By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The West Coast’s smallest First Nation is taking great strides toward the creation of an innovative stewardship economy that puts sustainability and conservation first. The Kwiakah First Nation, led by munmuntle, Chief Steven Dick, consists of 19 members mostly based on Vancouver Island. The community is launching a “return home” by transforming a former open-net salmon farm into a floating, solar-powered scientific hub anchored in their traditional territory along B.C.’s wild central coast. The Kwiakah Centre of Excellence will be the base for a dedicated research station, an experimental kelp farm, the nation’s regenerative forestry operations and its territorial Indigenous guardian, or Forest Keepers, program, said Frank Voelker, the nation’s band manager and economic development officer. The centre marks the…