In 1974 South Moresby Island was in the midst of a dispute between logging planners and the public.  The logging planners were trying to create a capital of resources on the island and the public was attempting to preserve these resources by producing a proposal to create a wilderness preserve in the area.  It appeared, until 1985 that the future of South Moresby Island was to be more contingent with the dreams of the loggers than the public as the past of South Moresby Island was being carried away to build the future of communities elsewhere.  However, in this year the Haida Nation claimed the area a heritage site of their people, ending resource extraction in 1987.  In this year, the South Moresby Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Canada and British Columbia, and in the following year the area was designated a National Park Reserve under the South Moresby Agreement.  After working together for four years, in 1993 the Government of Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation signed the Gwaii Haanas Agreement (Parks Canada, 2006).  This agreement states the following

"Gwaii Haanas will be maintained and made use of so as to leave it unimpaired for the benefit, education and enjoyment of future generations. More specifically, all actions related to the planning, operation and management of Gwaii Haanas will respect the protection and preservation of the environment, the Haida culture, and the maintenance of a benchmark for science and understanding." (Virtual Museum, 2006)

The park was planned by the Archipelago  
Management board, which consists of individuals                           Where is Gwaii Haanas National Park?
representing the Government of Canada and the
Council of the Haida Nation in equal proportions.  They have created the park as it exists today, named Gwaii Haanas National Park.  This group continues to manage the park. 

Currently there is an initiative in Gwaii Haanas to create recreation trails for visitors throughout the park.  There is an incentive, however, to preserve part of the history of the area by creating trails which match those used historically by the Haida Nation.  The effort
thus far has been riddled with challenges regarding varying and inaccurate data sources and digitizing techniques.  As expressed by Haida Mapper Dr. Marguerite Forest, “most of the graphics [so far appear] more like
sketches than spatially accurate maps”
(Forest, 2006). Therefore, the purpose of our project is to provide a more accurate example
 of where these trails may have occurred. 
To do this we will conduct a least-cost analysis with several parameters we believe important
 to make a fair interpretation of where individuals would choose to walk on the terrain.  The parameters we have chosen are water and slopes. Because the topography of Gwaii Haanas is very mountainous, and at times even treacherous, we believe these areas will become evident.  We assume the trails we are looking for will link known historic Haida sites.                                                          (Natural Resources Canada, 2002)
The purpose of this project is to assist in                                                                Larger Map
locating recreational trails by providing an
analyses which respects the outlined
preservation mandate of Gwaii Haanas National Park.                                               

Abstract

Acknowledgements

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