Gilttoyees Creek originates in a series of cirque basins on the east and south flanks of Tentacle Peak in the Kitimat Ranges, and flows generally southeast for about 20 miles (32 km) through Foch-Gilttoyees Provincial Park and Protected Area before reaching Gilttoyees Inlet, which opens onto Douglas Channel, about 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Prince Rupert and 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Kitimat, British Columbia. The creek takes its name from the inlet, which derives from the Haisla word ‘Giltu’yis,’ meaning ‘long inlet.’ Captain George Vancouver first charted the inlet in 1793, though he did not name it; he also named Douglas Channel in honor of Sir James Douglas, the first governor of the Colony of British Columbia. Gilttoyees Creek drains an alpine watershed of 69,246 acres (28,023 ha) and deposits accumulated suspended sediments into an estuary notable for its intertidal flats dominated by salt marsh communities. The estuary provides critical overwintering habitat for trumpeter swan, Barrow’s goldeneye, harlequin duck, surf scoter, long-tailed duck, and western grebe. Gilttoyees Inlet extends 9 miles (15 km) generally south from the creek’s mouth to Douglas Channel. Foch-Gilttoyees Park and Protected Area lies in the Coast Mountains on the north side of Douglas Channel and covers 151,186 acres (61,183 ha) of rugged coastal and mountainous terrain, including snow-covered peaks, glacial tarns, cirque basins, and receding glaciers. The park encompasses diverse habitats such as pristine alpine watersheds, old-growth forests, tidal estuaries, and an isolated undeveloped coastline. It adjoins Gitnadoiks River Provincial Park to the north, forming a contiguous protected corridor between Douglas Channel and the Skeena River. Historically, First Nations used this corridor as a trade route between the Skeena River and Douglas Channel. It was reputedly known as a ‘grease trail‘—a reference to the valuable fish oil derived from eulachons, an anadromous fish once plentiful in Gilttoyees Creek and Douglas Channel.

In 1788, British Captain Charles Duncan, commanding Princess Royal in the maritime fur trade, may have been the first European to enter Douglas Channel; he did not venture far before turning for Haida Gwaii. In 1792, Spanish Captain Don Jacinto Caamano, commanding Aranzazu, anchored near the southern end of Hawkesbury Island and dispatched Second Pilot Martinez y Zayas in a longboat up Douglas Channel. Martinez y Zayas traveled about 54 miles (87 km) and encountered only one indigenous fishing canoe. In June 1793, Captain George Vancouver anchored HMS Discovery and sent a cutter and a launch, led by Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey and Robert Barrie, deep into the mainland fjords. Whidbey’s party, which included surgeon and naturalist Archibald Menzies, explored Douglas Channel and noted the entrance to Gilttoyees Inlet. They also made contact with the indigenous X’aisla of the Kitamaat people, who treated them well. The Kitamaat comprised at least three pre-European contact bands: the Nalabila (meaning ‘dwellers upriver’ on the Kitimat River), the X’aisla (meaning ‘dwellers farthest downriver’ on the Kitimat River), and the Gildalidox, the inhabitants of Kildala Arm. Before the first European settlement, these groups began wintering together at the X’aisla village, located just upstream from the mouth of the Kitimat River at the head of Douglas Channel. In 1893, Methodist missionary George Raley established Kitamaat Mission on an old village site along the east shore of Douglas Channel, about 5 miles (8 km) from the X’aisla village. Christian converts moved there; by the early 20th century, virtually all the Kitamaat (now known as the Haisla) had at least nominally converted and migrated to Kitamaat Mission. Meanwhile, the indigenous people returned to the old X’aisla village site to hold potlatch, beyond the reach of the missionary and Indian agent. Historically, the Kitimat River was a major salmon stream that supported an important eulachon run, while the old village site continued to serve as a place for catching and processing fish.

The anadromous eulachon is a small smelt that spawns in the lower reaches of coastal rivers and streams from northern California to the southern Bering Sea. For the Kitamaat, the fish was one of the most valuable resources—central to sustenance, culture, economy, and relations with neighboring tribes. Until 1998, eulachon arrived in Douglas Channel rivers each March as the first anadromous fish to return after a long winter, heralding the onset of spring and celebrated by indigenous communities. The fish were cooked or smoked for food or rendered into oil for medicine, underscoring their social, cultural, and economic importance. Eulachon oil was a central trade commodity, highly prized by interior First Nations. Ancient indigenous trade routes connected coastal and interior partners long before European contact. The X’aisla traveled the Gilttoyees-Gitnadoiks trail, trading eulachon oil for smoked moose meat, soapberries, and buckskin moccasins, gloves, and coats with tribes from the upper Skeena watershed. They also exchanged the oil with their western neighbors for abalone, seaweed, red cod, black cod, halibut, clams, and herring eggs. Nearly all eulachon spawning runs have declined from California to southeastern Alaska, especially since the mid-1990s. The causes remain uncertain; overharvesting and climate change have been implicated, though local habitat alterations and bycatch in commercial trawl fisheries may also contribute. This decline concerns many fisheries managers and the commercial fishing industry, as eulachon are frequently caught as bycatch in shrimp trawls. In response, management measures have been implemented to limit eulachon bycatch, though such actions may reduce potential shrimp catches in some areas. Read more here and here. Explore more of Gilttoyees Inlet and Foch-Gilttoyees Provincial Park here: