with long heads and are usually 15-21 inches (males rarely grow past 23 inches).
Females tend to be larger (almost all the big walleye are females), have a rounder body shape, and have smaller heads as compared with the body size.

It is best to limit the harvest of fish during the spawn, as they are particularly vulnerable to angling and netting during this time, and over-harvest will diminish the overall stock of fish in the lake. If there is fishing during spawning time, try to selectively harvest small to medium size males and return large females to the lake. This will not affect the overall success of the spawn as much as the harvest of larger egg-carrying females.

Working with students from G Theberge School in Témiscaming, Québec

March 25th, 2019

Last week from March 19th-21st, Water First staff and our interns from Kebaowek First Nation visited G Theberge School in Témiscaming, Québec, to share the details from our recently completed fish habitat remediation project with students. Children and youth from Kebaowek First Nation are bused to this school, so it was great to share with them the positive work being completed in their community. .

We delivered hands-on water science workshops to students in every grade, thematically and conceptually linked to the recent fish habitat restoration completed in their community. Water First interns Kacey McLaren, McKaylii Jawbone, and Ivan Pulchinski assisted with the workshops and shared their experiences from the restoration project. Coming from the community, the interns serve as role models to the students. Representing a tangible and very real opportunity for all students within the environmental water field locally.

We would like to thank G Theburge School for being such wonderful hosts! Water First was delighted to share our passion for environmental stewardship with the staff and students.

Wrap up at Kebaowek First Nation

February 8th, 2019

On January 24 people braved the freezing temperatures and gathered at the Eagle Dome at Kebaowek First Nation to celebrate the completion of the Walleye Habitat Restoration.

Throughout the two-year project, three large walleye spawning shoals were constructed at restoration sites identified in consultation with the community elders, restoration biologist and Water First staff.

We would like to thank the community for their support throughout the project and the interns for their dedication and hard work to make this such a successful fish habitat restoration project.

Below are the before and after pictures of one of the spawning shoals.

Related: Put the big fish back… and other fish facts

The same spawning shoal after restoration work is complete.

Habitat Restoration: Walleye spawning site in the Kipawa Watershed

May 2nd, 2018

Over the past year, Water First and Kebaowek First Nation collaborated on a restoration project to repair a damaged historical walleye spawning site at Bois Franc, Lake Kipawa. The restoration team included members from Kebaowek Land Management, staff from Water First, and consulting biologist Richard Rowe of FRi Ecological Services.

The interns from the Kebaowek team, Kacie McLaren and McKaylii Jawbone, recently shared with us with a written summary of the project outlining the four different stages the project required, from site assessments and the final selection, to moving nine tonnes of rock by hand to create a spawning shoal. In the process, they also received hands-on training for water quality analysis. Kacie and McKaylii are all set to monitor the site this spring to see if the restoration was successful and are already looking forward to this year’s restoration project.

You can download a project summary with photos here.

Related: Put the big fish back… and other fish facts

Related: Wrap up at Kebaowek First Nation

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