The future issue

northword

ISSUE NO. 70

magazine

future

optimism

past

predictions

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

|

future

uncertainty

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COVER CONTEST! Find the in the cover photo for your chance to win a pair of books, courtesy of our friends at Speedee Mills & Books!

Email contest@northword.ca with your best guess. Correct entries will be entered into a draw & the winner announced October 20.

ON THE COVER Diving headfirst into the future. Will our water still be fit to drink? Will our oceans continue to sustain salmon? Will our beaches be overrun by plastic and other detritus from the modern world? Or will our youth write a new future for the world? Talon Gillis captures a movement in its infancy working to protect BC coastlines. See more of his photos on page 21.

Legalities and limitations Copyright Š 2017. All rights reserved. No part of Northword Magazine, in print or electronic form, may be reproduced or incorporated into any information retrieval systems without written permission of the publisher. Information about events, products or services provided is not necessarily complete. The publisher is not responsible in whole or in part for any errors or omissions.The views expressed herein are those of the writers and advertisers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, staff or management. Northword assumes no liability for improper or negligent business practices by advertisers, nor for any claims or representations contained anywhere in this magazine. Northword reserves the right to cancel or refuse advertising at the publisher’s discretion. In no event shall unsolicited material subject this publication to any claim or fees. Northword welcomes submissions but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Copyright in letter and other materials sent to the publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic and other forms. Please refer to northword.ca for contribution guidelines.

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CONTENTS ISSUE NO. 70 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

FEATURES 17 Optimism in the Face of Impending Disaster There is plenty to fear these days. And yet, all across northern BC people are shaping a future for themselves, for their children, and for their communities. Jo Boxwell shares some of their stories and their optimistic outlook.

by Jo Boxwell

21 On Beaches As the world’s oceans fill up with plastic, the beaches along BC’s coast are quietly accumulating garbage.

Talon Gillis offers us a glimpse into a group of individuals working to protect and restore impacted habitat. photos by Talon Gillis, words by Matt J. Simmons

28 The Last Salmon Stronghold Salmon are a way of life in northern BC. This season’s closures of the sockeye and Chinook fisheries on the Skeena River are causing ripples of fear for a future with no fish in the rivers. Dan Mesec investigates the issues, and the potential cultural implications of declining stocks.

by Dan Mesec

32 Fishing for Future Opening day on the Skeena came late this year. Kitsumkalum fish monitors were there working with recreational anglers to gather data. Britta Boudreau takes us to the river, and gives us a glimpse of what’s at stake if the salmon stop swimming, and who is working to protect the resource.

9 EDITOR’S NOTE FIRSTWORDS 13 Ging Gang Hla tllGad 14 Simbiyez Wilson 15 The Future of LNG 39 TRAIL MAP Station Creek BACKWORDS

41 Standing Split 42 Freeman’s Home 42 American Dream 47 LASTWORD Take a Hike

by Britta Boudreau

35 Future Past In the words of Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Paul Glover takes an introspective look at his past, the future, and takes us on a thoughtful adventure through weather patterns, perception, and expectations, asking the question: “Can we figure out where we’re going by looking at where we’ve been?”

by Paul Glover

IMAGE: The future always finds a way to make itself known. — Photo by Marty Clemens

September/October 2017

7

northword magazine

MAIN OFFICE | Smithers 1412 Freeland Ave. Smithers, BC, V0J 2N4 t: 250.847.4600 | w. northword.ca | e. editor@northword.ca

Matt J. Simmons

Publisher/Editor-in-chief matt@northword.ca

Sandra Smith

National Advertising sandra@northword.ca

Amanda Follett Hosgood Contributing Editor amanda@northword.ca

Melissa Sawatsky lives on unceded Witsuwit’en territory in Smithers, BC where she works at the library and the Bulkley Valley Research Centre. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC and her work has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals.

Morgan Hite has lived in Smithers for 20 years, makes maps, goes hiking, gets lost, writes articles, reads things and dreams about travel.

Marty Clemens is a freelance videographer and photographer. When he’s not filming or slouching at his editing desk, you can find him on the river not catching much, working on his tennis swing, or packing for his next camping trip.

Pete Moore was born and raised in Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii, and attended UVic’s journalism program. Now living back on the islands, he is an avid writer, radio host, musician, and general so-stoked dude.

CONTRIBUTORS Britta Boudreau, Jo Boxwell, Dave Clair, Marty Clemens, Amanda Follett Hosgood, Jack Garland, Facundo Gastiazoro, Talon Gillis, Paul Glover, Morgan Hite, Trevor Jang, Dan Mesec, Pete Moore, Melissa Sawatsky.

DISTRIBUTORS Ainsley Brown, Frances Riley, Richard Haley, Jen Harvey ADVERTISING SALES Sandra Smith, sandra@northword.ca Matt J. Simmons, matt@northword.ca DISTRIBUTION We distribute 10,000 copies six times a year to over 300 locations in 33 communities across northern BC, reaching close to 30,000 readers. To request copies at your retail/public location, send an email to ads@northword.ca.

SUBSCRIPTION To receive Northword Magazine in your mailbox, or to give it away to a friend, please complete the subscription process on our website or give us a call.

CONTRIBUTIONS We’re always happy to hear from new writers and photographers who have a unique perspective and a northern story to tell. Have a look at our submissions guidelines on our website, or send an email to editor@northword.ca and we'll send you a copy.

ONLINE Find articles past and present, photos, audio, and more at northword.ca and check us out on Facebook & Instagram.

THANKS Thanks always to the volunteer proofreaders who exchange their time, expertise and company for a couple of slices of pizza and a glass of wine.

i l l u s t r a t i o n : f a c u n d o g a s t i a z o ro

Britta Boudreau lives in Prince George and enjoys writing, photography and travelling through northern BC. She is awed by the power of nature.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Matt J. Simmons NATIONAL SALES/AD DESIGN Sandra Smith CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Amanda Follett Hosgood ILLUSTRATORS Facundo Gastiazoro & Hans Saefkow

8 September/October 2017

EDITOR’S NOTE

i l l u s t r a t i o n : f a c u n d o g a s t i a z o ro

The future is a strange beast. It holds limitless possibilities of life and love

and death and sorrow. It is everything and it is nothing. The great physicists say the future doesn’t even exist—the concept is simply, in Einstein’s words, “a stubbornly persistent illusion.” And yet, whether mirage or reality, we live inside that illusion and our subjective experiences of time are all we have. So we think of what’s yet to come; we plan, we dream.

I’ve never been very good at looking ahead. It’s not that the future doesn’t interest me—it does. It’s strangely compelling to wonder what changes to my world are yet to come. Where will I be? What will I have accomplished? How will my daily life be different than it is now? And yet, I rarely ask those questions. I dodge the thoughts when they arrive unexpected in the middle of the night. I think sometimes I’m just too wrapped up in the present. Or, maybe the future is so scary, I’ve built myself a mental turtle shell to stay sane. Hide your head, boy—this is all a bit too much.

Because it’s easy to think all is bleak. Here we are, facing climate change with all its chaotic implications, overpopulation, mass extinctions, global unrest and violence, and an increasing divide between the very rich and the very poor. The newest generations retreat further into virtual worlds, glowing screens commanding attention while shortening attention spans. And on and on it goes. But fear of the future is pointless. There’s no escape from our perceived passage of time. “At some point the future becomes reality. And then it quickly becomes the past.” Haruki Murakami.

What will northern BC look like in 100 years? Maybe the spread of urbanization will penetrate further into our northern landscapes as life becomes increasingly unaffordable for our southern cousins and technology continues to free us from the

need to live where we work. Or that urban growth will stick to the cities, towering upwards and outwards, and the north will remain a green ocean.

When I watch how quickly deciduous trees reclaim garden beds, lawns, fences, even buildings, casually and efficiently taking back a landscape, I can readily imagine a future where nature is boss. After all, it really is. As author and activist Naomi Klein puts it, “It is we humans who are fragile and vulnerable and the earth that is hearty and powerful, and holds us in its hands. In pragmatic terms, our challenge is less to save the earth from ourselves and more to save ourselves from an earth that, if pushed too far, has ample power to rock, burn, and shake us off completely.”

The future isn’t all doom and destruction, of course. There’s always hope.

Murakami again: “What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things.

And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself.” Human beings are out there right now accomplishing much that will positively affect our future selves. Have you heard of Taylor Wilson? At age 14, he achieved nuclear fusion in a homemade reactor built in his parents’ garage. He’s 23 now, and simultaneously working on projects to cure cancer and solve the world’s energy problems. And he might just do it.

All across the planet are incredible youth changing the way we think and creating a new future for us all. Babies are born today who will one day change the world.

Books will be written, songs will be sung. And through it all, the persistent illusion will persist.

— Matt J. Simmons

September/October 2017

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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS FACUNDO GASTIAZORO

JO BOXWELL DAN MESEC

PAUL GLOVER

Facundo Gastiazoro Facundo Gastiazoro spends his days in Smithers expressing his art by painting murals, creating animations, producing videos, illustrating concepts. His illustrations are featured in every issue of Northword.

Facundo is trying to be in the present, but the past is nagging at his heels and the future is tripping him at his toes.

Jo Boxwell Jo Boxwell is a freelance writer and media specialist based in Prince George. Originally from the UK, she has spent the past few years gathering stories in Ontario and British Columbia. Her favourite things include documentary film editing, proper tea, plants that tolerate (quite) a bit of neglect and discovering new places. She writes fiction and creative nonfiction, and is frequently interrupted by a squealing toddler, a ball-obsessed dog and a surprisingly destructive cat. Pieces that have made it to completion have appeared in several BC-based publications.

TALON GILLIS

Dan Mesec Dan Mesec has called the Bulkley Valley home for seven years and as a journalist has covered everything from Tahltan blockades to wild salmon runs on Lake Babine. When not at his desk he can be found debating global issues with anyone who will listen, wandering the land in rose-coloured glasses searching for his next story or hiking mountains with his half-wild canine Tosca. He lives in Smithers, BC. Talon Gillis Talon Gillis is an adventurer at heart with a strong passion for photographing people. He combines the beauty and excitement of being outside with a relatable human element that allows the viewer to identify with his images. A self-taught photographer who grew up in Prince Rupert, he now lives in Terrace. To see more of his work, find him at talongillis.com.

Paul Glover Paul Glover is a piano technician, photographer, writer and home-grown naturalist. In his 42 years in the Northwest he has lived in a cabin at treeline, raised a family in a wilderness homestead, and explored many local mountain ranges on foot. These days he lives in the hills outside Smithers where he compulsively grows way too much food and pays rapt attention to the natural processes unfolding around us.

September/October 2017

11

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FIRSTWORDS

HELP YOURSELF

Ging Gang Hla tllGad Independent Music and Arts Co-operative

photo: dave clair

A few years ago,

Haida Gwaii punk bands Dub Jackson Band and Jason Camp and the Posers played their first show together. Being near the 5th of November, they called the event, “Guy Fawkes Yourself.” The two bands rented out the Legion in Queen Charlotte and, with some help from openers The Mutual Suspects and APPLES, it was a historic night of high-energy tunes. It was also a night that would kick off a new scene in Haida Gwaii.

A year later, following the second Guy Fawkes Yourself show, which featured five bands, a roller derby team, and a bunch of basement-made screenprinted merch, talks of a new initiative began. Dub Jackson Band and Jason Camp and the Posers had put on a few other shows over the course of the year and were starting to see the potential for a DIY scene on Haida Gwaii. Audiences were feeding off the energy of the new, exciting, and fast-paced punk rock, a refreshing departure from the classic rock cover bands and DJs that had held down the live music scene on Haida Gwaii for some time.

Out of these discussions arose the now incorporated Ging Gang Hla tllGad Independent Music and Arts Co-operative. The name is Haida for “help yourself,” based on the idea that when we help ourselves we help each other. In such a small community, supporting each other in our artistic endeavours is imperative, and GGHtG hopes to help facilitate.

June 3rd was the first annual, second-largest music festival on Haida Gwaii: the Chown Town Throw

Down. Taking place just a few kilometres outside Masset, the mini music fest was a full day of local music (with the Alkemist and Big Fancy joining in from Fort Fraser). This was the first major event officially backed by GGHtG, and it was a resounding success—with just a donation jar at the door, the event brought in enough cash to pay every musician and even a few super volunteers.

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GGHtG’s first AGM is slated for sometime this fall, and preliminary discussions of the third Guy Fawkes Yourself and the next Chown Town Throw Down have already begun. It’s an exciting time for music, and all that surrounds it, on Haida Gwaii. With the cooperative support of all these energetic, creative, inspired, and stoked individuals, it feels like anything is possible—you just have to help yourself.

— Pete Moore

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FIRSTWORDS

SIMBIYEZ WILSON

“child of the stars.” And Witsuwit’en singer-songwriter Simbiyez Wilson seems to be living up to the name. She grew up in Smithers surrounded by music. Inspired by her mother’s habit of singing in the shower, Wilson’s musical development began at a young age. A little healthy competition with her brother and an extended family of aunts and uncles also played a role—family dinners were often accompanied by bluesy tunes and sing-alongs. Wilson describes her heritage in a manner that says much about the strength and resilience of her family and cultural community. “I’m Witsuwit’en,” she says, “and proud to say I grew up in Smithers with my culture still woven into my bones.”

The young musician is not interested in aligning herself with any particular musical style or tradition, although she has been associated with folk, soul, and blues. “I cannot be put into a box,” she says. “I’ve

14 September/October 2017

discovered that now.” Wilson will be working on her debut album this fall and winter with Elijah Larsen, lead singer of The Racket, and other musicians she’s met on the road.

This past summer, Wilson travelled around the province, playing gigs and taking the stage at various music festivals, including the Intertidal Music Festival at North Pacific Cannery, Kispiox Valley Music Festival, ArtsWells, and more. She somehow found time to play a set for 2,500 girl guides who gathered in Smithers for the Spirit of Adventure Rendezvous. Many became instant fans and were clamouring to buy her as-yet unfinished album.

She credits the Smithers Youth Guitar Camp, an annual week-long event organized by the Bulkley Valley Folk Music Society, with shaping her sound and instilling in her the confidence that enables her to perform the way she does today. Completing the circle from apprentice to mentor this year, Wilson rounded

out her summer by returning to the camp as an instructor. Her mission was to help the budding musicians create “the best version of themselves by always being the best version of myself.”

Considering she’s only 19, the decades to come and the rest of her musical career will be interesting to watch. This young “child of the stars” possesses a rare clarity of purpose: “All I ever want to do is love people,” she says, “through music especially.” Voices of love are what we need rising up in the world right now—make sure you tune in.

— Melissa Sawatsky To find out more about Simbiyez Wilson’s upcoming album or performance dates, follow her on Instagram @simbiyez.music, or check her out on Facebook and YouTube.

photo: marty clemens

Her name means

p h o t o : t re v o r j a n g / d i s c o u r s e m e d i a

One young Witsuwit’en singer finds her voice

FIRSTWORDS

Lucy Sager (left) and Shannon McPhail have agreed to work together.

THE FUTURE OF LNG

In wake of Petronas decision, northerners agree: It’s time to work together

p h o t o : t re v o r j a n g / d i s c o u r s e m e d i a

photo: marty clemens

A blessing and a tragedy:

Petronas’ recent decision to pull out of a $36 billion liquified natural gas (LNG) project planned for northern BC has been hailed as both in the mainstream media.

Closer to home, those on both sides agree: In the wake of the Malaysian energy giant’s retreat, northerners need to come together and advocate for our region’s future.

The natural gas pipeline would have come with an $11 billion terminal at Lelu Island, just south of Prince Rupert, where adjacent Flora Bank provides critical habitat for juvenile fish leaving the Skeena watershed.

While it could have created 4,500 construction jobs and up to 400 permanent positions, the company expected to rely heavily on foreign workers, blaming a Canadian skills shortage in the project’s final two years of construction.

“We dodged a bullet with this project,” Skeena

Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail says. “It was the single biggest threat to wild salmon and also the local economy.”

The recent boom and subsequent bust caused by the LNG furor has left some residents financially overextended after mortgaging homes and starting businesses.

Lucy Sager knows the scenario all too well. The Terrace resident was living her “dream come true” running Out Spoke’N Bike and Sport when Eurocan paper mill closed in 2011. “I didn’t realize how dependent I was on industry until Eurocan closed,” she says.

When her business closed shortly after, starting over meant working three jobs, which led to a position managing Enbridge’s public relations office. An advocate for LNG, she now runs Spirit Strategies, a consulting company that works as a liaison between First Nations and industry.

“A lot of people are super disappointed about Petronas leaving,” she says. “Love them or hate them, they dumped money into Shames Mountain, they dumped money into trails, they dumped money into cleaning up our shoreline.”

While Sager and McPhail can find a lot to disagree on, a heated exchange on social media recently led them to discover what they have in common: a desire to generate local jobs that suit the region culturally, environmentally and economically. The pair decided to meet and join forces.

“Right or wrong, people made plans and it’s like, ‘now what?’” Sager says. “I’m all ears.”

With depressed fuel prices blamed for Petronas’s decision, the future of LNG in the region is uncertain.

Shortly before the announcement—though likely long after the decision had been quietly made—a northern BC resident’s legal victory put a further damper on similar projects.

September/October 2017

15

FIRSTWORDS

Mike Sawyer encourages residents to speak up and challenge governments.

16 September/October 2017

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i l l u s t r a t i o n : f a c u n d o g a s t i a z o ro

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photo: amanda follett hosgood

Mike Sawyer sensed some incongruities during a presentation about TransCanada’s Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project. Evasive answers to his questions inspired the former environmental consultant to keep digging. He learned that a federal review, which should have been required, had been waived.

What followed was two and a half years battling the National Energy Board. In June, the Federal Court of Appeal found in Sawyer’s favour.

While it’s unlikely the decision played into Petronas’ announcement (most agree the final investment decision was based solely on economics and made well before the recent provincial election), it will hold other companies accountable when trying for environmental approval.

“I believe that citizens have an obligation to challenge the government when they make decisions that are either illegal, corrupt or not in the public interest,” says Sawyer, who also espouses the need for a regional plan that protects watersheds and wild salmon.

“If we just fight fires, we’re going to win some, we’re going to lose some,” he says. “We should come up with an end game plan so we don’t have to keep doing this, fire after fire.”

Fighting fires was what Skeena MLA Doug Donaldson was doing as word spread about Petronas’s decision, with BC’s unprecedented wildfire season keeping the new Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development occupied since taking on the position in July. He says the announcement offers some breathing room for regional discussion.

“The way the BC Liberals approached this file and jumped into it never enabled us to have a serious conversation about LNG in the Northwest,” he says. “That investment decision by Petronas gives us the ability to catch up a bit in the conversation about land-use planning.”

While not theoretically opposed to LNG, BC’s new NDP government has made it clear it only supports projects that offer a fair return for the resource, partnerships with First Nations, environmental protection, and jobs for local residents.

Sager speculates that the region might see the myriad proposed LNG projects filter into one that makes the most sense. At the moment, she points to LNG Canada in Kitimat and Nexen’s Aurora LNG on Digby Island as remaining possibilities, along with Chevron’s Kitimat LNG. Ultimately, it will be up to northerners to speak up about what they want for the region’s future.

optimism in the face of

I M P E N D I N G D I S A S T E R

i l l u s t r a t i o n : f a c u n d o g a s t i a z o ro

photo: amanda follett hosgood

by Jo Boxwell

September/October 2017

17

S

tanding inside a disused beehive burner, shards of light bursting in through the holes where the metal has rusted out. The landscape used to be full of these round-nosed cones, churning out smoke and ash as they incinerated tons and tons of sawmill waste.

The smoke still comes. Wildfires now; worse than they were. Nature’s revenge. First comes a faint burning smell, and then the sky sinks into a murky haze.

The haze gets thicker and creeps into our homes and our noses and throats, and we watch the colours of the online air quality index change from blue to yellow to pink to red. Somebody says it’s not that bad; it’s like this all the time in Beijing.

Sometimes it’s hard to be optimistic about our future. Our hopes for our descendants are retreating with the glaciers and the reluctance of politicians and corporations, and even ourselves as individuals, to act. Yet, despite the many issues our society faces, environmentally and socially, there are reasons to remain hopeful about the future.

Northern optimism Vince Prince is the CEO of the Nak’azdli Development Corporation, which deals with 18 reserve lands in the Fort St. James area. Balancing economic demands with environmental concerns and traditional uses of the land is a key aspect of his job.

The corporation is currently involved with an agricultural research project and the development of a greenhouse that it hopes will provide both jobs and local food yearround. “Agriculture is something that we decided we wanted to pursue. People are excited about it. They’re really excited about not having to get, you know, cucumbers from Mexico.”

Prince says he’s also very hopeful for the future prospects of young Aboriginal people in the region. “I get to see more and more taking the opportunity in terms of education and apprenticeships.” He jokingly complains that they have trouble getting enough band members to fill the management jobs they have, not because there aren’t enough qualified people but because they keep getting scooped up by other companies who pay more. There are now two doctors from the territory who are completing their residencies in Prince George, one of whom is planning to return to set up a practice in Fort St. James.

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Julia Dillabough is the president of the Quesnel Pride Society. She believes visibility is critical to the future of gay rights, and small-town pride parades such as the one started in Quesnel three years ago help raise awareness and acceptance. “It’s amazing how Quesnel comes out to support the Pride Parade,” she says, commenting on the support they’ve received from local businesses, Mayor Bob Simpson, and MLA Coralee Oakes. “There’s support from every direction. For the most part, if somebody doesn’t agree with it, they just leave it alone and they go about their business.”

Dillabough expects that the increased visibility of LGBTQ people in smaller communities will have an impact on the number of sexual minorities choosing to leave big cities. “They’re seeing these more accepting pride parades in the North.

They want to get out of those larger centres because they like nature, they like hiking, they want what everybody else wants—affordability—and that’s what we have.”

Inspired by the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, pediatrician Dr. Marie Hay is actively working toward creating a Peace and Reconciliation Centre for the north, based in St. Michael’s Church in Prince George. “I think this is, on a human level, the biggest question for northern BC. The quality of the relationship between First Nations and settlers.”

Though the idea is still in its infancy, the space available for the centre is already being used by a support group for women residential school survivors as well as other groups that need a space in the community but can’t necessarily afford one. Hay’s vision for the centre is that ultimately “it would be a centre of education for not just First Nations and settlers but for immigrants and refugees, for rich and poor, for marginalized individuals.”

Within the medical field, there are a wide range of developments that will hopefully lead to improved patient care in the future. According to Hay, “The issue of trauma in the health of human beings is as massive as climate change to the Earth and we’re only just beginning to realize it.” The findings of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study are shaping new approaches to the issue, and with increased understanding and education around trauma-based medical practice, Hay believes many patients will receive more effective treatment.

Technology is already helping medical professionals like Hay assist patients in

remote and rural areas through tools like Telehealth (which facilitates remote consultations via local health centres) and Confident Families (which provides remote support for families with children suffering from behavioural issues). The expansion of services such as these and other advances in the medical field will no doubt make a big difference to many northern residents.

Crucially, Hay believes it isn’t technology that has the power to make the biggest difference to our lives in the future. “Really what is going to improve quality of life for people in the north are the social determinants of health—fresh, safe water, fresh, safe food, food security, housing security—these kind of things are what’s really going to determine and improve the quality of life for people in the North.”

Environmental awareness Ultimately, our future prosperity comes back to our environment. As with social change, awareness of the problems and what we can do about them is at the heart of any hopes for altering our course. Karen Mason-Bennett, program coordinator with the Northern Environmental Action Team (NEAT) points out that, “When you understand the issues, the decision to change your behaviour becomes easier.” One of NEAT’s initiatives, Food Secure Kids, teaches students about the importance of food security in the North. Mason-Bennett hopes that by encouraging young people to value locally produced food, they will support those systems in future, and perhaps even help generate a push for policy change at the government level.

Being more aware of our own actions as individuals is a big step in the right direction. We’re all guilty of buying things we don’t actually need, and most of the time, need versus want doesn’t even factor into the equation. As Mason-Bennett explains, “Actually taking a moment to think about what we are doing and whether it’s important or necessary, could be the most impactful environmental movement ever (and it might clear that pesky credit card debt too!).”

She also believes that northern communities are very well positioned to benefit from the development of renewable energy sources in the future. “The same geologic

forces that created oil and gas provide great geothermal potential, and there’s no shortage of wind! We’ve got two solar cities, and Hudson’s Hope is blazing a trail with their municipal solar installations.”

There are many initiatives happening in our communities that are designed to help us contribute to a better future. One such program is Change Day BC, which Hay is involved with. Healthcare professionals and members of the public are encouraged to visit the website before this year’s Change Day on November 17 to make a pledge that will improve personal, family or community health (changedaybc.ca).

Future connections Mason-Bennett’s advice for paving a path to a better future? Stop. Breathe.

Connect. “Stop buying stuff. Stop wasting things. Breathe deeply. Breathe in clean air and realize that we are so lucky to have that luxury. Connect with your family. Connect with your kids. Connect with the world around you. Talk to your neighbour. Go to the park. Start a garden. Go for a walk. Play. Find something that makes you feel fulfilled and invest time in yourself. Make memories.”

Prince hopes our future will be values-based. “Have respect for the land. Have respect for the animals.” These values, he explains, should be a core part of our being, not quickly disregarded when it is convenient. “The culture is something you carry with you every single moment of your life.”

Dillabough says in the future there will be “a bunch of gays and lesbians running around with kids. I definitely foresee there being more families, more networks.

Right now we’re at a time where gay marriage is just being accepted. It’s being legalized in more and more countries; granted there are some that are trying to claw it back. But I think that trans people will have more acceptance, especially within the North.”

Hay, who will be retiring next year after a career in medicine, says she’s now at the age where she can look back and think about what is really important in life. She believes “the creative force of love, inside of us as individuals, inside our families and our communities is the key to the wellbeing of our human race.”

September/October 2017

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on beaches photos by Talon Gillis

T

here’s a moment that happens when you’re walking along a beach, the sound of the ocean on one side, the forest on the other. You feel swallowed up by nature. Everything smells good. You scan the ground as you walk, not looking for anything specific. A brightly coloured shell catches your eye; maybe an interesting piece of kelp forms a strange shape that reminds you of something. The natural world takes over, and it feels right. And then, something intrudes: an unnatural colour or a shape too rigid and forced to be in this place.

Garbage.

Beaches everywhere are accumulating garbage. Plastic that doesn’t degrade is chipped away into smaller and smaller pieces, entering into the food chain as marine species ingest the detritus of our consumerist culture. Chunks of styrofoam bob in the waves like weird little icebergs.

Will our future beaches be wastelands of tide-strewn trash? Or can we restore our coastline to its natural state?

The newly formed Rugged Coast Research Society isn’t waiting for a dystopian future to arrive. The group of young biologists, professionals, surfers, and conservationists are working on a plan to document and map the current extent of plastic debris on BC’s remote coastline—and then do something about it.

This past spring, a crew of seven spent five days exploring, counting garbage, and coming up with a plan for finding the funding required to conduct research and, ultimately, start significant cleanup initiatives.

Anchoring offshore, they swam and surfed to seemingly pristine beaches, and found old tires, propane bottles, fishing totes, and of course plastic of all shapes and sizes. Photographer Talon Gillis was there to capture the beginning of a new future for BC beaches.

Find out more at ruggedcoastresearch.com.

— Matt J. Simmons

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NO WORDS

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photo: marty clemens

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the last salmon stronghold

by Dan Mesec

S

photo: marty clemens

almon are the lifeblood of the Skeena. Elite athletes of natural engineering, travelling thousands of kilometres throughout the Pacific Ocean, only to swim back to whence they came, spawn and die. People from around the world f lock to the banks of the Skeena River, one of the final strongholds of salmon, just for a glimpse of a creature synonymous with wild landscapes.

For those of us lucky enough to live here, salmon are a way of life. The fish bring people together, to break bread and build community. Salmon have sustained life here for thousands of years and are our most precious and valuable resource. As long as wild salmon swim these rivers, we will survive.

Perhaps that’s why this season’s closure of sockeye and Chinook fisheries along the Skeena River and its tributaries was such a shock and has many sounding the alarm after years of dwindling returns.

Sockeye stocks It was a rough start to the year. After months of speculation, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) projected the sockeye run to be around 500,000. When the fish count began in the spring, projections dipped even lower, to around the 400,000 mark.

DFO and several First Nations along the Skeena decided the only option was to ban the harvest of sockeye for all recreational, commercial and Indigenous harvesting.

The average number of wild sockeye returning to the Skeena (not including those returning to artificial spawning channels near Lake Babine) have declined by 27 percent over the last decade, according to information

gathered by the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

There are too many contributing factors at play to put the blame on any one issue, be it climate change, high ocean mortality rates, or overfishing.

But one thing is clear: the dwindling runs have a lot of people worried and wondering if low returns will soon become the norm.

Salmon are a cyclical species. Typically, every four years we should see smaller than average returns. In 2013, according to DFO scientists, a large mass of high-temperature water circling the Pacific Ocean could have been a major contributor to the poor sockeye run that year. With higher predation rates (warmer waters attract more predators) and a low brood year in 2013, this season’s low returns start to make sense.

Culture and community For many in northern BC, fishing is as important as breathing. Some would even say it’s in our DNA, part of our identity. And the impacts of declining salmon populations on our culture and communities are already being felt.

Chief Na’Moks of the Witsuwit’en, an upstream nation that relies on salmon for ceremonial and sustenance purposes, vital to the retention of their culture, says he’s never seen such low sockeye numbers.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to have my family come and work together in our smokehouse as we do every year,” Na’Moks says. “That time we spend with each other, to reminisce and remind ourselves of our stories, to teach our young ones. Our history is oral and we didn’t get that time at all this year. If we don’t take responsibility for our actions this will become common.”

When DFO announced the ban on June 15, the day before fishing season

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them in June,” says Oscar’s owner and operator, Alex Bussmann. “People are finally thinking about fishing again.”

“For me, though, it’s more than dollars and cents,” he says. “We all have to try and work together. We’re sometimes labelled as sport fishers, but for a lot of us it’s more than just sport fishing. It’s a way of life. We have to be careful with the resource, we understand that, but the closure was pretty drastic.”

In Moricetown, Willie Pete, a Witsuwit’en fisherman, works the Moricetown Canyon for a tag and release program. Over the years Pete says he’s noticed the salmon have decreased in size and runs continue to shrink.

“I’ve been doing this for 39 years now,” he says.

“Very few springs this season. I’ve caught 10 so far. We’re used to catching 55-pounders, and we’re getting little 17-pounders. We’d be lucky if we got 50 out of the canyon right now.

Many Indigenous communities along the Skeena have resorted to visiting Nisga’a territory to access healthier stocks on the Nass River.

Chief Na’Moks says in his decades of harvesting fish, this was a first.

“I’ve never had to do that before; I’ve always had access to salmon. This was the first time we had to reach out to [the Nisga’a]. There was an opportunity for us to get some salmon, in particular for our elders, and we were fortunate enough to get some.”

“I’m pretty concerned about it,” says Pete. “My son and grandson will probably come down here and fish also. What’s going to be there for them in the future?”

Wild Salmon Policy In 2005, the federal government developed the Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) as a framework and action plan to address the sustainability of wild salmon populations in Canada. The policy calls for identifying and managing wild salmon through “Conservation Units”, that ref lect geographic and genetic diversity. The hope is the policy “will foster a healthy, diverse, and abundant salmon resource for future generation of Canadians.”

“The fundamentals of the WSP have been established and have been a key part of fisheries management since it was established,” says Colin Masson, DFO Director for the North Coast. “A lot has been incorporated into management approaches and thinking and actions, and yet there’s lots more that needs to be done.” Masson admits the work has been challenging, mostly due to a lack of data. But he says the policy is already inf luencing management decisions and the work is ongoing.

It’s a sensible policy, according to Aaron Hill, Executive Director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society. The tricky part is implementing a plan that actually has an impact on the ground. And for Hill, that isn’t happening fast enough.

“The Liberals, during their election campaign in 2015, promised to implement the recommendations of the Cohen Commission with a strong focus on implementing the Wild Salmon Policy,” says Hill. “It puts the conservation of wild salmon as a top priority. However, the implementation has really been lagging.”

Over the past two years the federal government

photo: marty clemens

was set to open on the Skeena, Jodi Smith was crushed.

“I don’t think there are any words; it’s heartbreaking,” says Smith, an avid angler from the Bulkley Valley. “This is what it’s coming to, and it seems to be happening every where.”

Usually she would head out to the river with her kids the first chance she got. Holidays were planned around when the river would be open, but it was tough to nail down because the regulations on where you can and cannot fish were confusing, according to Smith.

“A lot of people I know got a fine for things they were unaware of. I think it’s important to keep more lures out of the water to allow the salmon to spawn and get their numbers back up, but they have to do a better job at communicating those regulations: when and where they come into effect.”

Smith adapted to the situation by exploring more lakes and fishing for trout, noting that even when they did head to the river, they weren’t catching anything. “It just proves how low the numbers really are,” she says. “It’s just a big disappointment.”

At Oscar’s Source for Adventure, a tackle shop in Smithers, you quickly get a sense of how the small business is coping with the abnormal fishing season. In early August, a steady stream of people moved through the store. Every angler cooped up since June was finally breaking free and running to the river. But looks can be deceiving.

“What you’re seeing today was actually a lot of people getting their licenses now, versus getting

photo: marty clemens

“I don’t want salmon to be a memory. I want salmon to be a flavour.”

– Chief Na’moks

has worked on a consultation process with First Nations and the provincial government to develop the implementation plan, projected to be released this fall. “Given DFO’s track record…it’s unlikely they’ll move fast enough to get any work done,” he says. “The bottom line is we need to assess the status of all of our salmon populations, and there will be a bunch in the red zone that require rebuilding plans, and those plans need to be implemented.”

Hill points out that a major key to success is more monitoring of salmon stocks on rivers and streams. But monitoring programs are at an all-time low. “Until there’s more monitoring, we’re going to be totally hamstrung in our ability to properly assess the status of our salmon runs and rebuild the endangered ones. Keeping as many of our salmon populations intact provides the best insurance in the face of climate change because the conditions that develop through climate change might favour any one of the populations more than another and we won’t know until we’re there, so we need them all.”

Masson says DFO has recently received “catch-up” funding from the federal government for salmon stock assessment and fisheries management, and hopes to stabilize the Charter Patrolmen Program, or “creek walkers”— locals hired by DFO to monitor waterways and count salmon.

“I doubt we will ever get back to the level of charter patrolmen that might have occurred 20-30 years ago,” he says. “That’s not a reality in the near future, but I personally recognize the value of the work that those folks do and some of the ones on the North Coast here are remarkable in their knowledge of the areas.”

A recently published study by Simon Fraser University researchers shows that the DFO is not monitoring enough spawning streams to accurately assess the health of Pacific salmon. Spawning stream monitoring provides vital information on salmon population f luctuations over time, including biological status required to guide fisheries and conservation. Without such information, fisheries may continue to see diminished catches and salmon populations without the necessary alarm bells sounded.

According to the study, over the past 10 years escapement surveys have declined by 34 percent to an all time low in 2014, when only 334 salmonbearing streams were assessed, down from 1533 in the mid-1980s. Over a

30-year period, the report says, the annual count of spawning streams has declined by 70 percent.

“Our knowledge of salmon populations in BC is eroding rapidly,” says Michael Price, the study’s lead author. “Without increased support for annual spawning surveys, the rich legacy of population data available for BC’s coast is at serious risk of becoming irrelevant for future assessments of management and conservation status.”

Hope for Salmon For now, the Skeena remains home to the second largest salmon run in BC. But it’s clear there is more pressure on wild salmon now than ever before.

“Having no more salmon coming up the river is just something I can’t imagine,” says Bussmann. “The rivers without salmon would be a total shame if my kids’ kids won’t be able to see fish. Angling aside, not seeing salmon coming up to do their thing would be devastating to us all. It is the last real stronghold of wild salmon and it’s pretty spectacular.”

Although Smith is still disappointed about the run this year, she supports the closures in the hopes that stocks rebound next year. “The situation is good for my children, ” she says. “They’re learning that the fish in the river have a purpose. It’s sad, but it’s humbling.”

Chief Na’Moks echoes the sentiment. “I don’t want salmon to be a memory,” he says. “I want salmon to be a f lavour. As a Witsuwit’en person, all of our stories, names, everything we do is tied to the land—the air, the water, the animals, the salmon, all of it.”

He reminisces about his days as a “young one” and the stories that were told to him by his grandparents, passing down the knowledge of the land, most often around the fire in a smokehouse. Having to shelve that tradition this season because no sockeye or Chinook were available to be smoked is concerning, but Na’Moks remains optimistic that the low runs this season won’t become the norm.

“I think the Northwest will remain a salmon stronghold,” he says. “We just have to remember that each one of us has to do our part. I love to see people come here to visit and see what we have. Then they get a realization—feet on the ground, a taste of the food, breathing the air—that we have something spectacular here we can no longer take for granted.”

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fishing for future p h o t o s : b r i t t a b o u d re a u

by Britta Boudreau

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p h o t o s : b r i t t a b o u d re a u

T

he day before the season opens, there is excitement on the river cut by a buzz of tension. July is traditionally the most productive month for Chinook; however, due to anticipated low returns of sockeye salmon, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans closed recreational fishing throughout the Skeena Watershed from June 15 to July 14 to allow First Nations, who traditionally harvest sockeye, to fish other varieties of salmon.

At dawn in mid-July, anglers arrive in campers and trucks, lowering boats into the water and loading them with gear—coolers overflowing with ice, camp stoves and propane, rods and reels, and Rubbermaid bins jammed with weights and lures—to ferry out to gravel bars, anxious to secure favourite fishing spots ahead of what is expected to be a busy opening day on the Skeena.

Two women from Saskatchewan loiter by the boat launch boldly asking strangers to serve as a guide. They’ve tried to find formal guides in Terrace, but can’t find an outfit that isn’t already booked for opening day. They either don’t realize or don’t care that guiding without a licence is illegal.

There is chatter among the anglers. How does the water look? Is it muddy or clear?

Too fast? Too high? Is there excessive debris floating down?

What the fish are biting is a campfire debate steeped in tradition, personal preference, superstition, and secrecy. Whether or not there are fish is a more serious question with an even more complex answer.

Salmon science The Department of Fisheries and Oceans calculates salmon odds like a Vegas bookie.

Three times a day at the Skeena Tyee Test Fishery, upstream of commercial operations, gillnets are lowered into the water for exactly an hour. Scientists calculate

escapement estimates for sockeye while determining relative abundance and timing for other species, including Chinook, by comparing the calculated indices for a given year to those recorded in previous years.

This is science, statistics, estimation, and a wild card of uncontrollable variables such as water temperature and turbidity all rolled together, but one piece of data is evident: salmon populations are not as robust as they once were.

While populations decrease, demand remains steady. Orca populations rely almost exclusively on Chinook salmon to meet exhaustive dietary needs. Commercial fisheries target Chinook—a salmon highly valued amongst the foodie community due to its rich flavour and high omega-3 fatty acids content—and recreational fishers favour the Chinook due to its large size. With the exception of the orcas, these groups mostly harvest spawning salmon before they have had a chance to spawn.

Jim Roberts, Fisheries Technician for Kitsumkalum Fish and Wildlife, says, “It’s not just one thing leading to lower populations. It is many factors combined: warming waters, different predators and different water conditions.”

Climate change has led to warmer, drier conditions resulting in an increase in forest fires that can destroy riparian zones and burn out root systems. The loss of foliage coverage can impact water temperature, run-offs, and substrate, producing less than ideal conditions for the fish.

Shrinking glaciers and loss of snowpack has resulted in reduced stream flows.

Lower water levels make it difficult for returning salmon to reach spawning grounds and for juvenile fish to reach the ocean. Lower flows also mean the water warms faster, which is compounded by warming global temperatures and hotter summers. Higher water temperatures lead to physiological stress and depletion of energy reserves for the fish, making them more susceptible to predators, parasites and disease.

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If salmon populations continue to decline, recreational fisheries will be the first to lose their allotment.

According to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, “Warm ocean conditions have also affected the marine ecosystem by changing the distributions and migrations of many species of fish, bringing predatory fish to British Columbia which are normally found off California, and changing the type of zooplankton at the base of the food web.”

As Roberts says, “With climate change and warming water temperatures, everything is changing and we need to do what we can to preserve what we can.”

The Big One Opening day on the Skeena River isn’t warm; rather, it’s cold and wet. Elsewhere, wildfire is ripping across BC, and there is a province-wide campfire ban. I sit huddled in a winter jacket and tuque on the bank of the river. Eagles soar overhead, calling to each other in shrill raspy voices. A train rumbles by. A beaver navigates a logjam and a seal pops his head up casting an appraising eye to the shore. Hoping to catch The Big One, I’ve cast my line into the water with a soft plop: a 12-ounce weight sinks to the bottom, anchoring the line in place while the Spin-N-Glo lure whips around in the current. The rod is anchored in a holder with a small bell attached.

When a fish bites, the rod bends and jiggles and the bell rings. I run across the gravel to grab the rod and yank it, setting the hook. The fight is on. Keep the tension tight. Keep the tip of the rod up. Let the fish play himself out. When the fish takes off downstream, I panic and my thumb slides under the line which spools over it, slicing into me. The fish is tiring, but so am I. I work slowly to bring it back upstream, leading it close to shore. The fish has gone to the bottom of the river and isn’t moving.

Now it’s a waiting game. I keep the tension tight and when there is movement from the fish, I feel the slack and reel it closer to shore. My brother-in-law charges into the water with a net and on the third try scoops the salmon up. It’s not The Big One, but it is a personal record at 24 pounds.

I experience a twinge of guilt when I slit open the belly and see the orange roe, arranged in bunches like miniature grapes, representing thousands of eggs that won’t be deposited in a stream.

I fill the belly with ice and slip the fish into the cooler.

At dusk the Kitsumkalum survey boat beaches on the gravel bar in search of freshlycaught Chinook. Each summer for the past seven years, Kitsumkalum Fish and Wildlife monitors have traversed the Lower Skeena River interviewing recreational anglers and measuring and collecting scale samples. The study is conducted in partnership between Kitsumkalum First Nation and environmental research

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associates LGL Limited. As incentive to anglers to answer questions, the monitors hand out coveted ball caps.

The objectives of the data collection are to estimate monthly sport fishery catch of salmon across all species in the Skeena River downstream of Terrace, determine the ratio of wild and hatchery Chinook and collect length data and scales for age determination from Chinook salmon.

“It’s important to understand what the populations are at because we don’t want to lose the fish,” says Roberts. The 2016 report cautions, “The trend for increasing fishing effort observed over the last few years underpins the need to continue to monitor this fishery.”

Over the past seven years, Kitsumkalum fish monitors have developed an excellent relationship with recreational anglers. Participating in the interviews and providing samples is voluntary, but the anglers are enthusiastic to comply—not just for ball caps but because they recognize the monitors are there to help gather data in an effort to sustain fish populations.

For most recreational anglers, the goal is not really about sustenance. Filling the freezer is nice, but the real draw is the adventure. Each decision—which spot, which bait, which day—all add to the thrill. By the time I make the drive from Prince George, stop at McBike in Smithers for handfuls of Spin-N-Glo and in Terrace at Fish Tales for weights, line, hooks, and a few more lures, and load up on ice, my salmon carries a hefty per-pound price tag.

If salmon populations continue to decline, recreational fisheries will be the first to lose their allotment. It’s imperative to protect salmon populations which paradoxically means anglers must conserve salmon so they can continue to harvest salmon.

“Everyone should have a fair share of the resources,” says Roberts, “but at the same time with the declining stock everyone should do their bit to conserve.”

It’s not impossible to imagine a future where recreational anglers have to enter a lottery—similar to the limited entry moose draw—to secure a salmon or two.

We pack up our gear and motor back to the boat launch. The area is buzzing with activity as satisfied and tired anglers leave the river. Others are just arriving, full of energy. Lugging the loaded cooler off the boat, I struggle under the weight as we pass two arriving fishermen. “Is it full of fish?” they ask hopefully. I give them a nod, and they smile happy to know that when they head out tomorrow and cast their lines they will have a fair chance at landing a fish, and maybe even a chance at landing The Big One.

FUTURE PAST

by Paul Glover

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

-Søren Kierkegaard

W

hen I was 20 I moved into a remote cabin in the mountains outside Smithers. I lived there five years. I’d grown up in the f lat country in the eastern part of the continent and I’d found it pretty boring. I’d longed for mountain life and wilderness experience since I was small.

Because everything was so new to me, and my new life so exciting, I started keeping a journal. Besides the events of daily life, I also faithfully recorded the weather each day. I learned a lot about my new environment by keen observation.

But one of the most interesting things I observed was about myself. I noticed that, after only one year of mountain life, I was quick to make sweeping generalizations about what the weather would be like, based solely on my very limited experience of it. I found myself making statements like, “It’s usually hot and sunny in the middle of June,” or “We usually get three feet of snow in January.” Looking back on it later, I realized that I did not yet have enough experience here to be saying “usually” when talking about the weather. As subsequent years unfolded I learned that the weather during my first year here was actually not usual.

As time passed I noticed other people drawing conclusions from limited experience.

My sister-in-law and her husband, both avid skiers, moved here partly because we get so much snow…or so they thought. They had visited the area in the winter of 1996-97, which was a record-breaker for snowfalls and snow depth. They were mystified for several years after they moved here why we weren’t getting the “normal” amount of snow.

Our real understanding and belief about reality is sometimes based on our experience—as limited as that may be—rather than on outside information, like what people tell us. For example, my youngest daughter was home-schooled for the first few years. One day she went to school with a friend in Grade 2 to see what it was like. It happened to be the last day of school before the Christmas break, so the time was filled with games, treats, presents and other Christmas fun. When she came home that afternoon she confronted us. “You guys haven’t been telling me the truth about school!” she said. We explained that she hadn’t been there on a typical day—that school is usually not like that.

“Oh, yes it is,” she asserted. “I was there!” No amount of reasoning could shake the certainty of her experience.

September/October 2017

35

Rudyard Kipling summarizes our disposition for basing expectations on limited experience in this short poem: In August was the jackal born; The rains fell in September.

Said he, “A storm the likes of this I simply can’t remember!”

It turns out that it is a common human trait to make conclusions based on insufficient evidence. Psychologists have recognized and studied this tendency (which they refer to as “jumping to conclusion bias”), identified the brain pathways involved, and believe it contributes to our long-term survival. This can work against us, though, as when a doctor jumps to the wrong conclusion—an unsettlingly common phenomenon that has also been studied a great deal.

Our inclination to jump to conclusions is also the basis for much humour.

We are led to a point where we make a mental leap to the wrong conclusion, then are delightfully surprised at our mistake.

Marketer Neil Patel has written about the psychology of anticipation. He asserts that the cerebellum, the small part of our brain at the base of the skull, is where our feelings of anticipation or expectation come from. He says that studies have shown that people anticipate positive experiences more than negative ones. “In the absence of anxious or depressive psychological disorders, people automatically anticipate happiness more than they do sadness. It doesn’t matter if you’re an optimist or a pessimist; the brain is wired to anticipate positive experiences.”

Arriving with expectations When I moved to my cabin in the woods, I had expectations of what life in the mountains and in “the North” would be like. For one, I was sure that winters would be unfailingly cold and snowy. I was surprised and greatly disappointed when, after the first cold spell, the temperature warmed above freezing and 36 September/October 2017

rain fell. How could this be? It took years before I realized that this is actually the norm: in my 40+ years here there has not been a winter without it. And a quick check of Environment Canada’s records confirm that there’s been rain in the Smithers area every winter since 1942, when they started keeping records here.

This is another way we anticipate the future, by basing it on our pre-conceptions. I have talked with many people over the years, relative newcomers, who have been shocked to see rain falling on the beautiful winter snowpack. It’s difficult to persuade them that it’s the rule rather than the exception when it doesn’t match what they expected.

Most locals are surprised, as I was, to learn that moose have not lived in this area “since time immemorial,” as I had assumed, but moved in to the Central Interior in the early 1900s. It was not until several decades later that moose reached the north and central coast. I always figured that any animals that were here when I arrived must have been here forever. Nowadays, the moose population in these parts is declining and herds of elk are making inroads into former moose habitat in the Bulkley Valley.

The revelation that populations of animals may be transitory on the landscape over time gives me a new perspective on our natural environment. Perhaps this is the norm: that some species move through an area but don’t stay long; and some move in and take up long-term residence, possibly forcing others out. Some of this is driven by our changing climate—something that has been taking place over the past 10,000 years at least, but even more rapidly in the past 100. If we look at species composition at any given time as fixed, we will be fooled; it has apparently been changing and will continue to change as we move into the future.

People in BC have come to expect that our summer skies should not be smoke-filled. But Okanagan writer Harold Rhenisch believes that fires in BC’s Interior are the historical norm. “Smoke, such as obscured Okanagan Lake recently, is the natural form of summer,” he says. For thousands of years there have been naturally-occurring forest fires, and First Nations have used fire to

manage vegetation for food production. He believes our fire-suppression philosophy and practices set us up for catastrophic fire events, and that we need to change our expectations around fire. “Fire is here to stay,” he says.

Traumatic experience We have a hard time imagining that major, potentially catastrophic things could happen where we live when we have not experienced them before. People continue to settle on f lood plains, build cities on seashores where rising sea levels will invade, and build tall buildings on seismic fault lines. We can be told about the dangers of these activities, but if we haven’t experienced them ourselves we have a hard time being serious about preparing for them. It is hard to convince ourselves that things will not just stay the same.

After an event like a f lood or earthquake, those who experienced it are hyperaware and often fearful of the possibility of it happening again, while others who move to the same area later would not feel the same urgency, even though they are living with the same level of threat. After a generation has come and gone, people are likely to become blasé about such dangers, even though the potential for calamity may be as great or greater than before.

More than weather We’ve seen that people predict the future, or at least set their expectations for it, based at least in part on personal experience and preconceived notions. We get more accurate in our expectations when we have more experience, especially if we are in one place for a long time. With more than 40 Bulkley Valley winters behind me, I probably have more realistic expectations weather-wise than someone who’s lived here just five years, but my experience pales beside true old-timers who’ve seen 80 years or more.

Living in one place for a long time has many advantages. We get a physical sense of time passing as we see trees grow, glaciers recede, rivers change course.

And I think there are even more advantages if we live in small communities like those spread out along Highway 16. Here we can witness the evolution, f low

and fabric of community life, which in turn helps inform us on the nature of human relationships and what we can expect from them. I have been heartened by some of what I’ve learned about the long-term nature of these relationships.

I’ve found, for example, that when we’ve had a falling-out with a friend or colleague, it may feel like we’ve lost that relationship forever. But over the course of time—it might even be ten years or more—people often move on from their former position and resume former friendships. There are people I have felt a dislike for or had a bias against, but years later see them in a different light, and in fact may not even remember what it was that bothered me about them in the first place.

One of the dynamics at work here is that our small communities force us to keep rubbing shoulders with one another; we can’t so easily just walk away and ignore people. In the process we get a chance to see aspects of others we hadn’t formerly known. From these experiences I’ve learned to be patient with relationships, to allow that there’s a likelihood that things will change for the better. And I think that the nature of small towns naturally fosters this.

How good are we at predicting the future?

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”

These words from Isaac Asimov sound wise, but how good are we, really, at anticipating what’s coming? Our past experience and present reality create a bias that makes it difficult to see ahead.

When it comes to technology, we can usually only imagine something a little fancier than what we currently have. This quote from Popular Mechanics in March, 1949 illustrates this: “Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons.”

Who could have predicted that, by 2018, nearly half of the world’s population would own a computer that fits on their lap or in their hand and September/October 2017

37

We’ve seen that people predict the future, or at least set their expectations for it, based in part on personal experience and preconceived notions.

is many times more powerful than the 30-ton model of 65 years ago? Who could have predicted the Internet and the instant access to information and communication that it provides? And who could have predicted social media and the way it’s changing how we relate to each other—something that even now we are trying to understand?

Clearly, we are ill equipped to anticipate changes that don’t resemble what we already know. Bill Gates, in The Road Ahead, says, “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10.”

Information technologist Donald Latumahina talks about anticipating the future by analyzing the past. “The world is changing at increasing speed. In such a world, our ability to anticipate the future is very important.” He recommends that we “connect the dots” from the past through the present to form our expectations of what’s coming.

So I’ll go out on a limb here and make some predictions for our area,

connecting the dots from my experience. I think the glaciers will continue to recede, and the rivers will continue to reach new summertime lows. Winters in the interior will continue to have rainy spells, and these will gradually become more frequent. Our towns will continue to gradually grow, while retaining many of the benefits of small communities. For the most part we will continue to get along with the people we share our local world with, and we might even get better at it than we are now.

I also think that the natural systems that support us are showing signs of wear-and-tear; our climate and the world around us are changing so unbelievably fast that it’s a bit scary. It would be surprising if there are not some challenging times ahead. But I’ll leave the last word to John Lennon, who made this optimistic prediction about the future: “Everything will be okay at the end. If it isn’t okay, it’s not the end.”

photo: taylor burk

Clean up abandoned vessels.

Protect our coast.

38 September/October 2017

TRAIL MAP

Station Creek It’s a vertical world

words & map by Morgan Hite Some call it a slog, but I say it could be paradise. At least, that part of paradise which is an endlessly ascending ramp flanked by nature’s cheap, green shag carpet: moss.

This is one of the few trails in our area that begins at the edge of town. In New Hazelton, drive up Laurier St. to 12th or 13th, turn left, go one block and turn right on McBride. Follow McBride after it turns to dirt, and eventually you come to a locked gate and a parking area with a small trailhead kiosk. You are at 420m elevation. Six kilometres from now you will be 1000m higher, in a secret wilderness of boulders above treeline.

The Station Creek trail is all about gaining elevation. It helps to think of it as having four distinct sections.

photo: taylor burk

Section One This is the warm-up: ascend 80 metres as you hike 2 kilometres. Start the trail by ducking under the gate and continuing along the road through the cedar forest. In about ten minutes, you will see a sign directing you off the road to the left, onto what looks like an old road. Shortly, another sign reading “Hagwilget Peak” directs you to the right off the old road onto a trail—which soon crosses a small creek and begins to ascend gently through a park-like forest.

Section Two This is the serious bit: ascend 370 m over 1.25 km. About 30 minutes in (elevation 500m), you begin to hear Station Creek and the ascent gets serious. The trail remains wide but with a consistent, very steep grade. There are a few switchbacks. Station Creek, draining a north-facing bowl and therefore a reliable supply for New Hazelton, remains down to the right in a gorge. You’ll have no access to water until just over an hour in.

Section Three You’ve earned another casual section: ascend 180m over 1.8 km. From here (elevation 870m) the grade eases and the trail narrows as it works its way through spruce/fir forest, around the noses of ridges, and into the deepest corner of the mountain, the canyon that Station Creek issues from. (At about 950m elevation note a side trail to the right, which is for those attempting the direct ascent of Hagwilget Peak.) At about 1050 m you are alongside the creek itself, and soon you cross a bridge of logs laid over a tributary coming in from the left.

Section Four The final tough bit that you’ve been saving your energy for: ascend 350 m over 1 km in a boulder field. At first you do not recognize it as a boulder field. You are in the forest and the trail has become a degree more obscure in the salmonberry. But soon the occasional bottomless hole appears in the moss, and you realize that at times the creek is flowing beneath you. The trail more or less disappears, and you continue working your way up a narrow gully that the stream comes tumbling down. There are high cliffs on each side leading to a notch in the skyline ahead.

Still, the boulders are mostly moss covered until, near the final tree, the clothes come off and you see they are the almost specular white granite that is the heart of the Rocher Deboule. From here the jumble is steep and fresh and unstable, and you work your way up any way you can. Rockfall exposure is high and if you hear rocks coming down the cliffs you might re-evaluate whether it’s a safe day to be there.

When you top out in the notch, at some 1400 m elevation, you are at the lip of an alpine bowl that, incredibly, seems entirely filled with boulders. Rugged, unnamed summits surround it. Welcome to the vertical world.

September/October 2017

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BackWords

art standing split Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George 2017-18

“This particular piece was about making a comfortable place in the midst of a city—to be surrounded by trees while being in the middle of a city,” says David Jacob Harder, an artist originally from the Quesnel area. His Standing Split sculpture invites viewers to enter inside the piece itself and experience it from within.

“From the outside it looks like an architecturally-designed space,” he says. “And in the interior you are surrounded by the bark of a fir tree allowing solace in a place of anxiety.” Harder milled a single fir himself, a skill he no doubt learned as a result of growing up rurally, the son of a logger.

“My personal dialogue changed so much when my father was paralyzed by a tree falling over him while at work,” he explains. “It showed me the ways in which our interactions can have the most profound

effect on our future and how a place where you can feel very comfortable can also give you great anxiety.”

Part of a larger body of work, exploring our connections to the forest and calling on his personal history, Harder’s Standing Split sculpture will be on display at Two Rivers Gallery, in Prince George, until spring 2018.

Check out more of his art at davidjacobharder.com — Matt J. Simmons

September/October 2017

41

BACKWORDS

books freeman's

music lcd soundsystem

Freeman's Home, Grove, 2017

American Dream, DFA Records, 2017

As former editor of Granta Magazine, a literary journal known for its international scope, John Freeman has a knack for finding some of the best writers from around the globe. This bi-annual anthology series, edited by Freeman, is always a pleasure to read. The latest edition, featuring “the best new writing on ‘home’” is a provocative, challenging, and extremely rewarding read.

With writers contributing from Israel, Palestine, Romania, China, and Vietnam—to name a few—the content covers displacement, exile, security, safety, loss, love, and much more. The anthology not only features young authors currently making solid strides in the literary world, but also Pulitzer-winners and authors with multiple award-winning books to their name.

Until reading this book, and its two predecessors, I had never come across anything that embraces and connects different cultural ways of expression in such a seamless way. One moment you’re in a backyard in San Joaquin Valley and the next you’re in rural China, picking the eyes out of a fish with chopsticks.

The disconnect is simultaneously jarring and reassuring. What is home? It is many things, to many people.

— Matt J. Simmons

Some of the best music comes from dark places. Take Nick Cave or the late Leonard Cohen. Both musicians are best known for conveying a mood of melancholia through their songwriting. And of course there’s the blues: an entire genre of music dedicated to hardship and sorrow. But dance music? Shouldn’t dance music be happy? Yes and no.

New York’s LCD Soundsystem, fronted by James Murphy, has consistently eschewed expectations throughout their 15-year career, both musically and lyrically. This is music that is perfect for the dance floor and still introspective enough to make you want to pay attention to the lyrics.

Their latest album—scheduled for release this fall— taps into the turmoil of the world today and paints a bleak future. “I promise you this: you’re getting older…

The future’s a nightmare. And there’s nothing I can do, nothing anyone can do about this.”

And yet, its soaring melodies and infectious rhythms urge you out of your seat and onto your feet. If the future is indeed bleak, maybe dancing can offer a temporary respite.

Murphy said it himself: “You’ve got to dance yourself clean.”

— Matt J. Simmons

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Nourish your soul with these amazing concerts coming to a community near you this year.

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44 September/October 2017

The Lodge

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Last Word

A walk? Are you serious? That’s a hike! Maybe you mean rambling? Backpacking?

Trekking? Exploring? Hop, skip and jumping?? Perhaps you are more familiar with un promenade, ein Spaziergang, or een wandeling.

When exactly does a walk become a hike? And when is a hike actually a scramble or a climb?

On moving to northern BC, I was warned that before long I would encounter something called “recreational anxiety.” The symptoms of this ghastly condition include elevated outdoorsiness, fluctuating altitude, mosquito-induced blood loss, increased endurance and heightened inner peace. The anxiety comes with lacking satisfaction at never quite swimming every lake and climbing every peak.

One activity that really stokes the fire involves placing one foot in front of the other and ambulating oneself through the wilderness for varied periods of time with little or no definitive purpose. I call it hiking. It’s great.

The 18th century English word yike, meaning to walk vigorously, is noteworthy.

Modern definitions state that hiking is “to walk a great distance, especially in rural areas, for pleasure, exercise or military training.” Is the term “hiking” overused and do outdoorspeople need to specify? Maybe. The Yosemite decimal system is used by mountaineers to rate the difficulty of walks, hikes and climbs, but it receives minimal conversational airtime.

If an individual covers around 6.5 km of uneven terrain, experiences elevation changes, and is off-trail whilst carrying an assortment of equipment, is that hiking?

Does it matter if they are simultaneously competing to hit a dimpled white sphere into a hole? It was Mark Twain that said golf was a good walk spoiled. Maybe he preferred rambling.

As a physiotherapist I wonder about our bodies. Although highly variable, an average 40-year-old human walking at 5 km/hour burns around 156 calories, averaging a heart rate of 105 beats per minute. The same person “hiking” with elevation gain factored in, and carrying a backpack, experiences heart rates up to 150 beats per minute, burning 580 calories per hour. Delayed-onset muscle soreness can be felt in lower-limb musculature for three days after activity. This troubling phenomenon increases in likelihood and intensity with increased exertion. Is hiking a case of no pain, no gain?

On the surface, the differences seem obvious but the boundaries that define these endeavours are blurred. From my (limited) research during small talk with my patients, it seems very subjective. One’s own fitness levels and preparedness for an excursion seems key. So the next time your friend invites you for an eight hour walk with elevation gains of 1,500 feet in rugged terrain, tell her to take a hike.

— Jack Garland September/October 2017

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arts www.tourismsmithers.com 48 September/October 2017

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