Mahpahkum Floats
In 2009 we applied for funding from the Coast Opportunity Fund. It was approved in January 2010 and work began on building floats for Mahpahkum (Deserters Island). The floats are needed so that boats can tie up at Mahpahkum and people can get ashore.
The logs used are culvert sill logs from a deactivated logging road at Strachan Bay, Seymour Inlet, contributed by the Ministry of Forests and Range. They were bundled and placed in Strachan Bay for towing by Cougar Inlet Logging Ltd., contractor for Mill & Timber Products Ltd. then towed to Port Hardy by John Houghton Towing of Mereworth Sound, Seymour Inlet. The logs were then dewatered and placed in storage at Mill & Timber Products Ltd. dry land sort on the east side of Hardy Bay.
In March John Houghton and Jonathon Walkus built the floats in Hardy Bay, in front of Mill & Timber dry land sort. Then the floats were towed to, and installed at, Mahpahkum on March 31, 2010, by John Houghton and Jonathan Walkus The floats have been positioned but need a walkway built between them and the shore so that it is accessible when the tide changes.
The project manager is Hetlamas, ‘Nakwaxda’xw Hereditary Chief Thomas K. Henderson, Sr. The project supervisor is Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Forestry Coordinator Ted Stevens. Gwa’Nak Resources Ltd. also supplied some of
the funding.
Ted Stevens,
Forestry Manager