Kitlope Field Trip Documentation

Video Transcription

by Carmen Stewart

The following report is based on the video recording and transcription by Carmen Stewart.

Kitlope: June 22 to 26, 2005

Day 1: June 22, 2005

5:00 a.m. NWCC students and instructor(s) met at Tim Horton's on Keith Avenue.

Those who showed up were: Sheree Ronaasen (Instructor), Naila, Angela, Julia, Natasha, Jayleen, Judy, Sheena, Cheri, Jesse, Carmen, and Kathy. Everyone was still half asleep, but excited. We all filled up our coffee cups and ordered lunch for the upcoming boat ride to the Kitlope.

6:00 a.m. Arrive in Kitamaat Village.

The weather is nice and crisp.

6:15 a.m. Arrive at the Village boat dock.

Docked among the fishing boats was the huge seiner called the "Zodiac Light", a 64 foot seiner, run by Skipper Ken Hall.

7:10 a.m. Ken Hall gives a welcoming speech, and introduces himself and his crew and staff.

"I can start off by saying that what you're going to experience is something that you are always going to remember. As this place that we declared by being the cleanest spot in the whole world. It hasn't been touched by any Industry. We along with Gerald, and the past Councilors, from years back, have fought really hard with the community members to preserve this area. What you are about to see. And as Chief of the Haisla Nation, this is Johnny Wilson, "Chief Sana x aid" (Chief of the Eagle Clan). And also my brother Simon, is also a Chief of from the Kitlope, and he owns that trap line of Upper part of Kitlope River. And my name is, Ken Hall, and I'm a Chief, also of the Eagle Clan, from Kawesas, which you are going to see too. With that - along with the crew - Richard Smith, and his brother Pete, we welcome you aboard the Zodiac Light. We just hope you enjoy your journey, as we will try our best to explain the areas as we go along the day, and everyday as we travel. We will try and fill you in on the history of how we occupied these areas for many years. So again, welcome aboard, and I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Thank you." (Ken Hall)

7:12 a.m. Gerald then speaks to passengers about safety precautions.

"It's very trying at times to get people up and back down safely in the river. So we would really appreciate help from everyone. I mean Julia's been there, she knows what it's like, a number o other people have been up there. We're going to need everybody's attention, when we start the process of going up to the lake, or any movement off this boat. So I want people to appreciate - I think everybody does, but just for safety reasons - this is paramount. We want everybody to come back without any broken limbs or without any toes missing, or stuff like that. So whenever we prepare to disembark and leave the boat we're going to have everybody's attention so that we get everybody up and up into the Kitlope and back down into the boat safely." (Gerald Amos)

While sitting on the Zodiac Light, a few students recognize smoke coming up from plants across from the village. Across from Kitamaat village are two plants: Eurocan Pulp Mill on the right, and Alcan smelter on the left. You can see sulphur dioxide steam going up into the air from both plants. All of which goes on the west side of the mountains.

7:26 a.m. Depart Kitamaat Village.

On the boat, students and staff both begin to mingle a little bit, while others find a nice place to snooze. The air is still very crisp and clear, also a little bit on the chilly side, but no one seems to mind at all as you hear a lot of talking and laughing.

8:08 a.m. Dead Man's Island.

Bea Wilson and her daughters, Liz and Gail point out a small little side Island, called "Dead Man's Island". They state it was used in the past as an old burial ground. Morris Amos added that there were eight Chiefs buried on that Island:

“There were a group of boys. Young Haisla boys and white boys. They went there and found the site, and they took some skulls. And when an elder found out, he understood the law of history of going to that Island. So in order to save the lives of these six boys, he went to their parents and told them about this story. So they got those six skulls and put them back there. And those boys did not receive bad luck, but if they hadn't done that they probably would have died. That's the history of that place, people have died that have gone on that Island. So our people don't even step on that Island. Not one person that I know of, in my lifetime has ever stepped on that Island" (Morris Amos).

8:34 a.m. Porpoises spotted swimming at bow of boat.

They were small, and black and white in color. This was a great ice-breaker for the whole crew, and everyone was excited and happy.

8:39 a.m. Gerald Amos talks about the history of the first European contact - Captain Vancouver 1793.

He points out Coste Island, and further up on the right was Douglas Channel, in the direction of Hartley Bay.

"In 1793, Captain Vancouver anchored his boat at what is now Hartley Bay, and sent two little row boats up the inlet looking for a passage. He wanted to know where he was. So those boats sailed up the inlet here, up the Douglas Channel, and met the Haisla people. Two canoe loads of Haisla, right in behind here somewhere, right behind Coste Rock. In behind Coste Rock, Captain Vancouver met our people - in 1793. And you know what the first act was? You know what the first of contact was? It was sharing. This story comes from Captain Vancouver's log book and comes from our people's Nuyem-History that is passed down. And it's surprising how these things mesh, how accurate our people's stories were. Anyway in Captain Vancouver's log book it described how 'with some trepidation' these people they have never met before, and when they met, the Haisla people gave them two seventy-pound spring salmon. They handed over - it must have been this time of year. They handed him two seventy-pound spring salmon as a gesture of good will and what not. And Vancouver's men gave some presents back. That was the first contact. And I've often used this story in speeches elsewhere. So that is the first contact, and it has all been downhill since then." (Gerald Amos)

9:07 a.m. Bear Mountain.

Gerald points out a mountain that looks like a bear's head.

10:18 a.m. Crab River.

Unfortunately there was no time to stop at Crab River.

10:20 a.m. Clear Cut Logging at Crab River.

Norma points out the results of clear cut logging, as evidence is all around, as she also talks a bit about some impacts from the logging to the land.

10:21 a.m. Gerald Amos talks of Crab River, boundaries, and IR #17.

"This area here prior to contact - prior to amalgamation between the Henaaksiala and Haisla, two distinct people. This was the territorial boundary between the two people, this place - Crab River. After the amalgamation took place, reserves were created, and one of the reserves was right here. So all the trees that were left here, are reserve land, everything else has been logged around it. IR #17 today. Anyway, when the reserves were created the people of the Henaaksiala people applied for 250 acres for this spot. They ended up with seventeen. And the reason we ended up with seventeen, and the reason why we ended up with seventeen was because a Japanese fish salting firm wanted to export salmon, they were going to salt fish here, and right in the corner there is some pilings left over from that project. And when the government found out, they hived off everything in that corner and gave it to the Japanese fish salting firm and left us with the seventeen acres you see there without trees left on it. So they took it away from us. And the really aggravating thing is the Japanese never salted one fish there. They never completed their business. So this has a lot of history this spot, we're going way back and some of it is not really good history because of the way our people were treated. Up to now we're still fighting to get back a little bit of what we once applied for." (Gerald Amos)

1:27 p.m. Arrive at Kemano Dock.

Three Kemano employees met the Zodiac. Along the way to the Power Plant, some students stop to ask Shawn Zettler (Alcan employee) the reasoning behind the man-made indents into the river: Shawn explains it is called a "groin", and the reason.

"...it increases the fish habitat. And what it also does is push the river away from the road. So one problem with the straight rip-rapping the river will often cut against it. It'll stay there permanently. And with the groin it tends to deflect just a little bit off the road, and then it'll just take a natural path of going back and forth as it usually does." (Shawn Zettler)

2:08 p.m. Arrive at Kemano Power Plant.

2:33 p.m. Dan Bouillon explains the inner working of the Kemano, using a map.

"So we're at Kemano here, and have water that we take from our reservoir that runs through the Tahtsa Lake chain, and comes through a sixteen kilometer tunnel into the power house. We're going to see later how that water splits up into two large penstocks and then to four separate pipes. And each of those four separate pipes goes to one generator where the water is split into four one last time before it hits the Pelton wheel that spins the generator. So the water keeps breaking up, and its funneled from the reservoir down into these generators to maximize power generation. The power goes via a transmission line along the Kemano River, and over the Kildala Pass, along the Kildala River system, past Kitamaat Village, and then across the Kitimat River estuary and into the smelter. We typically use about five hundred and sixty-five megawatts of power in our smelter. The powerhouse here typically produces about seven hundred and eighty megawatts, so the difference is the power we sell. The power sold goes into the BC Hydro provincial grid. So this is the reservoir system - all that you see in blue here - originally before the reservoir was put in place, the flow of this chain of lakes and rivers went this way (Whitesail Lake, Ootsa Lake, Eutsuk Lake, Tetachuk Lake, etc. traveling east) through the Nechako River. Now the Kenney Dam is a rock wall, so there is no flow-through at all there - but we'll come back to that in a second. Right now and since 1956, all of the flow has been through the Skins Lake Spillway, the flow there is regulated by a group called the ' Nechako Fisheries Conservation Program, 'I'm a member of that group. I'm Alcan's representative. The other representatives are one from the province and one from Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and then one independent member. So we essentially determine the monthly flow out of the reservoir for the river. There's a guideline flow, it's all written up in legal agreements, but on a day-to-day basis we can modify those flows strictly for the benefit of the Chinook salmon. In addition, during the summer time, during July and August there are some special flows that are put down the river for sockeye salmon protection. They're called the ' Summer Temperature Management Program Flow'. It's a big volume of water that gets put down the river to essentially cool the Nechako River. So these flows come out of here (he points to Skins Lake Spillway), and down this little piece of Cheslatta River, through Cheslatta Lake and Murray Lake, over Cheslatta Falls here - a really nice beautiful falls, down the Nechako River, past Fort Fraser, past Vanderhoof, and all the way down here to the confluence of the Stuart River. And at this point here (points to confluence), we have to meet a particular temperature target, during - between the period of July 20th and August 20th. We have to cool the river at this point, to keep the river below 20 degrees C. (A student then asks the question of how?) We do it by releasing water here (Dan points to Skins Lake Spillway), the water that we release here is cooler than the water that's naturally in the river. So we vary the fluctuation of the flows at this point quite significantly. And the more water we deliver, the cooler we make the Nechako and we're really just talking about a few degrees 2,3,4 degrees. So the whole goal is to keep the temperature below twenty as often as you can, and that way the very significant, early Stewart sockeye run, that comes up the Stuart River, has that thermal protection. So, that was an agreement that was made between Alcan and the Province, and DFO in 1987. It's called the '1987 Settlement Agreement'. So the reservoir releases are pretty much fixed from month to month, over the course of the year, but can vary considerably during the 'STMP' (Summer Temperature Management Program). Now I told you that this is a rock wall (Dan points to the Kenney Dam), for about eight years now there has been a group in the watershed called the ' Nechako Watershed Council.' It includes about 25 stakeholder groups including members from Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort Fraser, Burns Lake, even members from Terrace and Kitimat that sit on this group. They have been talking for years about how to resolve issues on the Nechako River, and the Nechako River system, including the Murray/Cheslatta system. Now back in the 1950s when Alcan came in and built this facility, it was I believe the Federal government that had the responsibility to deal with First Nations (and settlers) and to essentially move them off the land so that this area could be flooded... The groups that lived in this area - there's three primary First Nations group (the Cheslatta, Skin Tyee and Ni Ti Buhn). They all have an interest in rehabilitating this system - as do the local residents. Right now the flows that go through there during the STMP are quite variable and dramatic, and in today's day and age you wouldn't have those kind of flows, you would have them mitigated. So this group, the ' Nechako Watershed Council', wants to build a cold water release facility at this point (Dan points to the Kenney Dam). It's essentially a bypass that will allow water to pass around the Kenney Dam, and will - among other things - re-establish flow through the nine kilometers long Nechako Canyon. It's actually quite nice, beautiful canyon area with lakes, little ponds in it, and fish, it used to flow as a wild canyon. And the concept is, put in this facility, allow flow to come down here again, (Dan points to flow past Kenney Dam towards Nechako River), and then you can reduce the flow out of here (Dan points to Skins Lake Spillway), to create a natural flow system through here (he points to the flow from Skins Lake towards Cheslatta and Murray Lakes) and then allow for this area to be rehabilitated. The Cheslatta First Nation have a rehabilitation plan for the area, and if the facility is built, it could result in modified flows through the spillway - and Kenney Dam - and allow for some habitat modifications along the Cheslatta River system. This plan would mean that we don't have to put down the big flows that we do now in July and August for the sockeye. So it's a grand scheme, it's been talked about, the provincial Liberal government promised to make a decision on it. (Responding to a Question:) The powerhouse is here (points to the map), essentially because this is a high plateau (points to the reservoir system), and I guess some surveyor back in the 1920s - or thereabouts - figured out that this water could be redirected through this route (points to the Kemano route) to create power generation at this site." (Dan Bouillon)

2:49 p.m. Dan takes the students along on a tour of the Kemano site.

Dan points out the water that comes from a 16 km journey from West Tatsa, (right outside the power plant below bridge) called it the 'tail race water.' That water comes down and joins up with the Kemano River. We see old generators that were supposed to be used for the Kemano Completion Project. People working at Kemano come in and leave by helicopter or boat. Dan is a "biologist by trade". The town site had a swimming pool with gym, and weight room. (The pool is closed but all else open), bowling alley and curling rink, nine-hole golf course, guest houses, ski hill with tow rope, staff stay in apartment blocks and contractors stay in houses or staff house.

4:42 p.m. Kemano Power House tour complete.

6:24 p.m. "Balancing Rock".

Pictograph on Balancing Rock... a picture of Copper Shield and such... en route to Watchmen's Cabin.

7:15 p.m. Move from Zodiac to River Boats, to go to Watchmen's Cabin.

Watchmen brought everyone up on river boats to the Watchmen's Cabin site.

7:43 p.m. Everyone gets ready to eat dinner!

Bea and daughters had already went ahead earlier in the day to prepare dinner... Nicole (Haisla staff) gathered everyone around for prayer, and explained a Rediscovery game, called the "Secret Friend" which was a game that was played within the group as a whole (students, cooks, watchmen, etc.) for dinner we all had fish patties, rice, gravy hamburger, and raw veggies with sauce.

7:50 p.m. University of Montana students drop by.

These handful of students are doing some testing themselves in the Kitlope River on fish habitat.

7:57 p.m. Morris's little bit of trivia on salmon.

"When you see a salmon jump you have to say, 'ya-ho'... if he winked at you you have to say, ' ya-ho-ho'."

8:22 p.m. Our bags and tents arrive.

Everyone pitches in to help... while Bea and her daughters supervise.

8:30 p.m. Everyone pitches tents.

9:00 p.m. Everyone just relaxes after dinner, pitches their tent, and sits around the fire.

To end the day, every evening the group has a sharing circle, which lasts somewhere around an hour. This is where an individual will share their thoughts and feelings of the day that they had before they retreat to bed. An eagle feather is passed around to each individual, and when a person has that feather, other's should not speak until they themselves have received that feather.

Day 2: June 23, 2005

Watchmen's Cabin

7:20 a.m. Breakfast.

8:22 a.m. Norma Kerby takes some of the students on a nature walk.

Walked right in behind the Watchmen's Cabin, where Norma talked a little bit about the coastal temperate rainforest here on the coast, and how unique the Kitlope is to have an untouched ecosystem.

“The drier weather conditions that you see right now are not typical. This is a rainforest, and, if you look at the trees, you can see moss growing on the limbs (which actually makes great Marbled Murrelet nesting sites). But if you had a dry climate year round, would the trees have moss on the branches? No. Moss doesn't have roots - the moisture that it absorbs and which nutrients that it absorbs are basically through the atmosphere. You can't have these ‘tree-limb ecosystems' unless you have a very wet climate. The typical weather that would be happening here would be rain every day. And because we're in an inland valley, versus the outer coast, you don't get quite as complex of a rainforest compared to the West Coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands where there are four meters of rain a year. So this area does have, if you look at the precipitation record through the year, a dip in rainfall during the summer. But the whole functioning of a temperate rainforest is based on rainfall and cool temperatures. So what does temperate mean? Lukewarm, not cold, not hot. In an equatorial rainforest, the air temperature averages close to twenty-seven degrees Celsius every day. In comparison, this area has seasons - most of the time it is wet and cool, but it does have a drier summer and it does have winter. At this elevation, we are very close to sea level. Within twenty meters elevation of sea level. it is unusual to get snow in the winter time, but, there is a lot of snow at higher elevations. As you go further north along the Alaskan coast, the rainforest eventually disappears because the climate is too cold. This Kitlope rainforest exists because of the relatively warm air that comes from the Pacific Ocean in big fall and winter storms. Cool air and lots of rain are what are needed to support this type of growth. The Kitlope is characterized by lots of rain, slightly drier summers, and cool temperatures. And if a climate is moist and cool, the material that should rot on the ground rots very slowly. The soils here, if you dig a soil pit, have a very deep layer of rotting organic material with very little soil development underneath. If you looked for where the nutrients are in the ecosystem - the minerals, nitrogen, phosphorous - nutrients that keep plants growing, they're not down in the gravel, they're either in the living vegetation or in the rotting material. All of the Sitka spruce and hemlock many of the nutrients would be exported. And when the remaining material left on the ground rotted, the soil underneath would be very nutrient poor. Rainforest soils are quite easily damaged. The other thing is that this forest is a typical older rainforest. In rainforests, you don't get a thousand hectares of trees all falling down at one time, or a thousand hectares that burn at one time. In this type of temperate rain forest, the changes in trees occur slowly over thousands of years, usually one tree at a time, or two or three trees at a time. If you notice in here, you have both larger, older trees, and younger suppressed trees underneath. If this Sitka spruce died (Norma pointing to Sitka spruce in picture), then all of the trees that were suppressed underneath because of it being big and blocking the light, would be able to start to grow quickly. When each of these large older trees die, they usually die either by insect or fungal infections, or they blow down, one or two trees at a time. Notice what's on the ground. You don't even see any gravel or debris, what do you see? Lots and lots of rotting material of all sorts of different ages of decomposition. And that root-wad over there from that tree that blew down, notice how there are trees even growing on it. As that root-wad rots down, it's going to form a mound like this, and where the root-wad is lifted up, it pulls the dirt up with it, forming a pit underneath. So the uneven ground in here is called ‘pit and mound' topography and it has nothing to do with anyone going through and digging holes. It has everything to do with root-wads being pulled up and then rotting down. The result is uneven topography from blowdowns plus rotting wood. If most of the nutrients are in the rotting logs or in the stumps, then what do they become? If you are a seedling? They become the best place to grow and are known as ‘nurse logs'. That is one difference between this type of forest and logging, because in logging, they take the trees away. There aren't logs to rot, to put nutrients back into the ground for the next round. Plus logging can also expose the mineral soil, which in heavy rainfall may wash away. When people say, 'this is a decadent forest and look at all of the rotting trees and horrible this is; it isn't, it's how this forest functions.

Julia's comments:

Norma continues, if you notice, this forest has recent root wads and fairly recent fallen snags (which are trees which die and stay upright like that). Snags are very important for the types of birds that make cavities Woodpeckers, are primary cavity nesters. And then you have secondary cavity nesters that depend upon the woodpeckers that made the cavity - these include flickers and owls. And eagles like snags as perches to watch for their prey, and also for their nests. The fallen snags provide nutrients for the forest floor, and, as you can see, the rotting logs range from those that recently fell to ones that fell over five hundred to a thousand years ago. They are gradually rotting away into the forest floor - and this is what a stable, old growth forest should look like. You don't have one age of trees, how many ages of trees have you got in here? Everything from one year, right up to more than six hundred years old (Norma points out the Sitka spruce). If you are going to use the Western Economy method of harvesting trees, and you need to take out trees, if you came in and selectively harvested one tree at a time, what would you have waiting to replace it? The suppressed growth, the smaller tree that is sitting there. When you open up a little hole in the canopy, it can grow up into that area of light and replace the old tree. If you only take out one tree at a time, then you don't change the characteristics of the forest. If I had my microclimatic equipment along, you would find that there is how much light compared to out by the river bank? A lot less. How about the temperature? Cooler and damper under the forest, because the action of the sunlight isn't down at the ground. It's up on top of the coniferous canopy. The canopy is filtering out the light as it passes through it. Therefore, the rainforest actually helps maintain itself, because its canopy keeps the forest floor damper and cooler and the soil doesn't dry out. This is what these types of trees like. Plus, if your competition is cottonwood or red alder that can grow a hundred times faster than you can, your dense canopy is very important. Can cottonwood and red alder grow where there is limited light? No. The rainforest canopy helps the shade tolerant species, such as western cedar, western hemlock and amabilis fir, become the saplings and suppressed growth underneath the older trees. Anywhere there is a hole in the canopy, you can notice here that you get clumps of devil's club or clumps of shrubs and new coniferous seedlings. Where there isn't a hole in the canopy, what do you end up with? Mosses, dead wood, suppressed growth, very few shrubs. So the forest maintains itself. If the trees were cut down, we would create a totally different environment that most of the species on the forest floor could not survive. The Sitka spruce is special. In World War I, it was harvested because it has a very strong, light wood. Spruce was harvested along the coastline of BC and used for the aircraft that fought in World War I. So that is why sometimes people call it ‘airplane spruce'. In the Kawesas, they removed some of the very big spruce. Now spruce is used for guitar backs, piano backs. Right now a tree like that can fetch up to five thousand dollars. That's one problem that we have on any coastal areas - there are people that poach the old growth trees. They actually come in and steal one tree at a time. The spruce has to have water, but it doesn't like to be in standing water. You usually find it at the toe of a slope or the bottom areas along streams and rivers where there is a high water table. As you get closer to where the lodge is, the flats are what you call a ‘high fluvial bench' (floodplain). At least once every two hundred years, the flooded river will be as high as where the bottom of the lodge is. If not sooner. What does the spruce get from living at the toe of slopes or in higher fluvial benches? It gets lots of nutrients. Spruce needs water and lots of nutrients.” (Norma Kerby)

10:39 a.m. Entering Kitlope Lake.

Gerald explains the reasoning behind the washing of the face upon entering the Kitlope. Aboard our river boat was Gerald, Judy, Carmen, Jesse, Natasha, and Julia. It was quite refreshing, and we all loved it. Basically the washing of the face of an individual was for that person to introduce themselves to the area. It is known that if you do not wash your face, you may call bad luck onto yourself.

Already there was Trevor, Nancy, her daughter Jennifer, Sheree and Morris.

11:09 a.m. Gerald introduces Ken, and his purpose for speaking to the group, and Ken waits patiently beside until he's done.

Chief Cukwiqas "Chief of Eagle Clan", Ken Hall speaks some about their territory, the history about the lake, the people and what they survived on, and events that may have happened from his memory. Standing with him is his brother Chief Hemas Gax, "Chief of the Eagle Clan" Simon Hall.

"I'd like to welcome everybody here, especially those who have never seen this place, and I hope you all washed your face before you got here. As the story goes, if you don't wash your face and introduce yourself to this area, this area has a way of getting rid of you - getting you out of here. And again, welcome. I want to introduce my younger brother Simon, whose also from here, he's got a big Chief name, 'Hemas Gax' it's an Eagle name. And this is an Eagle area, there used to be a village here, by the Eagle tribe. Now I don't know if Gerald has shown you the other areas down there (Ken points towards the Raven and Fish Villages on the lake), those are villages too - Fish tribe, and Raven. And Beaver tribe used to live up there by the corner. There was well over three thousand people here, living here at one time. That's how many people lived here. There's a lot of stories that goes with this place, and I'm glad I see Nicole here, and all the young people - Julia, Mike and John. They've all heard it, and I just hope that they remember it and pass it on later on in their lives.

I don't know if any of you stopped to see the footprints of that man that went hunting, he's sitting up there still (pointing to the mountain top). He was a mountain goat hunter, and we'll tell you when we get there of how it happened. And also a place that I stop to show the people that are on with me, they call the Raven's place. The thing that Gerald mentioned in regards to my experience here, was, we were trapping here one time with my late father, that was a long time ago. We came up here to check the traps with Ed Smith, we had a canoe, a dug-out canoe, with a five horse engine on it, and we went up the Tezwa River to check Beaver traps. And just as we landed it started snowing. I couldn't believe the size of the snowflakes that we coming down. In no time this whole area was just white. And the old man that I was with, kept hollering me to 'run, hurry,' and I had six traps - he told me to just 'trip them and leave them, don't carry any down.' Out of the six traps there were four beavers on them, and I didn't want to leave them behind. And I was running - I was still young yet, with four beavers, it's very difficult to run with it. But he came up to help me with it, he dragged two, and I dragged two, and I went back to help him with another one. And he was hollering at me to 'hurry! Don't stop!' And when we got to the canoe he told me to push it out and we started off. It wasn't until we got to the main water level and I realized what he was talking about. The snow had already packed on the water, and the little motor couldn't even work on it - it was so heavy. And he told me to get a paddle and get on the bow of the canoe and start bouncing the canoe. That's the only way we're making headway. It took us two and a half hours from there, to get to the entrance. That's how thick that snow was. And he told me after, and him and I were just sweating from all the struggles that we made, and he stopped there and he built a fire to dry our clothes off. Then he told me that, 'if we ever get stuck there, and you don't struggle to get out of there, if it ever gets cold that things going to be frozen for the rest of the winter.' And that's why they want to get away from here before the snow and the ice comes in. And that is one experience that I had as a young man here. And we also had the same experience but we used my late father's boat down there that he had to leave that estuary by two o'clock in the morning.

So the people that used to live here, whenever it starts getting cold in the Fall, they start moving down - as to all the village sites that you have seen down there - and they moved as time went along, the colder it got they moved further down, and they eventually ended up in Crab River. Then after New Years when it started warming up, they started moving back up here, to start the same process again like gathering all their needs, like starting with Oolichans, then waiting for the berries to ripen and gather it and dry it. Then they'd come up here (Kitlope Lake area), and they'd gather all the fish they can and dry it. And they kept moving around as time changed here for the year. Wherever they knew where there were some things that they needed they'd stop there and camp there for awhile, and gather all their needs.

So, with that I will be going up there with you to show you that man that turned into stone. I don't know if you all stopped to see his footprints, but he went up hunting with his dogs, and while he was up on the mountains, a fog-cloud moved in on him, so he sat down to whistle for his dogs. And that is where he is still sitting yet. And I think Morris heard his whistling one night, and it's a real weird sound when it first starts. He still whistles today, at certain kind of wind that comes up, you hear him whistling. It gets spooky. And people are told never to go up to him, he doesn't want anybody to intrude on him where he is sitting right now. And young people that have tried... never lived to tell the story. So that's where that saying goes, 'those that don't listen, are the ones that pay for it, for their life.' And this is one thing that we've been told. One experience we've had with Gerald, and John Prichard, to that regard, we were touring, we were looking around this area with a helicopter... (Ken then asks Gerald if it was him on the helicopter, Gerald answers no, it was 'Joset')... oh yeah, and Cecil Paul was on with us. And we came down that valley (pointing towards the Tezwa), with a helicopter, flying low, we had two video cameras on the side of the helicopter, on the outside. We put it on before we started travelling, and he videotaped all over the valley. And when he came down to the water level, that guy spotted that man sitting up there. And Cecil told him, 'that's the man that turned to stone.' And without warning he turned up - the helicopter, he started going up towards it, he says, 'I gotta look at this,' and Cecil Paul tapped me on the shoulder and told me to explain how that guy feels about people coming close to him. So I explained to the pilot that he didn't like to be bothered - he didn't want to be intruded on, and that he usually finds a way of doing away with you if you don't listen. So, without any warning, he turned back down, he came around this way, and then we went down. Then he landed to have lunch. After lunch, we went back to Kitamaat, and John Prichard, who was working for the community, (as an Anthropologist), he worked for us for many years, and, there he took the cameras, and hooked it up to a machine, and he started hollering for Gerald and I. And we went in. Here both cameras had shut off, when the cameras were facing that man. They were both off, until the helicopter was all the way down to the lake again... both cameras, yet we couldn't even touch them. So that's the power of this place. That's why we are told to listen to all the advice that is given to us. And it doesn't like it - they don't like it if you leave foreign objects here. They'll find a way of getting rid of it. And that's why we've been really strong at advising people to never leave anything behind when you leave this area. But like I said, we'll tell you more when we go up to see that man. Again, we welcome you here, and we hope you enjoy yourselves. Thank you." (Ken Hall)

11:22 a.m. Gerald explains the treasures that are found all over the Kitlope Valley that are left behind.

Evidence that is stumbled upon that represents old villages - such as that of "Tsun xa chii"(?) a village, meaning "The Beginning Of Winter" in Henaaksiala. Gerald thought that have lived there for the harvesting and preparation of coho, as there is a coho creek behind it. Evidence such as, pictographs that are still being found in recent times by some of the people.

11:26 a.m. Ken points out a bluff right across that glows after a rainfall.

When a certain light hits it, it's a golden colour, and noted that his father has seen it once before.

11:27 a.m. Nicole then introduces a Rediscovery game to the students.

A circle, that represents the medicine wheel. It also represents everything in life. The students later on at the fire circle talked about enjoying this game and many thanked her for sharing.

12:33 p.m. A mother loon and her six babies swimming by.

The mother and her six babies. Mike (the Watchman) tells of when seals have their pups, it's quite the sight to see as they all lay on the logs above the water (at the Raven and Fish Village sites). They lay on the logs, because they do not know how to dive when they are born, their lungs are not ready. So the mother seals nurse in that area.

1:03 p.m. Gerald finds Oxsuli.

He explains of how poisonous the plant really is, "just a tiny, tiny piece can paralyze or kill you". He then goes on to explain a story that his Uncle had told him, about a man who was really sick, had heard about the plant, and had decided to use the plant on himself. Apparently he had used too much, and found himself paralyzed in the bath tub, and barely breathing. This man ended up in hospital for two weeks. This is the power of the plant. Norma comes and helps find its name, "Hellebore". Also, another story comes from the flu epidemic days, these people put a tiny piece under their tongue, which saved them during that time. He also said that during that time, the people would be having a lot of burials, within twelve hours of each other. In the book, Salmonberry Blossoms In The New Year, on page 52, there are a few stories in relation to this plant, how it is used by the Haisla, and where to harvest the plant.

1:10 p.m. Norma and other students trying to find the names to certain plants, such as the Oxsuli.

1:21 p.m. Leaving for the Beaver Village Site.

On the river boat with myself, was also Sheree, Judy, Naila, and Jesse, with Gerald.

1:27 p.m. We arrive at the point on the lake where we can view, "The Man Who Turned To Stone" (Tse smay stah) .

1:36 p.m. Arrive at the Beaver Village Site.

Upon getting off the boats, we all notice footprints in the sand, of baby cubs, and another "mysterious" animal. Trevor finds a Pacific Crab Apple tree, the Haisla name for it is, "Ci'x a". It can be found growing along the Kitlope river's edge as growing in small groves on the exposed alluvial flats and adjacent valley floors... It is a traditional food of the Haisla. In the book, Salmonberry Blossoms In The New Year, it states that the "wood of the crabapple tree was used for such things as fish hooks, digging sticks, noisemakers and sticks used to retrieve seaweed cooking stones ". (page: 46)

1:51 p.m. Ken Adair finds a toad.

At the time, we think it was a very rare, endangered tailed frog. (Ken later tells me in class after the trip that the toad that he had found may have not been a tailed frog?)

1:55 p.m. Trevor and some other students pick salmonberries.

Haisla name: "gula'li" [goLAlee] In the book, Salmon Berries... in regards to this berry, Cecil Paul shares a little bit of his own personal knowledge of the plant: "When the flowers of the salmonberry and Indian Rice bloom, this is considered to be an indicator of the New Year because this is the first berry and also the first food from underground that are ready in the season." And also the berry signifies the time for seaweed harvesting, as they join their Tsimshian neighbors from Hartley Bay on Princess Royal Island. (page 59)

2:05 p.m. Gerald finds some blueberries.

Haisla name: "pipxs'm" [p'ay-p'uck-SUM] The name pipxs'm actually translates to "blueberries which have mold on them". (Salmonberries... page 60) Also, and told of another story in regards to its antioxidants.

"Berries like this, blueberries, over time, developed antioxidants to fight off insects, and it turns out those antioxidants are actually good for us to fight cancer and other diseases. Now they're growing cultured blueberries in farms, and they're spraying them with repellent so over time, those berries have lost those antioxidants because, they don't need them anymore. So I guess the moral is, every time we do something, there is a consequence."

2:07 p.m.

Simon was standing there quietly staring at the mountain in front of him, then asked if I can get a shot of that same mountain, which made us all stare and admire it also. It looked like a painting. This was of course right after a nice rain, it makes the rock, mountains look beautiful.

2:09 p.m. Spotted to what appeared to be a human skull.

Looking across the little bay at us. It gave us the chills to see it. So we spent some time debating what it was.

2:22 p.m. Both Norma and Richard make their way to the "skull" to investigate.

Norma walked around the marsh, and Richard had tried to walk across in his hip waders. Norma found that it was a "L-O-G".

2:28 p.m. Explored some of the area.

Came across some baby tadpoles, thousands of them, all swimming in a squiggly line from the middle of the lake to the grassy edges of the marsh.

2:41 p.m. Norma takes the students on a walk around the village site.

The Douglas Fir - Ken restates to me what Norma had just said about the Douglas Fir:

"The Douglas Fir do not really get any further north than this. Since the ice-age has ended, this is as far north as they have reached."

The students greatly enjoyed the walk with Norma, learning about the environment around them.

4:23 p.m. Heading back to the Watchmen's Cabin.

The weather is getting dreary now, light rain, cloudy, on our river boat, was Judy, her daughter Jesse, Nancy and her daughter Jennifer, and myself with Gerald. Gerald wants to stop and talk a little bit about this certain area.

"When the sockeye come back and the pinks, picture it, it was just bubbling, just this one spot here just loaded with sockeye. And we were here one time with some people with the United States, and we had a little net, and a lot of people didn't have sockeye yet, so we decided to make a set and give to the people who didn't have any. So we sat right here. Out into the river, and down into the beach, and the people from the United States, were right into it, all in their designer suits... and out to here, back to shore, it all took like 3.5 to four minutes to get the net out and back in. We had over 600 sockeye, just in the one set. And after we finished, it still looked like the same amount was still there. So it was a good run that year." (This was about 6, 7, to 8 years ago).

We went back to the Watchmen's Cabin for some dinner, I believe it was Chinese food. All delicious. We then sat around our "smoky" fire and laughed and talked, until we had our campfire circle to close the night.

Day 3: June 24, 2005

9:22 a.m. Sheree explained for the camera what our agenda was for the day!

"This is day three, and we're dividing into three groups. One is going to go kayaking in the estuary - and canoeing. Another group is going to go with Mike Wilson, they're going to do a hike and perhaps go up to the plank tree, and maybe do a little boat ride. Their agenda will develope as they see fit. And the other group, we are going to go up to the lake and check out some culturally significant sights, and hopefully go up to the Tezwa, see how far we can get up there, and go to the sight, “where the people went after the flood." (Sheree Ronaasen)

9:25 a.m. Everyone spends a few minutes getting ready in their own groups, Mike, John and Gerald wait.

9:32 a.m. On our way up the Tezwa.

On our boat was Nancy, her daughter Jennifer, Trevor, Sheree, and myself, with Gerald. Had to drop a passenger off with the Montana crew, as our boat was too full, Sheree volunteered to change boats.

10:12 a.m. We stop in between the Raven and Fish Village sites.

Sheree gets back on our boat. Nancy points out the Fish and Raven sites.

11:09 a.m. We briefly stop at the site where the people went after the flood.

Not far off was the Robertson's cabin site. Nancy spots a mamma and baby bear prints in the sand bar. Those prints were about a day old. Sheree and Jennifer try to use the bear horn, but it didn't work, Trevor hollers at the bear to "get". We did not stay long, as everyone wanted to see just how far we could go up the Tezwa, so we jumped back in the boat and headed up farther.

11:48 a.m. Gerald finds a spot to tie the boat up to.

It was kind of tricky to begin with, as Trevor had to quickly paddle while Gerald was standing out of the boat trying to pull it up the river. The funny part was Trevor paddling forwards when he should have been paddling backwards, pulling Gerald down the river it was a funny sight, and something we laughed about later on. Gerald tells of going to this waterfall before, how it was to be there. So he wanted to show us himself the magnificence of the waterfall. We basically bushwhacked our way through, I stopped every now and then to take a quick picture of the waterfall as we were coming closer to it. The bushes were so thick that it made some of us nervous, as the thought of bears was in all our minds. At one time, Jennifer began crying, I guess fed up from falling down through the bush, and maybe scared also. But she continued on. Trevor and I came out onto a little trail, which I was told was a bear trail. That amazed me, and I imagined bears walking along this trail. You can also see the etches the bears made along their trail, gouges in the trees and stumps.

12:03 p.m. We come across a huge cedar tree.

Trevor stands up in front of it, spread open his arms to show how big it was. He says it made him look like a slender reed. We decide to make a human circle around the tree, to see how many people can go around it. There was Sheree, Trevor, Nancy, Gerald, and Jennifer.

12:21 p.m. We arrive at the waterfall..

The waterfall was amazing. It was enormous, and loud, and most importantly, beautiful. It was definitely the peak of my camping trip to the Kitlope. The force of the falls was amazing, I did not get right up close but from where I was standing, the force of the winds took my breath away at times. I was worried about my camera, but got brave for two seconds and pulled it out for a brief shot. I drank some water from the falls, picked up a rock (for my secret friend), and also a walking stick before walking back. We walked back to the boat and sat and had lunch (amongst all the flies) and then floated down the river.

1:30 p.m. Floated down the Tezwa River..

Took a picture of the top of the waterfall above the mountains. During this trip we called the falls "Jenn Falls Two". Also on this trip, Sheree was named "Chipko" meaning tree hugger, which comes from an East Indian language about the women who stopped their husbands from cutting down trees. Also Mt. Henry's; I still don't know what that means. It is evident that there is so much traffic of animals along the banks of the river. We spotted bear tracks, smaller tracks.

2:30 p.m. The Robertson's cabin site.

Sheree, Nancy and I travelled a little ways into the woods to find this spot, but we were too nervous, I heard a crack up ahead of me, and we never stuck around to find out what it was. I took a picture with the camera, stating that that was the area of his cabin, but it was probably not the right spot... but it was good enough for the three of us.

2:53 p.m. Trevor spots a grizzly bear on the other side of the bank, but by the time I got my camera out, it was gone. We floated the rest of the way down the banks, the sun came out shining, and heated up drastically. There were many signs of wildlife around: baby loons, seals, bears, porcupines, birds.

Day 4: June 25, 2005

10:15 a.m. Rice Root.

Haisla name is "xu'k m" [HUE-kwum] Common name is Rice Root or Indian Rice. In Salmonberry Blossoms… it is stated that rice root can be found in moist, open areas, especially within the alluvial flood plains. Rice Root was one of the Haisla's important traditional food, since it was high in starch and carbohydrates (page 36). Norma and her son Ken were sitting to the side of the cabin talking about plants when I went to go join them Ken had a rice root in his hand and pointed to where he found them in front of the Watchman's Cabin.

10:35 a.m. On our way up the "A Koo u wa".

On our boat was, Trevor, Kathy, Angela, Ken, Jayleen, Norma, with John the Watchman.

11:24 a.m. Angela and I went for a walk to the little creek around the corner of the lake to get some water.

A lot of the group went up the Tezwa for a nice ride, to also see "Jenn Falls Two," but because we had already been there, I opted to stay behind and relax in the nice and quietness. Sheree, Cheri, Trevor also stayed behind. Cheri painted the mountain, Sheree tried also to paint, while I wrote a nice letter to my father to burn in the fire. It was a perfect way to pass the time. The water was still freezing though, both Sheree and Cheri went in the water for a quick dip.

11:56 a.m. Sport Hunters.

Hunters floated into the lake on a float plane. I was shocked to see a plane, as I was expecting one of the cooks to come around the corner with lunch. They stayed for a short while and flew off.

1:00 p.m. Gail, one of the cooks, showed up with lunch.

We had roasted wieners, smokies, and oolichans and cookies for lunch. It was delicious. Then a few of us went in the water, while others baked themselves on the beach.

3:32 p.m. Pictographs.

We stopped at an area right below the lake to see a pictograph. It was a picture of a human face. We got back to the cabin with some time to spare and relax a bit before dinner. It was a nice day, and we all enjoyed it. Morris entertains us with the readings of his new poem given to him by his special friend.

8:30 p.m. Collect Red Alder bark.

We thought we would help Gerald out by collecting red alder for his wife Gail. Gail has been diagnosed with cancer, so this bark would be very helpful to her. Gerald showed us how to harvest it. Along on the walk was, Jesse, Kathy, Jennifer, Sheena, Gerald and Julia and myself.

9:40 p.m. The last night for Campfire Circle..

Gerald allows me to tape his opening speech to the group. This was our last campfire, and I had wanted a nice way to end the taping. Sitting beside Gerald Amos, is Chief Sana x aid - Johnny Wilson, who would join our group every night at camp fire circle, he would share his knowledge of area.

"Unfortunately, this is the last evening that we are going to be together, and unfortunately you have to get up earlier than usual. I'd like to begin by thanking Nicole for keeping these feathers safe, for allowing us to use them. And from the sounds of it, these two feathers that she has been allowing us to use has pretty good energy, and some pretty good memories in them for her. And it's very encouraging to see such a young person appear to be taking so much control over her own life, and the direction that her life is going. I want to thank everyone for the medicine that you helped to gather. Thank you to my secret friend, and all my other friends that helped harvest in that. And also for the alder, it's going to help immensely. This is what it's all about, a gathering like this, as tired as we are, as 'crabby' as some people tend to get, (not mentioning any names, haha). But that's life. We all have our good moments, and we all deal with them the way we deal with them and a circle like this, it takes the edge off. It allows us to be who we are, and allow other people to be themselves. And I have to say with all sincerity, everyone here that I've taken this trip with, is - has become a very special person in my life. And I'd like to thank, Sana x aid (Johnny Wilson) for joining us every evening, speaking with us. I want to thank my brother Morris for his words. I think that listening to him talk about what he said that, although he's always joking, there's a side to him that a lot of people do not understand. So it's coming to an end, and I, I'm going home with some pretty good memories. I'm going home with some medicine for my wife, and for myself. I also failed to mention last evening, that our Uncle John Amos, also has stomach cancer. So some of this medicine is going to be for him. And I'm going to tell him, where it came from, who helped to harvest it, and I'm sure it's going to make him feel better knowing that people are willing to help.

The one thing I'm going to try and stress here a little bit, before I pass this on. that in our own way, each and every one of us has been assimilated, from the families that we came from, from the people that we came from. We're being assimilated into a way of life, that is foreign, I think to all of us. In our case, the First Nations people, is more so perhaps than others. In that very food we eat, and the medicines that we have used for over 8,000 years or so. Our culture, our spirit. has been damaged. People say that it's been broken, but I don't believe that it's been broken. I believe it's been damaged. And it's under repair as we speak, as we get together like circles like this. And it's with friends and teachers, like yourselves that have come to mean a lot to me. As this place is about spirit and its about healing. I spent the day taking a couple of crews up to ' Jenn Falls Two', (I don't think she knows its named after her yet). But it took on a little bit more meaning for me on that last trip with Norma there. When we fought - Morris and I, and Johnny helped - Cecil Paul, pretty much our entire community - Cecil Jr. Julia's dad, and in fact Julia, and her brother Aaron. My whole family supported me, in the effort that we put in to protect the Kitlope. When we were doing battle in meetings, with government and with West Fraser. We talked about this place as, as a possibly a laboratory of some sorts. For a place to come and study, because so many other places like it, have been damaged beyond repair perhaps. And some people think that we can reconstruct mother nature. I don't know if we can do it. But if we have any hope at all, it's from learning from places like this. And when we went to Jenn Falls Two - the last trip, with Norma and her son, and Cheri was with us, and Jayleen. But Norma started showing us, pointing out their names of plants. I'm talking about how some of them were quite rare. Some of them were quite rare at this point. And I can't remember exactly how she put it but she referred to that bowl that the falls drop into, as a laboratory, is that how you put it? Because it has so much diversity in it, in a place like that. And the work that we've done to protect the Kitlope, takes on new meaning when we come with people like Norma who so willingly share their knowledge, just like her and Sheree, who put the effort in. And I want to thank you both for spearheading this course and teaching the course. I'm hoping I can contribute a bit more into the respect to the fund-raising part of it. Perhaps this bear hunter, that just bought this territory can help us. We're not going to let him go 'scott-free.' So I'd like to see this, expand this, so we don't have to scratch every year for funding to run such a wonderful course. I've always said this makes a lot more sense to me, than sitting in a desk with a little wrap around thing that makes you feel like a prisoner. So I guess what you're hearing is a commitment, with this feather in my hand that I'll work to help you and I'm sure that Nancy working over there that has another side to her as well. I think she's becoming a more and more a believer in the Kitlope, she's only been her a few times. And Morris has been here quite a bit, and continues to believe in what we have done. Same with Cecil (Jr.), I know that Cecil coming here, is not just another job, it's his home. A home that he likes to share. So again thank you very much for what you have done for me, and this day has been the best out of the works, although its the last... and I'm looking forward to next year..." (Gerald Amos).

Day 5: June 26, 2005

5:00 a.m. Camp wakes up.

Eats dry cereal for breakfast, as it is fast and easier for everyone. Right after breakfast, everyone packs up their tents.

7:00 a.m. After getting everyone from the cabin, back to the Zodiak Light, we set back down towards Kitamaat.

9:22 a.m. Sasquatch area.

Ken Hall stops the boat on our way to Kitamaat, to briefly talk about the area known for Sasquatch; where his grandfather would go out to bear hunt back in the year 1918.

"This is the story of when my grandfather would come out and bear hunt, way back in 1918. He and a friend came out in a canoe, along with their Uncle. They set up and walked up that valley to bear hunt. Along the way up, they decided to separate, one went one way and the other went up this side. And along the way, he stopped by a big boulder, a big rock, and rested there for awhile, and he was wondering how he should climb, how he was going to get up on it. But anyway he kept on after resting and spotted some bears eating on the grass. So he had to make his way across the creek. I believe it's that one there. He had a hard time crossing that creek. But when he did make it, he started sneaking up to the animals that he had seen. When he came close to them in range - what we normally do when we hunt, you got to rest before you shoot. And that's what he did. When it was time to shoot he picked the smaller bear to shoot. And when he did fire a shot, there was a loud scream, and those big creatures stood up. They were in the human form with black fur all over. They were Sasquatch. He figures they were about 8' tall, and he knew he was in trouble. And he started running down from where he was at. When he looked back there were others chasing after him. He was running in panic. Along the way, he came to, he was sitting up on that big boulder. And those big Sasquatches were below him. They were on that rock, there was four of them, actually he saw five. The one that he had shot was a young female - Sasquatch. Those big things were crying for the… just like you and I for somebody. And he started talking to those that were surrounding him on the bottom. They were standing there. He was telling them that he was sorry, that he thought that they were bears. And he apologized to them, which they seemed to acknowledge. Then they started walking up. When they got so far, he got off that rock and started running down again. And he ran past that peg that he had driven in the ground with his friend. (That was an indication that one should go back to the canoe) They pull that peg out of the ground to indicate the other that they've come back. And he realized that the peg was still standing there, he stopped and pulled it out. And when he got down to the beach here, his Uncle was on the canoe, and he hollered at him to, 'push the canoe out, I'm in trouble'. He ran down to the canoe and he pushed himself out. Just then, those big creatures came down. Four of them. All trying to chase after them. Without telling his Uncle what had happened, he turned around and spoke to those things also, and apologized to them. Told them that they didn't mean no harm to them. Then they seemed to acknowledge them and they left again. Right after that happened, when they settled down, my grandfather went into a coma. And they had to take him back to Kemano, that's where they lived, that village there. That used to be a big village. They brought him back there, and he was in a coma for four days. And part about that too, is that the smell of the Sasquatch was in his body, they couldn't get rid of it. He pretty well had to live on his own after that because they couldn't stand the smell of him. And when he came to, from the coma, he had another spirit in him. Where he was able to communicate with other spirits. He even predicted when he was going to die. He's done some supernatural things, that you and I can't do. He made the young people build a fire, and pile rocks on top of it, and they were red hot. People would watch him as he would walk over the rocks, wanting to show people after that there were no burns on them. He went and broke off a twig from the bushes. He started chanting, and dancing around the fire. He went to the Chief and he opened it, and there was a leaf on that branch of that twig that he broke off. He did the same thing again, he went and danced around and he went to the Chief again, opened his palm and there was a blossom there of a salmonberry. And he covered it, and he went around again, and he opened it, and the salmonberry was ripe, he took it out and put it in the Chief's mouth. Those are some of the things that he was able to do. And what you people have seen there a few days ago in Kemano, that road and all that. He seen that, he predicted that. He told that people that it was going to happen, later on in life, that there was going to be a big creature going in that valley. And they call that bay, 'kem-an-ee-yu,' that's why that name came from Kemano. They say that big creature is going to come in here, and lay a big snake from the beach up, and that big snake is going to burrow a hole through this mountain, and come up that lake and the water is going to come down on it. He predicted that before he died. And this he got from the other spirit he was communicating with. So he, his tombstones... its too bad that we didn't make it in there, his tombstone is still there. But he predicted his own death. A lot of people are skeptical when you tell the story about Sasquatch. That it's not true. I read this book in Seattle when I worked there, about this very same story. That is the experience of my grandfather with the Sasquatch. Thought I'd let you guys know. This is where it happened.(Ken Hall)

2:30 p.m. Arrive back at Kitamaat Village.

Everyone was excited to be back, and anxious to get home to Terrace. I was happy to see Cecil Sr. up on top of the dock. He was smiling, watching everyone unload the boat. I went to go and give him a hug and talk to him for a bit. He was glad to see everyone coming back, but also sad he says that he was not able to make it out this year. But, still full of smiles. He said hopefully next year!

Reference Cited

Davis, Alison and Beatrice Wilson 1995. Salmon Berry Blossoms in the New Year. Kitlope, Na Na Kila Press, Kitamaat, BC.

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