Fortune Minerals CEO Robin Goad and Annita McPhee, President of the Tahltan Central Council flew into the Klappan to meet in Beauty Camp, the historic hunting camp where Tahltan families and supporters are gathered. The following is an account of the meeting by SWCC’s Dana Hibbard.
Late last night members of the Tahltan nation evicted Fortune Minerals! Fortune Minerals open-pit coal mine they call Arctos Anthracite, proposed for Mt. Klappan, rises above the iconic valleys of the legendary Spatsizi Wilderness Plateau in the heart of the Sacred Headwaters. Generations old Tahltan hunting camps dot the caribou rich flanks and the headwaters of the Nass, Skeena and Stikine are visible from the summit. The mine development would remove most of Mount Klappan.
Adventures, new skills and friends are just some of the great features when you join up with the WOW (women on water) programs provided each summer. It seems we are lucky enough that the ladies from the Terrace WOW program have shared a couple of their great cookie recipes with us. Here a two pretty quick cookie recipes you can whip up to take in the outdoors with you for a great energy boost.
February and March brought us the incredible opportunity to take part in the youth mentorship program organized by the Storytellers foundation. We all have our favourites and when Sarah asked me about the doing the program I said, "Yes, of course, I don't suppose Cheyanne Travers is doing the program is she?" Little did I know that Cheyanne had expressed interest in doing her mentorship with us as well. A match made in heaven to say the least!
Despite the fact that I lived in a rural area where red-tailed hawks and eagles reeled high in the sky, my imagination always entertained fantasies of the Great North! As a young adult, I still pined for this experience. Imagine my delight when decades later after meeting Frank, he brought me to this very special place. One of my dreams had finally come true! The north was everything I ever hoped for. I can’t seem to get enough of the mountains and the rivers, the serenity and the wilderness."
Any of you who have visited SWCC's office will know that you have to climb a long set of covered outdoor stairs to reach our door on a little landing at the top. What you may not know is that the wall at the top of these stairs, next to our office door, blocks off another set of stairs which descend into mysterious darkness on the other side. It was from this hidden stairway that a stray cat emerged one day in late winter and shortly after, followed by two more. The SWCC crew pondered what to do with these hungry, skinny little creatures?
It was a love of rivers, and of the wild fish that call them home, that drew my attention to the Skeena. And it was the dream of someday fly fishing for steelhead on these fabled waters that first connected me to the people of the watershed and ultimately to the issues that threaten the entire ecosystem. When I first learned about the swim in March of 2009 through the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition?s eNewsletter, my first reaction was to offer to help others tell the story of this amazing woman and her journey. Until that point my role as a executive with Corus Entertainment had always been on the broadcasting side - and not the creative side.
I have biked throughout the province challenged by the vast mountain ranges and thrilled by the incredibly beautiful scenery. My teeth have become my windshield for bugs of all shapes and sizes. I learned a lot about my own inner strength and what it take s to endure days of hills, bugs, rain, wind, and heat. I am an ordinary woman who had a vision and felt that I should follow it by embarking on this journey that I feel any one of you could have done just as well as I have. I would like to share my heart, vision and thoughts with you.
Have a look at some letters that students at John Field Elementary School wrote to Ali Howard after she gave a presentation to them about her swim down the Skeena River last summer. The letters and pictures are presented here as a slide show.
Do you want to stand up for your home, for wild salmon, for free-running rivers and for a prosperous local economy?
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Our Ancestors are the land. We are our ancestors. What we do to
Roy Henry VickersSWCC Board Member
the land we do to ourselves. Let us love and protect.
