POTLOTEK FIRST NATION: Approximately 160 small, square bales of hay, placed two bales deep have re-created a soft shell “Band-Aid” to hold off damage and to give everybody a chance to catch their breath to protect a sacred Mi’kmaw gathering place from coastal erosion.
Heather MacLeod-Leslie, senior archeologist with the Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), advised that recent high winds and extreme rain have caused significant coastal damage to Mniku (Chapel Island).
MacLeod-Leslie explained the small island, which is cared for by Potlotek First Nation and is located on the Bras d’Or Lake, was designated a national historic site in 2006 as the Mi’kmaq Peoples have used the island as a location for their spiritual gatherings and governance.
“As many people know, it’s a sacred Mi’kmaw place, and it’s still actively used regularly. The Grand Council meets there several times a year, so it’s a very special Mi’kmaw place,” MacLeod-Leslie told The Reporter. “But climate change, sea-level rise and coastal erosion, don’t care about any of that.”
A few years back, MacLeod-Lesliee indicated there had been erosion along one of the shorelines and some cultural features emerged from the embankment that caused some concern. There was discussion about what to do, and at that time the decision was to try and cover things up, and let things proceed without being torn apart, she recalled.
Despite the inevitable sea-level rise, the senior archeologist advised they don’t want the shoreline opened up anymore.
“At that time, we placed some coconut fibre, or coir fibre materials, some mats and 12-foot-long logs; those materials were put in place, we call those a soft shell solution,” MacLeod-Leslie said. “Lots of people put armour stone to stop erosion, unfortunately armour stone is in many cases, a poor solution. It fixes the problem for a moment, on that property, but it doesn’t dissipate the energy that created the erosion, it just simply deflects it elsewhere, and makes it your neighbour’s problem.”
Additionally, MacLeod-Leslie explained over time, the energies and the erosional forces that are coming from the water and the waves will ultimately scooch around the ends of the armour stone, dig out silt from around the ends, and depending on the energy in that particular location, long-term there could be a line of armour stone with nothing around it on either side.
“As we deal more with climate change and coastal erosion, and things we don’t want moved, or we want to protect from these chaotic forces, we’re realizing that soft shell solutions, like the coir fibre, have the capacity to face that erosive energy from the water and absorb it, so that it kind of disappears.”
MacLeod-Leslie suggested if the force rips something apart, it’ll rip apart the soft shells, but not what’s being protected.
“Something that’s gaining a lot of ground are living shorelines, where you’re actually encouraging a natural system for cultural purposes,” she said. “With things in the water to break up that energy, like false shores, near shore vegetation, good root systems, little sedimentation tools, those are kind of longer terms solutions.”
The Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office and Potlotek First Nation are working to deal with erosion problems on the sacred island of Mniku.
However, in January 2022, Potlotek Chief Wilbert Marshall contacted KMKNO to advise them one of his community members noticed one particular storm extended the area of erosion.
“Now in the few years we placed the materials, they themselves have kind of been torn apart, which is kind of their job, their job is to take the brunt. We’re not holding back the ocean,” MacLeod-Leslie said. “Every coastal erosion system is going to have to be monitored and have to be maintained, nothing is ever going to be one and done, the climate is changing, the shoreline is changing, and your system for dealing with those forces, can’t just stand there.”
The area of erosion on the shoreline extended from about 100 feet, to approximately 200 feet, doubling in size with just a single storm.
“I can say based on what we’ve been seeing, this is climate change,” MacLeod-Leslie said. “Because storms are far more vicious now, they’re more intense, they’re more frequent and it’s hard for vegetation to re-grow and sedimentation to build up enough to bolster shorelines against those forces.”
Climate change makes it hard for them to catch their breath between emergencies and MacLeod-Leslie said they are forced to do something quick, depending on the individual location. She explained every location is unique, with its own unique characteristics from the height of the bank, to the type of soil or sediment, the presence of rocks, the wind direction, and any solutions need to be catered to that particular location.
“When this erosion happens, and people notice this big change with a single storm, the key is how do we stop the damage from happening,” she noted. “It’s like triage, how do you stop the bleeding, the first thing you need to do, is stop the damage from getting worse, so that’s what we’ve done.”
The senior archeologist suggested the KMKNO has learned some really important lessons in dealing with coastal erosion issues in the past, and every time they do it, they learn something new. She explained it’s really well suited for those emergency situations, but it’s not a long-term solution.
“The damage is there, we’re going to have to do something more, but the hope is the system with the hay bales, creates this soft barrier around the area that’s been damaged,” MacLeod-Leslie said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get through to the good weather, without any more damage; this is buying us time to have conversations with funders, conversations about what the Mi’kmaq want at this special Mi’kmaq place.”
The intention is to keep the damage from getting any worse, and get some decisions made, however MacLeod-Leslie noted those conversations take time.
“It would be great to have a more long-term solution in place by the autumn, because there’s another hurricane season coming, there’s more winter coming, we don’t have that nice ice that would protect a lot of it,” she stated. “Because things are warmer, we just have this erosive wave action coming at it through the winter, we know we’re going to deal with the same weather patterns next year, so hopefully we can be a little more prepared.”
When asked what the average rate of erosion on Mniku was, MacLeod-Leslie suggested that was a tough calculation as weather patterns are variable.
“I wouldn’t say there is a rate of erosion, but what I would say is its happening more frequently because there are weaknesses, just in the natural landscape. It’s just a perfect storm of factors,” she added. “It’s not going to slow down and the primary reason of that is climate change, so being able to learn from the situation we dealt with in the past, the lessons that allow us to respond more quickly and for the longer term responses be more effective and adaptable to those energies that we know are coming again, those are really key parts of being able to respond to situations like this.”