Photo: Wilderness Committee worker helps to clean up Ch'uuis Beach 

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has worked through the summer to clean up and restore a misused beach site on Kennedy Lake, according to the band's tribal parks project leader.

In late June, the issue of the beach site comprising Rainbow and Redneck beaches, called Ch'uuis by the TFN, being in a state of disrepair was brought forward during a Ucluelet council meeting.

The issue had already been on the TFN's agenda and Eli Enns said at the time the Tla-o-qui-aht had only recently received funds to clean up and manage the site.

"As soon as the funding came through, the Tribal Park guardians have been going out every week and have taken out large amounts of garbage," he said.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee has been working with the Tla-o-qui-aht for several years and have been involved in the planning process used in Ha'uukmin Tribal Park.

They also lent a hand over several weekends this summer to further clean up the site.

Enns said fom what the guardians have told him, less garbage has been found at the site as a result of clean-ups and staff presence there.

"When our guys go out there and start cleaning up, random people will start cleaning up too," he said. "I think it is improving moral around the site."

Ch'uuis lies within Tla-o-qui-aht traditional territory in Ha'uukmin Tribal Park -- a 500 square kilometre area following the boundaries of the Kennedy Lake watershed.

Enns said tribal parks have been designated in TFN traditional territory since 1984 but it wasn't until March 2007 their intention to establish the park formally was announced.

This summer, with funding and cooperation from Parks Canada, the BC Capacity Initiative and the Indigenous Cooperative on the Environment, the TFN were able to hire staff to manage the land and develop eco-tourism projects within the park.