By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Nootka Sound, BC – Optimism for the future of Chinook salmon is swimming up Muchalat River near the town of Gold River, B.C. in Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations (MMFN) territory. Kent O’Neill, president of the Nootka Sound Watershed Society (NSWS), says he observed hundreds of fish using a newly restored gravel spawning pad at the outflow area of Muchalat Lake this fall. “It’s really encouraging for the first year. They’re figuring it out. It just takes a few generations, and they’ll figure out that this is one of the best spots in the whole system to spawn and they’ll all start showing up,” said O’Neill. Navigating a storm of challenges from historical logging practices that destroyed stream banks to droughty summers, Chinook salmon…
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