Smoke House

 The building was once a wood shed.  Now three logs smolder in the middle of the dirt floor. An old trash can lid sits on top of the cottonwood, pushing the smoke out to the corners of the building.  Red embers softly glow and crackle, carving out the undersides of the wood.             Dark poles … Continue reading »

Kids camp song about the Skeena River

Bearclaw lodge is a fishing and helisking lodge on the Kispiox river. During the summer they run a conservation camp for kids where they teach kids between the ages of 10 to 15 about ecosystems, fish, canning, horses, handshakes, and how to be comfortable in the bush.  The kids wrote and preformed a song about … Continue reading »

August is about fish

In August in the Skeena, everything is about fish.  People are on the river fishing, checking nets, canning fish, smoking fish, talking about fish, studying fish, teaching their children about fish.  Work schedules shift to accommodate fish, families get together, life for many revolves around fish.  I have been up in the Skeena watershed for … Continue reading »

Swan Lake with the House of Geel

I had the honor of accompanying Catherine Blackstock, the chief of the Gitxan house of Geel, and some of her family, to two of the House of Geel’s traditional territories with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.  The first was on the Kispiox river, and the second was to Lax Didax, at Swan Lake.  One of the goals of … Continue reading »

Moricetown Canyon Opening

This experience has been non-stop fish, and it has been wonderful.  The day after I arrived in Smithers, I went out to the Moricetown Canyon opening on the Wedzin Kwah river (also known as the Bulkley).  The canyon is an important traditional fishing site for the Wet’suwet’en.  When the fish start running, and the water … Continue reading »

Arrival in Smithers!

Whew.  I have finally arrived in the Skeena Watershed! I rolled into town around 11 and met up with the assistant director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and researcher, Brian.  He found me a wonderful little place to stay for a bit in the home of one of the other researchers (I promptly locked … Continue reading »

Reel Youth Film Camp

ReelYouth. I spent the past week on Cortes Island in British Columbia at a youth film camp focused on teaching youth how to make films about social and environmental issues. It was a incredible experience. The facilitators and mentors came from many different media and activism backgrounds. They were musicians, journalist, producers, political activists, animators, editors, … Continue reading »

On the Road

I left Ashland to head up North about a week ago, and things just did not seem to go as planned. A couple of days before I was scheduled to leave, my car started smoking and I got word that my beloved Subaru Stella was “about ready to explode” and would not be about to … Continue reading »

Getting Ready

Only a couple of weeks left before I get started on my Watson adventure! The planning has felt overwhelming at times, but it feels great to have all the pieces finally coming together. I graduated about a month ago (but it feels like way longer) and have been home searching and debating over the right … Continue reading »