TC Energy Pipeline Upgrade - Yahk Section
TC Energy Corporation will be upgrading an existing natural gas pipeline located approximately 25km east of the town of Creston, BC in early Spring 2022..
This 13km section will be upgraded 48-inch diameter pipe to supply growing natural gas demands in southern BC.
This is one of two upgrades that will be competed within ʔamak̓is Ktunaxa, the other is a section near Elko, BC with construction expected to begin in Spring of 2023.
Ktunaxa Nation along with Stantec completed an Archaeological Assessment of the proposed site in 2020.
See Project News, below, for updates.
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Project Update
Ktunaxa Nation Council Lands and Resources partnered with Reciprocity Research in conducting a Traditional Use Study for the TransCanada Energy’s Foothills Pipeline, West Path Delivery Program (WPDP), Pipeline Expansion in Yahk, BC.
The field surveys took place from October 27-30th, 2021 & February 1 & 2, 2022.
There were 15 participants and included Ktunaxa Nation Council (KNC) staff, members, Ktunaxa elders and knowledge holders, environmental professionals, archaeologists, and anthropologists.
The focus of this work is to identify Ktunaxa cultural values, within the proposed Project study area.
This included recording of current conditions and brief place-based interviews with Ktunaxa knowledge holders at sites of ecological and cultural importance.
Video was collected during the site visits and included interviews with Ktunaxa citizens and staff to provided context for the proposed project.
Through respectful involvement of key Ktunaxa elders, knowledge holders and staff of the KNC, this work may contribute to ongoing negotiations and establishing mitigations between KNC and TransCanada Energy .
Field crew at the final staging area of the first field reconnaissance day on October 24, 2021. On the lower-slopes of Mt.Mahon
Members of the KNC field crew survey Hawkins Creek at the crossing location of the Project Right of Way.
Ktunaxa Nation Council field crew members Jesse Thomas and Darrell Luke assess the root wad of an old windthrown tree.
John Nicholas (KNC Archaeology Technician) presents a flake found on October 26, 2021 when surveying the newly classified archaeological site DgQa-T01.
