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August 03 2010 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Youth on the Water


YOUTH On the Water (YOW) participants scout out the Copper River’s waters below before taking it on in their rafts. YOW participant Owen Merrill guides the raft down a section of the river.

SCRAMBLING UP the side of a canyon they scout out the river. The powerful, churning and pumping white water below is their destination and there’s no turning back.

They make their way through the glacial waters of the Copper River, manning the rafts and scouting out obstacles like sweepers – fallen trees – in order to make the best line down the river.

This is just one afternoon for local youth who participated in the new program, Youth On the Water (YOW), free for participants and developed by Chris Gee with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. The program is in it’s second year, taking place last summer in the Hazletons, and coming to Terrace this year.

The nine lucky participants included Kylie Anderson, Luke and Mitch Sabal, Moses Watts, Owen Merrill, Dane Cameron, Jonas Coxen, Dillon Jensen and Patrick Moore.

The group spent the last two weeks on the waters of the northwest, learning the ins and outs of river raft guiding, first on Lakelse Lake, then taking it up a notch to the Copper, Kitimat and Skeena River.

They learned swift water rescue and river raft guiding techniques, including nearly 10 different rope ties, and how to read the water and choose the best line to travel. Guest speakers also covered educational units on specific topics such as fish species and life-cycles, wildlife habitat, First Nations culture and other current threats to the Skeena River watershed.

Ali Howard, who swam the entire length of the Skeena River last summer to raise awareness about industrial threats to the watershed, also paid the participants a visit near the end of the course.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn tangible and transferable job skills, the notion that a person can maneuver down a river, that is a huge self esteem booster,” said Gee.

The program also opens the doors for youth who may not have ever had an opportunity to be on the water, and that goes for Anderson, the lone female participant.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I just never had the opportunity,” she says. “It’s a lot of learning, but it’s interesting….I’ve enjoyed everything, it’s all pretty awesome, it’s an amazing opportunity.”

Anderson says she know only a bit about the watershed, but taking the program has given her a more in depth insight to how everything works, with a lot more detail.

Kim Ward-Robberts facilitated the program with help from Hatha Callis with Skeena Valley Expeditions, guiding the youth through all the different units that make up the program.

This is also a starting point for some participants who are now interested in taking on a career as guides, including Watts and Mitch and Luke.

“That is the reason why I wanted to take it, I want a career in outdoor recreation as a guide,” says Mitch.

It’s evident that the program was an engaging, challenging and rewarding experience as participants tried their hand at tying different knots on the bus ride to the put-in site on the Copper, taking turns shouting out answers to Callis’ and Ward-Robberts questions about what they’ve learned so far.

And when asked what their favourite part of the program was, most answered, “well, everything.”__

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