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Historic Bella Coola to Kimsquit Eulachon Grease Trail work to resume this spring

“We are about 19 km up the trail now,” said Nelson Tallio, who has been managing the project

Trail blazing is anticipated to resume in April for the historic Bella Coola to Kimsquit Eulachon Grease Trail.

“It’s about 98 kilometres,” said Nelson Tallio, who has been managing the trail project since July 2022.

Retaining the eight crew members he has already hired, Tallio hopes to hire another four more for the upcoming season.

“It’s not just trailblazing, ” he explained. “It’s an old logging route so there are portions that have been washed out or they are blazing new trail.”

Based on Google maps, they have been trying to determine which way to go to get to the Dean River.

“We ended last year with a lot of road building and bridge building involved,” he said.

The bridges are rustic, and big enough to ride an ATV over them.

“We used whatever material we can Alaskan mill over there.”

Part of the planning he noted is to determine the route and whether they have to pass over the Necleetsconnay River or just stay on the east side.

“It is a beautiful area. We did some drone shots of where we left off last year. We are about 19 km up the trail now,” Tallio said.

If they don’t already have it, crew members will be doing some training such as S-100, basic fire suppression and safety, GPS and small vessel operation.

“We just purchased another side-by-side and this year I hope to leapfrog my teams so we have two teams working.”

Tallio had been living in the Okanagan and moved back home to the Bella Coola Valley in July after 23 years and is happy to be back, he said.

“I love it here.”

READ MORE: Nuxalk gets $879K to re-establish historic Bella Coola/Kimsquit Eulachon Grease Trail



monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com

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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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