The K’ómoks First Nation, the City of Courtenay, and the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society have started work to remove the 400-metre steel retaining wall at Kus-kus-sum.

It marks the final major step in restoring the former sawmill site to functioning estuarine habitat.

“K’ómoks peoples have lived in villages on both sides of the estuary since time immemorial. We have harvested and managed salmon using our fish trap complex here for millennia.", said K’ómoks First Nation Chief Nicole Rempel.

"We look forward to the full remediation of this former mill site and the repatriation of the lands, restoring crucial Chinook habitat and our rightful relationship.”

The milestone comes after five years of extensive earthworks, regrading, invasive material removal, tidal marsh construction, and large-scale planting at the 8.3 acre site.

With the land reshaped and prepared, construction crews will now begin dismantling the steel wall that has separated the site from the Courtenay River for decades.

Removal work will begin at the south end of the site, with individual steel sheet piles loosened and lifted from the riverbed as work progresses upstream.

The section of the wall closest to the bridge will remain in place.

“As we take the historic step of removing the wall along the Courtenay River, we honour that shared vision and move forward together toward restoring the ecological integrity of our extraordinary estuary.”, said Brodie Guy, Board Chair of Project Watershed.

In a joint release, the group says removing the retaining wall is more than an engineering milestone; it is the moment the site will once again function in concert with the river.

Once the wall is gone, tidal waters will again flow across the restored terrain, allowing juvenile salmon and other wildlife to return to habitat that has been inaccessible for generations.

The barge mobilized to the site yesterday and wall removal is scheduled to begin today, with work expected to continue for approximately 6 or 7 weeks.

Crews will be working 10-hour days, 6 days a week to ensure work is completed within the window of least risk to fish and other species.

Full removal is anticipated by late February, weather and funding permitting.

The name Kus-kus-sum, bestowed by the K’ómoks First Nation, reflects the ancestral village and tree-burial sites that existed here prior to industrial development.

A sawmill (the Field Sawmill) began operating on the site in 1949.

Over the following decades, industrial activity cleared the forest, paved the land, and built the steel retaining wall along the shoreline, eliminating critical fish and wildlife habitat.

In 2021, the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society, the K’ómoks First Nation and the City of Courtenay secured the property.

The purchase and restoration of the site - totalling more than $8 million - has been supported by Federal, Provincial and local governments; non-governmental organizations and foundations; local businesses; and community donors.

More than 400 volunteers have contributed to planting native species, site maintenance, and ecological monitoring.

To learn more, visit Comox Valley Project Watershed.