News

April 02 2008 » News Clippings » Smithers Interior News Editorial

Sacred Headwaters listed as endangered


By Ryan Jensen – Smithers Interior News – April 02, 2008

The Outdoor Recreation Council listed the Sacred Headwaters — the area located on the edge of the Spatsizi Wildnerness Park that is the headwaters of the Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers — as No. 5 on their list of the 10 most endangered rivers in B.C.

The area nicknamed “The Sacred Headwaters,” has landed on the Outdoor Recreation Council’s (ORC) 2008 B.C. Endangered Rivers List.

The Sacred Headwaters was named as number five on the ORC’s listing of the Top 10 endangered rivers across the province. The area, located on the edge of Spatsizi Wilderness Park 700 kilometres north of Smithers, is the headwaters of three salmon-bearing rivers: the Skeena, Stikine and Nass.

“While this list focuses on specific river issues, I also believe it does much to inform the general public of the many kinds of threats our rivers face,” said Mark Angelo, ORC rivers chair, adding the group solicited nominations from its 120,000 members as well as the general public and resource managers from B.C. “The list represents the views of those who use and recreate on rivers — as well as those who manage them.”

The area was added to the list because of Royal Dutch Shell’s proposal to extract coalbed methane gas.

“Should this project go ahead, it would imply a network of several thousand wells, linked by roads and pipelines, laid across the landscape of much of the entire Sacred Headwaters basin,” the ORC report states. “It’s not by accident that, to date, no major coalbed methane project has co-existed with healthy salmon populations.”

Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Society, said the ORC listing tells her people are beginning to take notice of the project and of the danger of coalbed methane.

“We definitely deserve to be on the list,” McPhail said. “More people are becoming aware of the effects of coalbed methane. The word is getting out. The province of B.C. and Shell have never commercially produced coalbed methane. Until they can prove they can do it somewhere else, that isn’t a wild salmon-bearing watershed, and prove it can be done right, only then will we be interested in negotiating how this development can happen.”

The ORC has produced a most endangered rivers list for the last 16 years. Last year, the Sacred Headwaters of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass failed to garner even a mention on the list.

Since 2005, concerns have been raised by First Nations groups in the area about the project fragmenting wildlife habitat and contaminating ground water. The Klabona Keepers, a group opposed to the project, claim the area contains an ancient trail and bush camp used for centuries for hunting, fishing, trapping and trade.

“The land has been used for thousands of years by our people,” said Rhoda Quock, a Tahltan elder and spokesperson for the Klabona Keepers. “It has major cultural significance. That’s the place where we take our youth to teach them about our culture.”

On March 3, the Tahltan Central Council sent out a news release, stating that they are not opposed to resource development in their traditional territory.

“We wish to make it very clear that the Tahltan people are not inherently opposed to any specific type of business or resource development within our country as long as companies follow sustainable development practices,” the release said.

Currently, Royal Dutch Shell has completed their 130-kilometre route to the drilling sites. There is a 30-man camp at kilometre 22.5 of the road, with plans to have a 100-man camp located at kilometre 120. This year, Shell plans to drill two to three wells.

Back to news index