Northword 2015 - 04

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www.northword .ca | APR / MAY ‘15 | 54 | APR / MAY ‘15 | www.northword .ca

Cover Photo

16 Growth in Aboriginal Tourismmeans cultural opportunities for visitorsBy Amanda Follett Hosgood

24 The Paradox of AnyoxNew hope springs from old mine siteBy Joanne Campbell

29 Driving BC’s radio-assisted logging roadsBy Morgan Hite

33 The Ancient Forest: a Walk Through BC’s Hidden TreasureMap and trail guideBy Nowell Senior

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8 Dirt SecretsUnderstanding northern soils is key to good gardeningBy Norma Kerby

10 Cold Frames and Hot BedsStretching the Northern growing seasonBy Emily Bulmer

12 FictionFernando’s FingerBy Jane Stevenson

14 Leadership Developmenton the landBy Curtis Rattray

7 In Other WordsEditorial and cartoon from the seasoned and the silly

28 Top CultureExplore the rural route to northern culture with UNBC’s Rob Budde

30 Measure TwiceNorthern construction topics with Terry Fulljames

32 On the FlyFishing in northern BC with Brian Smith

31 Resource DirectoryServices and products listed by category

34 The Barometer A seasonal reading of the Northwest by Char Toews

Fea tures

Story Commen ts?

Here’s one way to roll into spring. Photo: Tammy Luciow

Tell us what you’re thinkin’. Comment on any story at www.northword.ca

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issue no. 57

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On Mud Month, planting seeds, and watching things grow

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ialIn Other Words

Shannon Antoniak ADVERTISING [email protected]

Sandra Smith LAYOUT, AD DESIGNER, NATIONAL ADVERTISING [email protected]

Joanne CampbellPUBLISHER/ADVERTISING SALES [email protected]: 250.847.4600 f: 847.4668toll free: 1.866.632.7688

Amanda Follett [email protected]

Amanda Follett Hosgood is a writer, editor and communications specialist who—finally—lives in a straw-bale home near Smithers with her husband and two huskies.

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

Hans Saefkow is an award-winning editorial cartoonist, illustrator and set designer. If you see this man, do not approach him, feed him, or listen to his idle chatter. It is simply best not to encourage him.

Charlynn Toews has published in daily and weekly newspapers, national magazines, and loves a good regional. She writes a regular column for Northword from her home in Terrace.

Terry Fulljames is a regional building inspector and homebuilder who has been living in Smithers for 26 years. He is a Red Seal carpenter and Wett, Radon, Mould and Indoor Air Quality Specialist.

Nowell Senior’s friends tell him he carries his age well, but if he’d known he would live to the age he’s at now—he would have taken better care of himself when he was younger!

Emily Bulmer is a longtime Smithereen who enjoys subjecting herself to unscientific experiments in living. She occasionally records her findings and reports positive results most of the time.

Facundo Gastiazoro is a freelance designer who focuses on logos, posters, layout and illustrations. Originally from Buenos Aires, Facundo is currently living in Smithers. His illustrations appear in every issue of Northword Magazine.

Telkwa’s Jane Stevenson is the author of two historical books. Her fiction has appeared in journals across Canada. Jane is forever grateful to Northword, the first magazine to ever say “yes.”

Joanne Campbell is a water gal. She is also publisher of Northword Magazine.

Brian Smith is a writer and photographer who has fly-fished BC’s waters for over 45 years. He recently published his second book, Seasons of a Fly Fisher, and lives with his wife Lois in Prince George.

Curtis Rattray is a member of the Tahltan Nation. He provides aboriginal adventure tours that focus on leadership and personal development from an aboriginal perspective. Curtis lives in Dease Lake. .

Rob Budde teaches creative writing and critical theory at the University of Northern British Columbia. He has published seven books (poetry, novels, interviews, and prose poems). His most recent book is Finding Ft. George from Caitlin Press.

Norma Kerby is a Terrace-based writer and environmental consultant. Her passions include amphibians, natural ecosystems, sustainable living and adaptations of wildlife and people to northern British Columbia. She occasionally writes poetry about the North’s uncertain future.

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MAIN OFFICE | SmithersBox 817, 3864 2nd Ave, Smithers, BC, V0J 2N0 tel: 250.847.4600

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Northword Magazine the only independent, regional magazine that covers northern BC from border to sea. Our goal is to connect northern communities and promote northern culture; we put a vibrant, human face on northern life with great articles and stunning images. Northword Magazine—BC’s top read, for a reason.

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Legalities and limitationsCopyright © 2015. 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 www.northword.ca for contribution guidelines.

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by Joanne Campbell

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Ah, April: AKA Mud Month, when all that white turns to brown. Mercifully, it’s followed by May, when all that brown turns to green. This landscape fashion show designed for us courtesy of the House of Spring.

The melt water moving below ground stimu-lates in me a ridiculous need to stand in a fallow field, preferably in the sunshine and naked to the ankles. There, in the dirt, I can practically feel the pushing and shoving as roots root and shoots shoot and worms worm their way through it all. If I dig my toes in deep enough, maybe I’ll tickle Mother Nature in the ribs.

No wonder my floors are dirty. Which brings us to spring cleaning. This behaviour is part of the recovery that

happens after your cabin fever breaks—it starts when the last ditch-snow melts and exposes all the junk and plastic corruption that’s accumulated under the snow since fall. This accretion inspires a ferocious focus on winter dirt in our homes, at work, even our car. The pursuit of spring clean-liness can become obsessive: Scrubbing. Dusting. Sorting. Garage-sale-ing. Swap-shedding. Even

the cursed ants are spring cleaning, shoving a winter’s worth of ant poop out their little ant holes. Bees got nothin’ on ants being busy.

If you’re an avid gardener, then you’re already busy as a...n ant. You’ve got green things sprouting out in little peat pots on your sunniest windowsills or outdoors, planted under cover. Not a gardener? You can still be busy anticipating their fresh produce that is (or soon will be) available at the local farmers’ markets: fiddleheads, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, radishes (radishes, roasted, are a revelation!).

These farmers’ markets are a testament to the fact that this is a fecund time of year. Pregnant friends waddle, mommas with babies coo, and flocks of wee ones run around the farmers’ market like lambs on a frolic. Our local demographic appears to be skewing younger.

And, you know what they say about “all work and no play.” Work-life balance and all that. Summer is coming and you must plan your precious time wisely. When everything is cleaned and planted and watered and birthed, be sure to slice off a few juicy days here and there to chase

your fancy. (What’s yours? Fishing? Cycling? Hiking? Camping?)

For me, summer is about kayaking, so in spring I haul the kayak up from the basement and out onto the lawn, where I can see it, and the gear gets moved to the back of the SUV. The kayak saddle stays on my car year-round, not because I may need to make a Baja run in January, but because it reminds me of hot summer days hanging out with the loons on the lake or the possibility of an ocean-kayaking trip on Haida Gwaii. Having these things visible reminds me that anticipation is at least half the fun! And April and May are all about anticipation.

Summer fun isn’t the same fun you get from hanging out on a tropical beach for a week in the winter—that’s more like therapy. A summer adventure in northern BC is more of a personal investment: enrichment by way of quality deposits into your memory bank.

Plant the seed of your summer fun now and then sit back and watch it grow. Just like every-thing else this time of year.


Understanding northern soils is key to good gardeningby Norma Kerby

[email protected]

“Most of the old timers certainly knew where to put their farms for the best soils.”I’m talking to a long-time Skeena Valley farmer about the interesting pattern of homestead pre-

emptions. We had both heard the many stories featuring English gentlemen who arrived in this region before World War I and foolishly staked land on the droughty, coarse gravel flats above the river. But others coming from agricultural backgrounds had carefully surveyed the valley for fertile, arable soils. With a shovel and a good sense of growing conditions, they walked the hills until they found the right location. Some of those farms are still active today.

It has been a hobby of mine to look at district lot numbers from the early 1900s and try to guess why someone would want to purchase land in that location. Other than properties associated with mining ventures and the occasional strategic plot next to the river or on a well-used travel route, the old district lots are mostly associated with good soils, advantageous slopes facing south and secure water sources. In the days before supermarkets, choosing the right soil made the difference between being able to grow enough food to survive or being forced to give up and move away.

Critical resource on the declineSoil is a misunderstood resource. Cited as one of the most important environmental problems in our modern age, soil losses have turned large areas of the Earth into non-productive wastelands. At more northerly latitudes, soil is a critical resource for the growth of forests and other natural ecosystems and, with the correct type of soil, the production of forage and crops. Without viable soils, our serious climatic limitations mean that what can grow on the landscape in northern BC becomes very limited.

In order to get the best from your northern soil, it is important to understand its components and how it’s formed. As the old farmers use to say, soil is a living blanket over the ground. Healthy soil is the interaction between mineral particles, organic materials, water, air and a diverse fauna and flora of fungi, bacteria, insects and other invertebrates. The complexity of healthy soil allows essential nutrients for plants to be recycled and retained and for moisture to be available for vigorous plant growth. Any action that diminishes the soil’s living component, such as overuse of artificial fertilizers or salt from winter road maintenance, reduces the cycling of nutrients and subsequent growth of plants.

Soil takes hundreds, if not thousands, of years to form. Resulting from the interplay between climatic conditions, water, vegetation cover and the type of material on the surface, natural mineral soils in northern BC can range from 75 to 100 cm deep. For example, in the northern inte-

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rior long, cold winters combined with hotter, dry summers slow down soil-forming processes. Its development takes a very long time—much longer than the generations of farmers hoping to use it. Except for those naturally replenished on the floodplains, if it is damaged it can be very diffi-cult to restore within the time-frame of food-growing ventures.

Working what you’ve got“At your end of the bench, soil’s real’ shallow and sandy—not much good. That’s why there weren’t any big farms there like down by the river.” My friend chastises me for trying to intensively garden in an area where two rounds of land clearing and a historic forest fire had reduced the soil cover to shallow, acidic, nutrient-poor layers over deep sand.

“No problem,” I mutter. “I would rather work with sand than those marine clays north of town. At least with sand, you can build up the soil.”

Getting the most out of your soil, or what is left of it, is an exercise in understanding how it was formed and how it would have naturally func-tioned in your particular location.

In the floodplains, the natural process of flood-waters depositing new layers of silt and organic materials builds deep layers of nutrient-rich but poorly developed soil. Farming on floodplains can allow constant cropping without the need for artifi-cial nutrients. Although there is always the danger of erosion, plus the stress of dealing with floods, these areas have the richest soils in the North.

But most of us do not have naturally fertile soils. As a result of leaching, conifer-dominated forests and surface materials that are mostly ground-up bedrock from the ice ages, nutrients are limited and largely held within the plants and organic layers near the top. Land-clearing efforts often remove these nutrient sources rather than mixing them into the mineral layers. Many soil types, such as the sandy loam in my backyard, can become heavily depleted of nutrients after only three or four rounds of hay or field crops.

Sandy soils are naturally fragile because spaces between the grains are too large to hold water and

sand releases few nutrients. In order to intensely garden sandy soils, it is essential to mimic the organic layers that once would have laid on top of the mineral soil. Organic mulch is excel-lent at retaining and releasing nutrients, as well as holding moisture during dry periods. It also breaks surface erosion from pounding rainfalls and provides habitat for beneficial insects and toads. Organic mulch helps turn sandy soil into a well-aerated, rich loam perfect for gardening.

Ups and downs of drainageClay soils have a different set of problems. In northern BC, most have developed from microscopic grains of ground-up rock flour deposited by retreating glaciers. Limited in nutrients, these soils have poor drainage and accumulate surface water in low areas. Gardening on top of clay in the wetter coastal valleys involves building adequate drainage features or using slopes, garden mounds and raised beds to increase drainage.

In the drier interior, many of the clay soils are of glacial-lake origins. With strong water-retention characteristics, clay can be an advantage in this zone, but nutrients may still be a limiting factor. If

the soil has been damaged, it becomes necessary to build new soil structures over the clay. Some of the best intensive gardens on clay are those that have layers of organic mulch mixed with silt or sand over the clay. The use of nitrogen-fixing cover crops such as clover or alfalfa is very effec-tive, as the roots of these plants are able to pene-trate into the ground and extend the growing zone into the subsoil.

Look around at natural vegetation in your area, observe where the plant growth is best, take a shovel and dig down into the soil. Examine which layers have the most plant roots. Feel the texture in the different horizons. Some of the most productive northern soils, often on warm, moist, south-facing slopes, are crumbly mulches full of worms and bugs. This is the goal toward which most of us are striving: nutrient-rich, sustain-able soils with active ecosystems of soil-forming organisms.

Of course, though, there is always the quick solu-tion to challenging northern soils. One passionate gardener I know lives in the boulder fields of Jack-pine Flats near Terrace. Three truckloads of manu-factured topsoil have given her a garden that would make any northern farmer jealous.

DIRT SECRETS

Clay soi ls have their own set

of problems for gardening. Most are not nutrient-

r ich and gardening them involves

proper drainage and bui lding up soi l layers over top of the clay.

Intensive gardening in northern soi ls can be very successful i f you mimic the natural structure of the soi l by bui lding an organic-r ich layer on top of the mineral hor izons.

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As the old farmers use to

say, soil is a living blanket over the

ground.

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STRETCHING

Avid gardener Pauline Mahoney uses her “spinach house” to get a head start on spring greens. By planning ahead and using passive solar, she is able to eat fresh spinach in early April.

“I have a very low, perma-nent cold frame that I seed in September with claytonia (miner’s lettuce), spinach and corn salad—all very cold-hardy varieties,” she explains. “I water them in very well, which is important. Seedlings are more frost- and cold-tolerant than mature plants—you need to give them a certain amount of growth so they can handle no light and go into a dormancy. You can’t wait too late to germinate them because then it is too cold and you will miss the window.”

Mahoney’s spinach house is a four-by-eight raised bed about 16 inches high with a flat, corru-gated plastic lid. She uses winter-weight floating row cover, also known as Reemay, pulled tightly over the bed to create a layer of air as insula-tion. Over the Reemay, the corrugated lid is fitted snugly, creating another layer of protection. As the snow piles up, the bed is well insulated from cold weather, and the little plants are protected. In early March, Mahoney clears the snow off the beds to allow the sun in and waters them with room-temperature water. By late March, the lid can be removed, depending on overnight temperatures.

“By April 15 we have huge leaves of spinach,” she says, and there’s enough to share with the neighbours.

Mahoney remarks that watering and watching the temperature inside are key to survival, as the plants can be just as susceptible to overheating as they are to freezing. Propping the lid open or

partially removing it allows for ventilation so it does not become too hot. Keeping the inside at about 15 C is ideal. As tempera-tures rise, the lid can be removed for the year.

Creating a heat sink is another trick to keep the frost away when temperatures take a dive over-night. Bricks, large rocks, pots of sand or jugs of water absorb

heat during the day. At night, the heat is slowly released as they cool. With a lid on, this method can stave off frost inside the cold frame even when nighttime temperatures are consistently -5 C or colder.

The cool thing about hotbedsA hotbed is another season extender that uses an internal heat source other than passive solar, traditionally from composting manure. A very practical method when large machinery and ample manure are near by, this can be easily incorporated in a farm setting. To build a traditional hotbed, dig a pit about three feet deep and place fresh manure to a depth of two-and-a-half feet. The top six inches are left for the soil or planting medium. It is important to ensure this is deep enough that the seedling roots are not burned by the fresh manure. A hotbed can be be used in combination with a portable cold frame for extra heat retention.

For townies, a more practical approach is using heater coils. These can be buried under the soil in a greenhouse or coldframe and in spring can be instantly turned on with the flick of a switch. With either method, the heat source raises the soil temperature, so even when passive solar isn’t enough, plants can start growing far ahead of N

schedule. A soil thermometer is a useful tool for cold frame and hotbed monitoring. If the soil is too warm or too cold, the plants will not thrive. The directions on the seed packet will indicate the ideal soil temperature for starting any plant.

Raised beds, row covers and the clocheEven a simple raised bed of 16 to 18 inches without a lid can warm the soil by about 10 C compared to the ground. Combining a raised bed with row covers can be a very low-tech and inexpensive way to gain more frost-free days. Three weights of Reemay are available, affording different levels of protection depending on the season.

A cloche is a season extender for a single plant. Originating in France, the first cloche was a bell-shaped glass dome placed over delicate plants to protect them from frost. A simple cloche can be made out of a four-litre plastic milk jug with the bottom cut out. The spout can be left open to allow ventilation during the day. Cloches can easily overheat, so it is important to monitor them carefully.

Cold frames and hotbeds are also useful for starting vegetables or flowers that will be planted in the garden. Head lettuce, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cucumbers and leeks can be started early in a cold frame in pots or plugs. Cooling overnight and natural light create plants that are sturdier than those started indoors under grow lights.

Establishing a consistent early-season regime requires experimentation and patience. Getting to know the finer points of the microclimate in your yard and using a thermometer and journal to track trends can help hone your system into a depend-able early-season goldmine of greens.

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Cold frames and hotbedsBy April 15 we

have huge leaves of spinach.

Pauline Mahoney

Preferred germination temperatures for vegetables Minimum (C) Preferred (C)

bean 8-10 16-30beet 4 10-30cabbage 4 7-35carrot 4 7-30cauliflower 4 7-30celery 4 15-21corn 10 16-32cucumber 16 16-35eggplant 16 24-32lettuce 2 4-27onion 2 10-35parsley 4 10-30parsnip 2 10-21pea 4 4-24pepper 16 18-35pumpkin 16 21-32radish 4 7-32rutabaga 4 16-30spinach 2 7-24squash 16 21-35tomato 10 16-30

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Watching the temperature inside a cold frame is important as plants can be suscept ible to overheat ing. Propping the l id al lows for vent i lat ion.

This portable cold frame gets a jump on the season and provides abundant food weeks ahead of t radit ional gardens.

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the northern growing season

When frost-free days are counted like gold in a treasury, gardeners search for ways to get the greens a little sooner. Cold frames, hotbeds, row covers and cloches help bridge the almost season and give the anxious green thumb something to do—other than obsessively check the overnight temperatures. Smaller and more adaptable than greenhouses, simple season-extension techniques can add weeks of growing without breaking the budget.

Cold frames to catch heatCold frames can be moveable, permanent, large or small. From a simple, temporary rectangle of straw bales with an old window on top to a permanent structure of dimensional lumber with hinges, they are highly adaptable.

by Emily Bulmer

adventuremi [email protected]

No matter how simple or sophisticated, good access to sun, drainage and ventilation are all necessary.

A location with good sun exposure is foremost. Find a place in your yard where the sun reaches in early spring and late fall, as shadows from fences, buildings, trees and other nearby structures are different than in the summer. A box that is lower in front will angle the clear cover to best capture solar energy when the sun is lower, though a flat lid on a box with very good expo-sure also works. Permanent frames are dug into the ground and provide more protection than portable frames; however, portable frames work well for small yards, as they can be stored when not in use.


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Fernando lifts limp worms out of puddles and carries them in his dirty, rain-splattered, open palms to the garden behind his house where he pokes his finger into the ground, makes a hole and stuffs the worms in. He goes back and forth between street puddles and back garden. Fernando’s older brother, Paulo, rides his bike through the ditches with the neighbourhood boys, Daniel from two doors down and all three of the Ribeiro boys, Joe Junior, Julio and Jorge. Gianna walks out onto the front lawn and sees her youngest son Fernando crouched in the ditch water. Tying a kerchief on over her curlers she tells Paulo to put away the bike, to stick close to the house, there is feijoada in the oven and he should take it out when the timer goes off. She tells Paulo that she is walking to the corner store and may stop at the beauty parlour to visit her friends.

Fernando is content to stay close to home. Easter has just passed and Fernando is busy thinking about resurrection. Fernando reflects on Christ when he buries the worms in the garden dirt. He knows other kids would leave the deflated pink worms floating in their pavement puddles but Fernando feels certain that once in the ground his tiny worms will regain life. Fernando is sure to put a pebble over each worm burial site. He will check on the stones tomorrow to see if the worms have pushed them aside like Jesus did when he walked right straight out of his tomb. Fernando imagines Jesus marching out of his tomb, arms swinging and knees raising like Frank and Joe Hardy on a mission. The young boy in too-big rain boots smiles to think of all the worms he is

helping to resurrect and walks towards his house. He carefully steps around the tangle of bikes the older boys left on the damp grass. He wants to hold his cold hands under warm water from the kitchen tap.

Inside the kitchen Paulo, Daniel and the Ribeiro boys stand shoulder to shoulder along the counter watching Gianna’s new stand-up mixer turn. The boys jostle each other for a place nearest the contrap-tion and marvel at the mixer mixing. Fernando shakes off his rain boots and pushes past the boys to warm his hands at the sink. The older boys mix something into the grinding beaters saying, “Ugh, gross!” and “Put another one in!” but Fernando only wonders about Good Friday and why if Jesus died on the Friday, it is called Good Friday. He dries his hands and sees a worm dangle from his brother’s fingers and drop into the mixing bowl. Fernando pushes through between Jo Junior and Jorge’s elbows and in one swift move lifts his small body right up onto the counter beside the turning mixer. Fernando is on his knees on the counter shuffling forward towards the bowl. His rain jacket squeaks as he leans in. “Let’s try this,” says Paulo and he switches out the mixing beaters to the knife-edged beaters and cranks the dial to the sausage-making setting.

Paulo tosses another worm in and Fernando

plunges his hand into the bowl to rescue it. There is an awful crunching noise and the beaters stop turning. Daniel screams. Jorge pulls up on the stand mixer and it shudders back to life, the beaters spray worm guts and Fernando’s blood across the boys’ shirts and over the cupboards and up onto the ceiling light. Jo Junior curses in Portuguese. Paulo yanks at the mixer’s cord and unplugs it from the wall. Paulo pulls Fernando away from the mixer and holds up Fernan-do’s mangled right hand. The

pointer finger is not there. The Ribeiro boys pull shirtsleeves, hit each other on the back of the head and circle around in a panic. “It’s alright,” says Fernando. Paulo wraps a tea towel around Fernando’s bleeding hand. Fernando is calm. He leans into the bowl of worm mush and with his good hand plucks out his severed finger. The boys stop and stare at it. Daniel covers his face, peeking his eyes out to look wildly from the finger to the front door. The oven timer buzzes. Paulo yells at the Ribeiro brothers, “Clean up!” The boys bump into each other and smear bloodstains and worm bits across the counter. Daniel takes the feijoada out of the oven. Paulo turns for Fernando but his little brother is not there.

In the back yard Fernando sticks his good hand into the garden dirt and makes a hole for his dead finger. He stuffs the finger in the hole and pats the

dirt back over top. He selects a nice flat black rock and places it over top of the burial site. Paulo races across the backyard to the garden edge, reaches down to Fernando and hauls him to his feet. He wraps a white apron around and around the dish-towel and cinches it tight. He ties the long apron strings around Fernando’s chest over his rain jacket. Fernando’s wounded hand is tucked tightly over his heart.

“Where’s the finger?” Paulo asks looking at Fernando’s empty good hand and then the grass around where they stand. Paulo is frantic, “Where is your finger?” Fernando glances at the garden and at the long line of similar black rocks. One of them marks his finger. The rest mark worms. Fernando looks to his older brother’s wide eyes and shrugs. Paulo yells, “You’ve lost your finger?”

by Jane Stevenson

val leyv [email protected]

N

“It’s okay,” says Fernando, “it’ll be alright.” Paulo leads Fernando roughly around the house to the jumble of bikes on the front grass. Paulo stands up his bike, straddles it and lifts his little brother onto the front handlebars. He gives Fernando just a few short seconds to grip the handlebar with his one good hand and get his wet sock feet balanced on the front fender before they are off, peddling down the street and bumping up onto the side-walk towards the hospital.

Fernando leans back into his brother’s arms, his small body to one side so Paulo can see where he is pedalling. “It’s okay,” Fernando says again. They zoom past the beauty parlour. Paulo pedals fast and breathes hard in Fernando’s ear. A feeling of peace comes over Fernando as he tips his head back on his brother’s shoulder, he knows exactly

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Paulo pulls Fernando away from the mixer and holds up Fernando’s

mangled right hand.

where they are from the lean and bump of the handlebars under his bum. They zoom in under the covered area in front of the hospital and in one strong motion, Paulo screeches the bike to a stop and lifts Fernando into his arms. “I’m sorry, Fernando,” says Paulo. “It’s alright,” says Fernando. He lets his head lean against his older brother’s thumping heart. Paulo pushes through the hospital entrance doors. Fernando hears the nurse’s shoes squeak across the polished floor. Under the glare of the bright lights, Fernando says to Paulo, “Don’t worry, when my finger grows back, I’ll forgive you.”

A longer version of this story won second place in the 2014 Short Grain Writing Contest and first appeared in Grain Magazine 42.2.

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It was more than a decade ago that I was backpacking in the remote and isolated Spatsizi in the heat of the day and the weight of the pack was taking

its toll. My mind drifted off to another place and out of the corner of my eye I saw the outline of a person standing behind a tree; when I glanced over he was gone. I wondered, Was he even there or was it only in my mind?

When I am on the land I feel the presence of my ancestors, a feeling of being watched; it isn’t an eerie feeling, but one of comfort. I have learned to accept these encounters and their presence even though my rational mind cannot explain them. My understanding of the events is through Tahltan stories about creation and respect, which help guide my understanding of who I am.

The land can teach about aboriginal and geological history; it tells us how it was formed. Science tells similar stories by explaining the physical forces of creation, while aboriginal stories explain the spiritual forces. Knowing both means you get a more complete picture about what is happening on the land.

It was with this teaching in mind that I developed the Tahltan Outdoor Leadership Program in 2005 to expose youth to Tahltan culture and identity. Over five years, 25 Tahltan youth each backpacked an average 31.2 km for a grand total of 780 km, which is equivalent to the distance from Dease Lake to Burns Lake. One attended four campouts and backpacked a total of 78 km.

I watched young teens gradually mature into young adults who helped with the camp chores and took on leadership roles. They became more confident in who they were as Tahltans. Some took an interest in Tahltan stories and engaged in deep conversations about what the stories meant to them. Others became interested in nature and explored stream banks, flowers along the trail and abandoned beaver lodges; some provoked learning by asking each other questions about what they were seeing and sharing knowledge about nature.

The element of risk helps create an atmosphere of teamwork and coopera-tion. It allowed the youth to open up and show who they were with less fear of backlash because they were all in an unfamiliar environment that required more cooperation.

Identity formed from the earthTahltan territory contains the Stikine River and its headwaters. It is huge—about 11 percent of BC— and is the highlands of northwestern North America, as the region’s two major river systems originate here: the Yukon and Mackenzie. It is also the headwaters of the Taku, Nass, Skeena and Stikine rivers. This land is the crossroads of the drainages to the Arctic and Pacific oceans and the Bering Sea. No other place in Canada has this diversity of watersheds.

The Tahltan have lived on this land since time immemorial and this has created a unique culture that continues to inform our Tahltan identity. When youth are on the land they learn outdoor skills, leadership and cultural prac-

tices. Their knowledge of place names supports their understanding of their experiences. The stories are the voices of our ancestors, which present life from an aboriginal perspective.

Tsesk’iya Cho Ts’eseledzi (Raven Big Pee Down) is a bluff above the Stikine River along the Telegraph Creek Road; the bluff has long white streaks from top to bottom. When Tsesk’iya Cho was in Tahltan Territory a long time ago, he used this rock as his bathroom, hence the name. Tsesk’iya Cho also had a house, Tsesk’iya Cho Kimme (Raven Big House): the bluff with a large raven’s wingspan commonly mistaken as Eagle Rock on the south side of the Stikine River across from the confluence with the Tahltan River. He would fly across the river from his house to use his bathroom.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Transportation widened the Telegraph Creek Road and blasted the bluff. In the explosion, a sculpture of a raven was formed, which can be seen when you travel to Telegraph Creek. Tsesk’iya Cho laid claim to his old pee-down spot. This shows that our stories about Tsesk’iya Cho are continuing even today, in the now, and that creation is ongoing. It allows Tahltan to see our stories and hear the voices of our ances-tors in our stories.

What better way to learn?From my experiences on the land, I envision ways to affect social change in aboriginal youth so they don’t travel down unhealthy roads in life with the same misunderstandings about our collective experience of colonization. From other communities, academics, First Nations and elders, I have learned best practices for aboriginal well-being. My approach, like so many others, is from the land because that is where our culture originates.

It’s been shown that culturally based programs on the land protect against risky behaviour. In a presentation by Michael Chandler to the Assembly of First Nations National Policy Forum in 2005, the UBC professor linked communi-ties bearing “cultural continuity factors” with low to non-existent suicide rates. Forty percent of bands in Canada between 1987 and 2000 and one in five tribal councils had no recorded deaths by suicide. Half the bands surveyed had youth suicide rates lower than the general population, making it incorrect to say that all First Nations have high suicide rates. The authors of the survey conclude that preserving a sense of personal and cultural persistence are factors present in bands and tribal councils with low youth-suicide rates.

Leadership development on the land

by Curtis Rattray

rat t ray.curt is@gmai l .com

The northwest r idge of Armadi l lo Peak, south of Mount Edziza, looks toward a val ley

that contains the southern branch of Walkout Creek, which f lows into Mess Creek and joins the St ik ine just below Telegraph Creek.

There are no electronic distractions on Kitsu Plateau to get in the way of storytel l ing and conversations about al l things.

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aboriginal tourism. “It’s just been a continuous increase,” manager Jöelle Rabu says. “The main

thing people enjoy about Haida House is we are Haida owned and all our packages are authentic cultural tourism packages.”

Originally a bear hunting lodge on this west coast archipelago, when protests mounted against hunting the Haida black bear, the owners agreed to sell to the Haida Nation. Packages can be tailored to suit the guest, but often include return airfare from Vancouver, a visit with a Haida cultural ambas-sador, an eight- to 10-person guided tour of the island, a zodiac trip, and guided river-kayaking trips.

“The response has been overwhelming. It’s been so popular,” Rabu says. “There’s really no other place that offers everything we offer under one roof.” Even if you don’t spend the night, be sure to check out the dining room, which offers excellent local fare.

Haida Heritage Centre • www.haidaheritagecentre.com

The Haida Heritage Centre is built to resemble an ancient village that once stood in its place at Kay Llnagaay, or Sea Lion Town, near the southern tip

NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

For information on travel opportunities in Northern British Columbia visitnorthernbctourism.com

Anyone who considers Canada a dull and uncultured country clearly hasn’t experienced the rich heritage of northern BC, where hundreds of First Nations communities provide the region with a history rooted several millennia into the earth and traditions that significantly pre-date European arrival on the continent.

Although these cultures have existed since time immemorial, the tourism industry is only just beginning to realize the potential that they represent: for the economy, but also for spreading understanding about the nations whose culture evolved, and continue to thrive, in the North.

According to the Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC, the aboriginal tourism industry more than doubled between 2006 and 2011 and is expected to increase by an additional 50 percent by 2017. That means that while the traditions may be pre-historic, many of these tourism initiatives are new within the past decade, with more coming online every year.

They offer the opportunity to visit, learn, take part and take home perhaps the greatest souvenir ever: firsthand knowledge of a first peoples’ culture.

Haida House • www.haidahouse.com

Flanked by the Tlell River and Hecate Straight, just over the sand dunes to the east, the Haida House at Tllaal offers modest luxury amidst the wildness of Haida Gwaii. Hosting visitors from May through September, this Haida-owned lodge opened July 2012 and its rapidly growing popularity is a testament to the demand for

means cultural opportunities for visitors

Growth in aboriginal tourism

by Amanda Follett

afo l let t@bulk ley.net

Tradit ional Haida canoe excursions are just one of the cultural exper iences vis i tors may part ic ipate in at the Haida Her i tage Centre.

Haida House tours are guided by a Haida ambassador and vis i t cultural s i tes along the Haida Gwai i coast l ine.

mary helmer/haida her i tage centre

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of Haida Gwaii’s Graham Island. Owned by the Haida Nation and operated by Gwaalagaa Naay Corporation, the centre opened in 2007 and works in partnership with the Haida Gwaii Museum Society and Parks Canada.

During its busiest season, from May to September, the Haida Heritage Centre hosts daily weaving, canoe and pole tours. At times, visitors can also experience traditional Haida canoe excursions, bracelet-making workshops, films, cultural demonstration and performances.

But just having the opportunity to walk its breezy corridors and admire the peace and tranquility—not to mention the Haida cultural artifacts—that exist next to the serene Pacific Coast is a treat. A summer artist-in-residence program gives guests the opportunity to speak with local artists.

If you’re on the islands in August, the summer’s biggest event celebrates the centre’s anniversary on Aug. 15 with traditional dancing, singing, games and an evening traditional dance competition.

Metlakatla Wilderness Trail • www.metlakatlatrail.ca

Located a 15-minute boat ride from Prince Rupert, the Metlakatla Wilderness Trail offers the opportunity to literally walk in the footsteps of the coast’s ancient inhabitants. The trail, which opened in 2011, descends from the modest community of Metlakatla into forests of cedar, hemlock and Sitka spruce. It continues for 10 km up the coast, with a campsite at seven km, although it’s best to check ferry schedules before planning to spend the night.

At one time, up to 10,000 Tsimshian lived along what is now Metlakatla Pass National Historic Site. What remains are trees scarred by past civiliza-tions and shells castoff by ancient inhabitants. One shell midden (think pre-historic garbage dump) unearthed during trail construction is likely more than 5,000 years old.

Those travelling with wee ones needn’t worry trekking the entire trail: there’s much to explore within the first two kilometres, with boardwalks, a beachside picnic area, two suspension bridges and a pair of viewing towers 7.5 and 15 metres high, joined by a 100-metre-long bridge. Be aware that you’re limited by the ferry, which leaves Rupert first thing in the morning and doesn’t return to until 4 p.m.

... continued from Page 16

The Haida Heritage Centre offers hands-on experience with ski l ls l ike weaving and bracelet-making, as well as the opportunity to simply enjoy taking in Haida culture in this bui lding, which opened in 2007.

Shell middens, pre-historic garbage dumps dating

back 5,000 years, can be seen along the cut banks

that l ine the Metlakatla Wilderness Trai l .

Within the f irst two ki lometres of the Metlakatla Wilderness Trai l , v isitors wil l experience boardwalks, a beachside picnic area, two suspension bridges and a pair of viewing towers 7.5 and 15 metres high, joined by a 100-metre-long bridge.

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Kitselas Canyon • www.kitselas.com

Farther inland, the Tsimshian people have occupied Kitselas Canyon for at least 5,000 years, according to archaeological and ethnographic evidence. The canyon, located 15 minutes east of Terrace, has been a National Historic Site since 1972 and in recent years the Kitselas First Nation has been developing its tourism potential.

“Ever since 1972 we’ve envisioned a cultural centre,” says tour coordinator Web Bennett. In 2005, the nation began building four long houses, each with its own purpose: one contains carving demonstrations (such as totem poles); one displays contemporary cultural items like paddles, bentwood boxes and cedar hats; one showcases wildlife, with taxidermy bears, wolves, cougars and mountain goats; and one showcases transportation, from canoes to paddle boats to the railway—the reason the settlement sits where it does.

From the long houses, a one-kilometre interpretive trail leads visitors to the canyon and viewing deck, explaining the traditional use of natural resources found along the way. Canyon tours are offered from May to September.

’Ksan Historical Village • www.ksan.org

Located just outside Old Hazelton at the confluence of the Bulkley and Skeena rivers, ’Ksan is a replicated ancient village and museum that marks an important traditional fishing site and transportation hub.

Representing a culture that continues to thrive in this area, the ceremo-nial dress housed in the museum is still owned and used by the local Gitxsan First Nation and pieces will often disappear temporarily—borrowed by their owners for an important event or feast. The tour guides are also local: people whose ancestors have called this place home for millennia.

’Ksan is housed in seven traditional longhouses that gaze out toward the Bulkley as it flows into the Skeena. The first is home to a museum and gift shop, followed by a carving workshop, studio, and Eagle, Fireweed, Wolf and Frog houses. For $5 visitors can walk the grounds, but a guided tour is well worth the $10 admission.

Moricetown Interpretive Centre • www.mbed.ca

Located 30 km west of Smithers, Moricetown offers cultural sightseeing right next to Highway 16. Travellers are likely to be lured first by the thundering canyon, which attracts viewers and photographers who swerve into a handy pullout to take in its thundering majesty.

But the Moricetown Canyon is more than just a display of nature’s beauty and awe: This spot has offered sustenance to the Wet’suwet’en people for thousands of years and continues to be an important fishing site today. If you are lucky enough to be passing through during the late-summer salmon runs, take a moment to stretch your legs, observe the fishermen as they ply their ancient trade, and learn a little about local culture—while watching your step on the canyon’s perilous rocks!

If this whets your appetite for more local culture, the Moricetown Inter-pretive Centre is a new-looking building that can be seen overlooking the canyon and offers artifacts, such as recently excavated stone tools, and photos telling Wetsu’wet’en history.

If you feel inclined to stay a while longer, an adjacent campground and RV park offers a place to rest your head. The interpretive centre and campground are open May to September.



Old canoe at Kitselas canyon national historic site (part of UNBC’s Experiential Tourism Ghost Town Tour

’Ksan is a repl icated ancient vi l lage and

museum with seven longhouses for visitors to tour.

Stepping into one of ’Ksan’s repl icated longhouses is l ike stepping into the past—each is furnished to represent an aspect of Gitxsan culture.

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Fort Babine Lodge

If you’re keen to get off the beaten path, Fort Babine Lodge is located on Babine Lake, about 100 km north of Smithers along Babine Lake Forest Service Road. While it is accessed by a rough dirt road, it offers eight lakefront log cabins where you can rest in style within easy commuting distance of some of BC’s best fishing at Rainbow Alley and the Babine River.

As part of a tourism strategy being undertaken by the Lake Babine Nation to further develop its cultural resources, the lodge is increasing its adventure tourism offerings with cultural components like visiting historic village sites and traditional salmon smoking. The strategy is expected to be completed early summer, so watch for more tourism developments in the coming months. For more information, find Fort Babine Lodge on Facebook.

UNBC Experiential Tourism • www.unbc.ca/continuing-studies

As part of the University of British Columbia’s Continuing Education program, Experiential Tourism offers the opportunity to witness northern BC’s thriving cultures in action. Along with trips to historic Anyox (see story page 24), the program provides hands-on access to First Nations’ experiences that might otherwise remain inaccessible to visitors.

In March, the program offered a three-day Nass River Oolichan Experi-ence that—along with food, transportation and accommodation—featured one of the most important traditional fisheries in the Northwest. This August, participants can learn more about northern First Nations’ connec-tion to our waterways and natural resources through a sturgeon-tagging expedition to the Grand Canyon of the Fraser River, 70 km east of Prince George.

Being developed in partnership with the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, visitors would tour the river by jet boat, learning about this species-at-risk from a First Nations’ perspective and having the opportunity to both catch and tag the mammoth fish: “A First Nations representative will provide context about why these fish are so important and why we can’t lose them,” UNBC Continuing Studies coordinator Rob Bryce says.

Jasper National Park’s Aboriginal Day • www.pc.gc.ca

If your travels take you into Alberta, be sure to check out the National Aboriginal Day celebrations in picturesque Jasper—traditionally a “cultural crossroads,” according to Jasper National Park aboriginal liaison Sherrill Meropoulis.

Aboriginal Day has been celebrated annually in the national park since 2006, with a different First Nations community hosting the events each year and other indigenous groups invited to be part of the celebrations.

“Jasper was historically a really important part of the ceremonial areas, trade routes, and hunting and gathering areas,” Meropoulis explains. Nations from as far away as the Shuswap First Nations, in southeast BC, had a historical connection to the area, along with the Stoney, Cree and Metis.

Every celebration entails traditional drumming and dancing and, depending on the host nation, sometimes storytelling, teepee teachings, cultural exhibits, plant medicine walks and beaver skinning—while perhaps ironic to be skinning the nation’s symbol in a national park, it offers insight into the still-thriving First Nations cultures in the area.

“It provides visitors with the opportunity to understand that hunting and trapping are still an important part of the practices,” Meropoulis says. Festivities happen on the Saturday closest to Aboriginal Day, this year taking place on June 20 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on the lawn at the Parks Canada Info Centre in downtown Jasper.

N


Moricetown Canyon has offered exceptional f ishing for the Wet’suwet’en people for thousands of years and continues to be an important f ishing site today.

Tradit ional drumming

and dancing representing

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I t ’s hard to celebrate Nat ional Aboriginal Day without bannock—fr ied bread that is a tradit ional staple for abor iginal communit ies.

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What does it feel like to stand in the middle of a slagheap? To climb around the innards of an old-but-not-forsaken dam? Or to pick your way across a falling-down power plant whose crumbling floors could swallow you with nary a burp?

Barely 24 hours into a tour of Anyox, I had answers to three out of three. How did it feel? Not as I expected.

Like most of our group taking the Ghost Towns of Northwest BC tour (part UNBC’s Experiential Tourism Program), this was the first I’d heard of Anyox, an abandoned mining town at Granby

Bay on Observatory Inlet, approximately 145 kilo-metres northeast of Prince Rupert. When briefed that this was an abandoned mining operation, I expected a landscape of rusting machinery and environmental degradation: a boomtown gone bust. I was prepared to be enlightened but was surprised by how it would make me feel.

Searching for ghostsFrom Gingolx, it takes about two hours to get to Anyox via water taxi. As we enter Granby Bay, the first sign of past civilization is a smokestack rising up from the coking plant’s remains followed by the white shell of Granby’s company department store.

After docking, we drop our bags at the Anyox

Hydro Electric Corporation bunkhouse and stretch our legs with a bit of an explore. We cross a small stream that empties into the bay, its bed and banks stained a sickly orange but the wetlands edging it an energetic green. Up and down the valley, the spires of long-dead trees punctuate the forest. Across the estuary, the powerhouse’s skeleton and, beside it, the long, black back of an enormous slagheap are overshadowed by the smelter’s towering smokestack.

Exploring that side of the estuary will have to wait. We pile into a truck with Jeff Wolrige, our guide and co-owner of Anyox Hydro.

At stops along the graded road, Wolrige shows us the old steam plant, abandoned mine cars and a rail engine inexplicably sitting in a field. At road’s end, we hop out and walk a trail through scruffy aspen. In the valley below we see a—wait—what? Well, I’ll be…

Dammed! The Anyox Dam, high and mighty and very concrete, yet somehow hollow, fragile like the bones of a giant bird splayed out across the river. We enter at the base and scatter like a

New hope springs from old mine site

by Joanne Campbell


bunch of kids; we explore its hollows, touch its exquisitely worn walls and marvel at the power that could suck whole trees into the ground-level intakes. A couple hours later we are corralled and brought back to camp. There’s more to see.

This time, we cross Anyox River to the other side of the estuary where the power plant, smelter and slagheap are located. Who would have thought a slagheap would require not one but two sepa-rate excursions, just for the fun of it? Several hundred photos later, I could go back tomorrow

and take a few hundred more. It’s like visiting Mars. Above the slag dump are the remains of the smelter and below, near Anyox Falls, the remains of the power plant. No ghosts here, just old industrial bones of brick, mortar and metal being disarticulated by moss and mist.

Success and sacrifice Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company built the company town of Anyox to support its copper

mining and smelting operation. From 1914 to 1936, ore mined at the nearby Hidden Creek Copper

deposit was smelted on site and then transported south by ocean-going cargo ships.

Despite its remote location, the Granby mine was one of the top ore producers on the BC coast and its smelter one of the most modern of its time. Anyox dam and powerhouse provided electricity, assisted by a steam plant during winter months when the river was frozen.

At the operation’s height, over 3,000 miners plus white-collar and town workers, along with their families, enjoyed a standard of living envied by the rest of Canada. Granby provided its workers with good wages and modern housing; the town boasted schools, hospitals and churches, and resi-dents enjoyed ice hockey, tennis and even golf on the grassless smelter slag.

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Pi l ings along Granby Bay speak to the area’s past as a thr iv ing mining community.

The Anyox dam’s unconventional-but-elegant arch design.

Today, the powerhouse for the Anyox Dam is a

mere skeleton, which is s lowly being reclaimed

by the land.

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Success was measured monetarily; negative health and environmental effects were merely collateral damage. When the sulphur fumes from the smelter were especially strong, workers wore gas masks and were limited to two-hour shifts. The resulting acid rain defoliated all vegetation down-wind—trees were stripped and gardening impossible; resident animals left for greener pastures. In winter, one of the kids’ favourite games was lighting the snow on fire (giving new meaning to don’t eat the yellow snow).

Anyox survived World War I, the Spanish flu and a devastating fire, but it was weakened by the economic downturn of the Great Depression. The final blow was dealt by an overly enthusiastic explosives project that resulted in collapsing it forever. Granby gave the men their notice and moved out their equipment. In 1943, a double forest fire finished off what was left of the town, leaving only non-combustible and charred piers.

Acid drainage from the mine still stains the creek bed as it discharges into Granby Bay. Despite the ongoing trickle, locals say the sea life has returned to healthy levels: the crab, salmon and seals are back in good numbers, a sign that nature’s recovery seems well underway.

Power and progressIn the mid-1980s, Vancouver investors purchased Anyox with an eye to

developing remaining mineral deposits. Wolrige, son of one of the investors, and his fishing buddy John Turpin had fished the local rivers and recognized the dam’s potential for green power. The Anyox River is non-fish-bearing and no agricultural land would be impacted. It was the spark the two electrical entrepreneurs needed; the Anyox Hydro Electric Company was born.

For the past 15 years, Anyox Hydro has worked to bring the dam back on line. The major challenge is finding a buyer for the electricity: tying the Anyox Dam into the abandoned Kitsault Dam farther up the Portland Canal could produce enough power to supply up to 40,000 homes or, alternatively, a liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal.

Anyox Hydro is presently under negotiations with a Chinese LNG company. If the deal goes through, and the project approved, LNG silos would be located on the old mine staging area; soil would be capped and the untreated acid run-off would be remediated and controlled.

SlagheapThe slagheap at Anyox is a massive run of black weathered silica dunes, a by-product of the copper smelting process. It is now being mined by True-Grit Abrasives, then cleaned and barged south to the United States where the silica is a key ingredient in roofing shingles.

PowerhouseThe power plant’s shell stands on the estuary opposite the old town site and below the old smelter. Thousands of bricks litter the floor and wildlife wanders through the open walls. Holes punctuate the concrete floor where massive machines once stood.

Anyox DamDesigned by John Eastwood and completed in 1924, the Anyox Dam was controversial in its day because of its fragile-looking multiple-arch design. Proof that beauty and utility need not be mutually exclusive, it supplied power to Anyox for 11 years before the mine shut down and the dam was decommissioned.

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Little-known Anyox facts…

Tahltan leadership expedit ion part icipants stand on the Kitsu Plateau with Mount Edziza seen behind.

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Encounters of the ancestral kind: A caribou lopes across the f lanks of Mount Edziza.

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Healing trauma on the landWe have all experienced some level of psychological trauma—an injury to the brain as a result of stress from bullying, harassment, discrimination or family violence. Recent studies involving mice indicate that trauma can be inherited from ancestors. If this is possible, it raises questions regarding the intergenerational impacts to aboriginal people from colonization.

Being on the land has elements of risk and when those who have suffered trauma successfully experience an outdoor adventure, it can aid in resolving past trauma as an incidental by-product without having to re-visit the event.

An additional benefit of the Tahltan Outdoor Leadership Program is the ability to empower people to make change and assert their rights. The goal is to provide leadership skills and knowl-edge about networking and connecting to other change agents and resources. This empowers youth to make social change through personal and community development and de-colonization.

All this cannot take place unless people have a strong sense of identity: they must know who they are. One’s inner soul has been described as the “abyss” and the task of peering into it can be daunting; it is for me. All youth today have even more pressure to conform to the images of the super athlete, super model and super star by pop culture standards. Experiences on the land allow youth to get away from these pressures and gain the space to discover their own true essence. The land has the potential to teach those who respect it and who pay attention to what it has to offer.


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What did it feel like to explore a slagheap? A dam? A broken-down power plant? Counter-intuitively, it made me feel hopeful and, strangely, happy. The impression is that of progress, nature reclaiming its territory as a new forest asserts itself around our past mistakes. With a photographer’s lens, I sought—and therefore found—the beauty. Nature’s grace caught me by surprise.

Anyox is private property and because it’s a working site—with occasional blasting—it can be dangerous. Tours are available through the UNBC Experiential Tourism Program or by calling Jeff Wolrige at Anyox Hydro, 604-270-8811. A dona-tion to the Kitsault River salmon enhancement project administered by the Pacific Salmon Foundation is appreciated. N


The Anyox dam and powerhouse provided electricity to the Granby mine unti l i ts closure in 1936. Today, entrepreneurs hope to bring it back on l ine as a green power project.

The Anyox River f lows past the old power plant

and slag heap (behind) into Granby Bay.

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If you’re new to the North and you’ve come from a place that’s less wild and rugged, you may be unsure about driving radio-assisted logging roads. Even if you’ve lived here for 20 years, you might still be unsure! I come upon places where the road narrows to one lane and a sign says, “Use Maxan Channel 151.115 MHz,” and I think things like, Do I need to have a radio if I want to drive on? Is it a law? If I had a radio, how would I use it? Where do I get one? Is it expensive? Do I need a radio licence?

The history of BC’s resource roads, as they are officially called, begins with the fact that it’s much cheaper to build a one-lane road than a two-lane one. There are hundreds of kilometres of these roads in the province, bearing romantic names like Nilkitkwa and Holy Cross and providing access to remote areas where logging and mining—and prospecting and pipeline building—are taking place.

Vehicles, from logging trucks to ore-hauling trucks to pickups, have been using radios to broadcast their locations on these roads for a long time. It helps to avoid accidents and radios are now required for anyone working out there. Work-SafeBC sets this requirement, since most people on these roads are in the workplace. The term radio-assisted is used instead of radio-controlled to convey that radios are optional and drivers should be aware of vehicles travelling unannounced.

In 2015 the system is still mostly a diverse bunch of locally organized roads and frequencies, and a coordinated, province-wide system is only

now being put in place. Recently, the way that one calls his or her direction was standardized (to up or down rather than loaded or empty, in or out), and over the next five years the radio frequen-cies will become a single set of 40 channels that work no matter where you are in BC, Alberta and the Yukon.

For someone who wants to use a radio-assisted road to go hiking, skiing or fishing, bear that word workplace in mind. Although there is no law that says you can’t drive out there, it’s important to respect the drivers who are out there on the job and to use the protocols they use. Your presence is not really part of the plan. Although the system is being standardized, there is no current public information program, like a website where you could go when planning your trip to see a map of the radio-assisted resource roads and their frequencies.

According to Ministry of Forests chief engineer Brian Chow, “There are very few roads in BC that are actually radio-controlled. The vast majority are merely radio-assisted, which means that you must drive with caution and assume you are sharing the road with vehicles without radios.”

But the alternative to using a radio is a bit disquieting. It has been suggested to me that I just wait at the beginning of the road for an empty logging truck to come along, and then to follow it. When it pulls over, I pull over behind it. A second strategy was to only drive these roads on the weekends, assuming no logging activity happens at that time. A third strategy was to rely on the fact that much of the time vehicles with radios will call for radio-less vehicles that they see.

“Vehicle at kilometre 16, do you have a radio?” Not receiving an answer, they will call, “Vehicle at 16, up, no radio.”

Well, OK, I guess these methods have worked. But on

the other hand, hearing about them was a little bit like those conversations where people confide methods for avoiding pregnancy without using contraceptives. It sounds, you know, a little bit sketchy. I’m thinkin’: Don’t risk it—use a radio.

Radios can be rented from a number of places, such as Helix Electronics in Smithers, Coast Mountain Radio in Terrace, Tower Communica-tions in Houston or Central Interior Commu-nications in Prince George. Helix, for example,

by Morgan Hite

morganjh@bulk ley.net

by Rob Budde

[email protected]

Politics and culture at the 2015 Canada Winter Games

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How does one deal with corporations with questionable ethics and their sponsorship pitches to support arts and culture? No matter what, it is an awkward but important decision.

Prince George’s Canada Winter Games were an unmitigated success: the city put on a great show both in the sporting venues (except speed skating but, you know, that climate change thing) and the concert series. Besides the Lheidli T’enneh Pavilion and the nation’s fabulous, game-changing (pardon the pun) involvement, perhaps the biggest story was the ways in which local musicians dealt with the games’ corporate politics.

Both Northern Gateway and TransCanada were official sponsors. Corporations contribute to events like these for a number of reasons, one

of which is to have a good social conscience and give back to the community where they are making their money. Other moti-vations include tax breaks and public relations in order to get social licence: a phrase that occurs most often when it is clear that a business project does not have it.

Should the Canada Games organizers have taken pipeline money? I wouldn’t have. As a message that these companies’ plans are not in the best long-term interests of this commu-nity, which is evidenced by many polls and reviews, I would not have associated the games with their logos.

So, the next question is, what if as an artist or musician you are asked to participate in an event sponsored by corporations of this kind? Two local acts had such a quandary to consider. Raghu Lokanathan chose to not participate. In a Prince George Citizen letter he explains that, “I’m very much opposed to the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project and don’t wish to play any event associated with Enbridge.” His rejection of the invite is a political message and he felt so strongly about the issue that he would sacrifice the career advancement the games exposure would have given him. I admire and applaud his decision.

Black Spruce Bog, a local punkabilly gypsy-jazz rootsy folky bluegrass ensemble, chose another response to the problem. They accepted the invi-tation and then, on stage, two members wrote,

“Love This Land!” and “Food Not Dams” on their guitars. In the same performance, the other two members wore black anti-Enbridge T-shirts. In a second performance, two members of Black Spruce Bog wore “Stop Harper” shirts.

In an open letter to their fans, the band explained, “We cannot participate in such a grand cere-mony without acknowledging that two of its major financial sponsors (Enbridge and Trans-Canada) are proposing to put the very landbase we are cele-

brating at immense risk. This is our statement of support—support for the lands of northern British Columbia, for the people who work the lands and for the people who live in these communities. These are the people who should be making the decisions about our natural resources. We play our music for them.” As well, they contributed a portion of their Canada Games earnings to the Unist’ot’en Camp, “a group standing on the front lines of resistance against all proposed oil and gas expansion in BC.” I admire and applaud their decision.

Such is the nature of art: Creative expression works within the very structures of thought and institutions that it actively resists. It is the job of the artist to call attention to the issues of everyday living and stage them for us to see in a new way.

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Social licence: a phrase that occurs most often when it is clear that a

business project does not have it.


logging roadsDriving BC’s radio-assisted

When travel l ing radio-assisted roads, pay attent ion to s igns and cal l (or don’t cal l ) your locat ion depending on the local ru les of the road.

Too close for comfort : Coming

upon a logging truck unannounced

can be unnerving for the dr ivers of

both vehicles—and potent ia l ly dangerous for

recreat ional t ravel lers.

mark west

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http://unistotencamp.com/

30 | APR / MAY ‘15 | www.northword .ca www.northword .ca | APR / MAY ‘15 | 31

Resource Directory

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Ahhh… the pleasures of a deck: warm sun, family gatherings, barbeques and the personal satisfaction of constructing one yourself. Or maybe you are just considering improving the old deck out the back. Either way, there are some finer points to know that will help you through the process.

Here in the North, unprotected wood has up to a 15-year lifespan, depending on site condi-tions, and non-pressure-treated wood decks require ongoing maintenance to retain moisture resistance. That said, painting or staining exterior wood can be a frustrating experience and nobody wants to be a maintenance slave to a deck.

There are several solutions to consider. First, the deck coating should be applied to 100 percent of the wood (all four sides plus the ends) to seal out moisture and prevent the water-vapour-lifting action. Using a coloured waterproofing product prevents peeling, but does not have the rich, solid colours many people desire. Adding a roof over a deck decreases moisture exposure. You could also consider using recycled plastic decking boards, which may be your recycled plastic milk jugs coming back around.

If you choose to stick with traditional wood—which deteriorates in our damp, northern climate—the best long-term solution is low-main-tenance waterproof membranes, such as Duradek or Deck King. These systems are glued over plywood, protecting wood components long-term. The vinyl sheets come in various thicknesses and are often classified as good, better, best—as with most things, you get what you pay for.

Moisture can often be trapped between wood layers, which promotes decay in areas like built-up wood beams or between the joist and decking layers. As well, wood end-grain naturally draws in moisture and can be difficult to protect; this is why we often see surface boards deteriorating first. One way to solve this problem is by using pressure-treated decking planks.

Pressure-treated wood decks last longer, but require UV protection and a waterproofing agent to maximize the deck lifespan. Treated wood often splits, warps and checks—or cracks—over time. In many cases the wood treatment has not pene-trated the center of the lumber, so the cut ends need to be touched up with a wood preservative like alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ)—a greener, cheaper pressure-treated lumber product used for

building decks in Canada that is replacing chro-mated copper arsenate, which contains arsenic.

Be aware that ACQ accelerates corrosion of metal hardware like fasteners, connectors and nails, so galvanized, copper or stainless steel fasteners should be used instead. This is why pressure blocking—where joists are nailed to blocks secured to the building in favour of metal hangers—became an accepted practice in some areas.

When choosing a foundation for your deck, concrete pillars installed in the ground are the best for preventing movement due to frost, particularly if the deck is connected to two walls. Concrete deck blocks are suitable for light, simple, low decks, but have limitations in soft soil condi-tions or under loads such as hot tubs.

A deck can add esthetic appeal and value to your home. Combined with a beautiful view of our pristine Northwest, it can be the main reason someone buys your home or one of the reasons why you stay in this picturesque part of BC. Building your deck to be low-maintenance with long-term durability will also leave you with more time to enjoy it.

by Terry Fulljames

t fu l l james@gmai l .com

Hitting the deck: Get your favourite summertime hangout ship-shape

colu

mn Measure Twice

will rent you a radio for a week for $30. It plugs into your cigarette lighter and there’s a magnetic antenna that goes on your roof. (Handheld radios do not function well from inside vehicles and will not give you the range you need.) Tell the company where you are headed and they can make sure the radio has the right frequencies.

You don’t need a radio licence, but you do need to know how to use the radio. WorkSafeBC assumes the employer trains the employee, but that doesn’t apply in our weekend-warrior case. The first thing to learn is the distinction between up and down. You’re driving up when the numbers on the kilometre markers you are passing are going up. (Most radio-assisted roads begin with KM 0 and a sign telling you the frequency and how often to call.) If the kilometre-marker numbers are going down, you’re driving down.

Note that up and down don’t have anything to do with whether you’re going uphill or downhill!

The calling protocols vary from road to road and, again, are described on the initial sign you see. The protocol might be to call every two kilo-metres when going up and every two kilometres

when going down. It might be to call every two kilometres when going down but to be silent (and listening) when going up. It might be something else entirely.

The way to make your call is pretty simple: say the road name, your current location, your current direction and your vehicle type. So, for example, if your party is in two cars headed up at KM 4 on the Holy Cross FSR, you press the transmit button and say, “Holy Cross, four, up, two cars.”

Down traffic always has the right-of-way, so you need to pay attention to where the other vehicles are who are calling. Generally speaking, industrial vehicles headed down are “loaded” (think, loaded logging truck). However, if you hear someone calling up with a “low-bed” they may be hauling a piece of heavy equipment in and from your point of view they should probably get right-of-way even if you’re going down.

When you get near to someone headed in the opposite direction, pull off the road in a visible location (not on a curve or the crest of a hill) and wait for them to pass.

Note that there are must-call spots. These might be tight corners or blind spots and you call here in addition to the regular calls you are making. These spots have specific must-call signs that tell you what to call and in which direction.

A smart procedure at the beginning of a radio-assisted resource road is to stop and turn your radio on and take a moment to monitor the radio traffic in the area. Is it a busy day? Is there no one out there at all? If there is traffic, then before proceeding perform a radio check by calling the road name and, “Zero, up, one car—can you hear me?” Getting a response tells you that your radio is both transmitting and receiving. Then you can begin driving.

By now you’ve probably figured out that this is not like driving to the store for a jug of milk. You have to have your wits about you. During this time of transition to the new frequencies, you should drive with extra caution. You are, in effect, entering a workplace used by multiple organiza-tions and trying to fit into the safety procedures they use. Nonetheless, people on the job out there would prefer you use a radio.

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The Crooked River

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The Ancient Forest A walk through BC’S hidden treasure

Trail Map sponsored by Valhalla Smithers

www.valhallasmithers.com

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by Nowell Senior

nowel l .senior@gmai l .com • more maps at bvtra i lmaps.ca

The Ancient Forest is located 113 km east of Prince George off Highway 16, in one of the upper Fraser River Valley’s few remaining antique stands of western red cedar. These stands include cedar that are more than 1,000 years old in an area farther from an ocean than any other inland temperate rainforest in the world.

The site offers several options to choose from: a half-hour stroll along the 500-metre, universally accessible boardwalk; the 15-km Driscoll Ridge backcountry hiking trail; a 45-minute walk along the Big Tree Loop; a 60-minute return trip to Tree Beard Falls; or the Ancient Forest Loop, which takes about 90 minutes.

The ancient cedars along these trails are beautiful in their resilience: although somewhat geriatric, broken and falling apart in places, they continue to reproduce, contribute to the ecosystem and are inspiring in their old age. The trees create a diverse and rich ecosystem with a combi-nation of coastal and interior species. The Ancient Forest consists of what is known as antique rainforest stands, where the last major natural distur-bance, such as fire, happened well before the current generation of trees became established—more than a millennium ago.

The full Ancient Forest Loop takes you to Tree Beard Falls (a 30-metre waterfall cascading down a rugged rock face), clusters of colossal cedars known as Sacred Circles, a charismatic cedar called Tree Beard that towers

high with an unusual display of arms, and then to an especially large cedar that makes up in girth what it lacks in character. This is Big Tree: the largest cedar in the Ancient Forest at almost 16 feet in diameter, it stands in silent vigil beside a fallen comrade.

Radies’ Tree is named after Dave Radies, a graduate student from the Univer-sity of Northern British Columbia who alerted the public to this exceptional stand of cedars that were to be logged. Second only to Big Tree in size, Radies’ Tree leans forward—as if on alert—and is supported by a massive foundation of buttress roots.

The 15-km Driscoll Trail weaves through the cedar forest, climbing into the hemlock and, finally, Engelman spruce subalpine fir zones. The summit at 1,800 metres and the ridge walk provide excellent views of surrounding moun-tains and the Rocky Mountain Trench. Driscoll Ridge is habitat for a variety of wildlife, including grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou, moose, deer and wolverine. The east trailhead for the Driscoll Ridge Trail is located at the Ancient Forest Universal Boardwalk and the west trailhead five km west of the Ancient Forest.

UNBC has recommended the Ancient Forest be designated a World Heritage Site, and it more than meets the criteria: It does indeed display the exceptional beauty that is an inherent feature of the on-going ecological and biological processes that have occurred since the glaciers retreated from the last ice age, all within an area of high biodiversity. As well, no other temperate rainforest is located so far north and so far from an ocean—in itself this establishes the Ancient Forest as globally unique.

The Crooked River, flowing north from its origins at Summit Lake 30 km from Prince George, is a secondary tributary of the Parsnip River system, which empties into the south end of Williston Lake Reservoir near Mackenzie Junction on Highway 97 North. Summit Lake and the Crooked River system signal the transition from Pacific to Arctic watersheds north of Prince George.

On its journey north, the Crooked meanders along the top of the Interior Plateau for about 100 km, quietly flowing in and out of several lakes—Davie, Redrocky and Kerry—before emptying into McLeod Lake. As you travel north on Highway 97 from Prince George with the Crooked on your left, the stream appears to be more swamp than river, but don’t let its looks deceive you—the Crooked system is a first-class fishery full of indigenous trout and coarse fish species. You just have to find the right spots: sections and corners lined with struc-ture, gravel and a little bit of slow-moving current.

There are many access points to the Crooked River system: at its mouth by the Caine Creek Forest Service Road; by the 100 Forest Service Road at the 100 Road Bridge; by the Davie Muskeg (200) Forest Service Road accessed at the commu-nity of Bear Lake; at several roadside pullouts along Highway 97 North and, finally, by the lakes it passes through. All of these spots have rough camping areas that are suitable for tenting, truck and camper units, or small RV set-ups. If you prefer better camping accommodations, I recom-mend Crooked River Provincial Park, situated on Bear Lake two kilometres south of the Bear Lake community, which has one of the best family park facilities in northern BC. From the park, there is

access to the Crooked by short walking trails and also to some nice little lakes that have good fishing.

The Crooked is probably the most fertile stream in northern BC. Because of its slow-moving nature, warm springs that keep parts of it open year-round, willow-infested banks and nutrient-rich water, the river supports a huge variety of insects: enough mayflies, stoneflies, midges and caddis-flies in numerous genres and families to make any fly-fisher drool with excitement. On warm June evenings, with light in the sky until past 11 p.m., the mayfly and caddis hatches can be so prolific that you fear opening your mouth to breathe because you’ll surely be spitting out the night’s bug display.

My favourite flies for the Crooked are any of the mayfly or midge families, well represented by a small-size number 16 Adams or any of the caddis families, which can be imitated with an elk-hair caddis in sizes 12 to 16. And don’t forget to toss a few size-eight orange stimulators in your vest for good measure, which will mimic the stoneflies. It’s not uncommon for the Crooked to have all species of insects hatching at the same time!

The Crooked is a catch-and-release fishery for rainbows, and boat motors are restricted to 10 horsepower. Enjoy the fishery—it’s special!

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by Brian Smith

f ly f ish ingnut47@gmai l .com

Aspen Bay Cabinsboat rentals, kayaking, hiking, biking, f shing, sauna

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Recipe for Br ian’s Adams f ly: hook is

Tiemco 100 size 14 to 20, thread is

dark grey, ta i l is moose hairs, wing is mal lard feather

(dun colour) , abdomen is goose

pr imary f ibres and hackles are

gr izz ly and brown mixed.

Bob Graham fly f ishes on the Crooked River, perhaps the most fert i le stream in northern BC.

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The Ancient Forest is located 113 km east of Pr ince George off Highway 16, in one of the upper Fraser River Val ley’s few remaining ant ique stands of western red cedar.

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You know all about our spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. Between the quarters, we have “cross quarters” and the next one is May 5.

We are betwixt and between the spring equinox of March 20 and the summer solstice of June 21, so we are in an intermediate position, neither wholly one thing nor another.

Like logging takes a break during spring break-up due to mushy roads, the oil industry also pauses during this between time. Trinidad Drill-ing’s website explains that in April and May the frost comes out of the ground, so the roads are too soft to move heavy rigs around: “A winter with little snow and warm temperatures could mean a shorter break in the spring. A winter with cold temperatures and a lot of precipitation could mean a longer break-up because frost is deep in the ground.”

We don’t know how long this intermission will last; it could be short or long, so relax. It’s too late to shovel (spring sprinkles will likely just melt or get rained away) and too early to mow (let the blue-eyed grass jump up unmolested and live its short, early-April life in peace.)

Peace Country dwellers know how to enjoy this season—grab a horse or a dance partner and whoop it up! In Dawson Creek, the 2015 Spring Break Up Pro Rodeo & Dance will be held April 24 and 25.

I loved being a student and can see why some people linger. Just when you’re sick of endless final papers and final exams, it’s time to get a job. I certainly enjoyed the after-exams, before-summer-job days of my youth. For those delicious days or weeks between school and work, there was freedom in that lovely limbo.

I saw an ad for Canfor: a summer student to be hired as a production worker in Houston. (Deadline to apply, April 2.) Full-time tempo-rary labourer—sweet! I hope some students from Northwest Community College (university credit exams April 22 to 25) ignored their studies long enough to apply. Or the Prince George UNBC students, who will enjoy the last day of

classes Friday, April 17 and the last day of exams Thursday, April 30.

Some things end and some things begin around this Quarter Day.

Starting on April 1, grocery stores throughout the province will be allowed to sell liquor through a store-within-a-store model. That same day, restrictions will be lifted on BC Liquor Stores, allowing them to offer refrigeration and to stay open longer hours, including Sundays. Will this be the beginning of the end for some public liquor store employees as the competition heats up, or more hours available for new staff? Will this be the start of a successful new business for some enterprising entrepreneur out there?

At Hudson Bay Mountain, Smithers’ ski hill hosts Schnai Dai. The final party of the season goes down the weekend of April 11-12. With events like the Slush Cup and Dummy Downhill, April 12 will be a fabulous last day of skiing.

May 2, the first Saturday in May, is opening day for the Skeena Valley Farmers Market in Terrace. Minerals North 2015 is scheduled for May 27-29 in McKenzie, with the official opening at 8:30 a.m. on the 27th.

Hey, don’t sleep in—it’s starting!

www.beannorth.com • 867-667-4145

All our coffee is freshly roasted on site, certified organic & 100% Fair Trade

FORT NELSON: Down to Earth Health ShopBURNS LAKE: Health In Order SMITHERS: Mountain Eagle Books & Café MUNCHO LAKE: Northern Dreams TERRACE: Sidewalkers PRINCE GEORGE: Spruceland News PRINCE RUPERT: Muskeg CoveFESTIVAL VENDOR: Nomad’s Kitchen

mail order or purchase coffee at any of these fine NW BC retailers

/BeanNorthCoffee

@beannorth

two sistersPATIO opening soon!NOW OPEN SATURDAYS UNTIL 4.30

Monday - Thursday: 8 - 4.30Friday 8 - 8 • Saturday 9 - 4.30

[email protected] • www.twosisterscafe.ca3763 4th Ave Smithers • 250.877.7708

7:30am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Saturday

250.847.2246 • www.smitherslumber.com • 3528 Hwy 16, Smithers

LED Lamp & Fixture

May 1 to Sept 30

~2015‘Ksan Historical

Village & MuseumPH: 250.842.5544

Old HazeltonSalmon Trails

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Salmon Trails1515 Main Street, Smithers, BC

Tel: 250.847.2208

Centrally located on Smithers’ Main Street, the Fireweed Motor

Inn is the place to stay! We‘re walking distance to the town’s

best restaurants. Or book a kitchenette and fill the fridge with

groceries from one of Smithers’ two grocery stores, literally

across the street.

in Smithers, base yourself at the

[email protected] • www.fireweedmotel.com

Free wireless internet & pet-friendy rooms available. NEW! Coin laundry on-site for customers

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Northword 2015 - 04