Reflections

A week after the trip...

It's been less than a week since we completed our journey from the headwaters of the Fraser River to where it meets up with the ocean in Vancouver. And since being home in Quesnel and back to my normal life, I'm noticing things that I hadn't really paid attention to before. The first was just how grossly disposable our society is. On my drive home from Vancouver to Quesnel, I was shocked at how much packaging, bulky plastic and garbage was accumulated between myself, my mom and my sister. After just a couple stops for takeaway sushi, coffee and other road munchies, we had collected more garbage between the three of us in just one day than our group of fifteen had produced in the last five days! It felt awful.

I am also so much more conscious of water usage. While on the SLLP, we were very careful and conservative with water use. We were always using minimal amounts and reusing water for multiple uses- the pasta water was used to cook the corn and then for rinsing dirty dishes, etc. Water wasn't heated unless the camp stove was already in use- so at breakfast and dinner. Clothes, hair and bodies were washed in the river (with environmentally friendly products of course!) We made a conscious effort to conserve what we had- and yet it wasn’t difficult or frustrating to do.

Returning to work in Quesnel was another area of frustration for me; how people would leave the taps running until dishes would overflow with water, not plugging the sinks to rinse dishes and just general overuse and wasting.

Out of this though, I actually feel more determined to apply sustainable practices to my everyday life, and not discouraged. I know that one person does make that difference, and the positive effect it has on one's self makes it worth the tiny bit of extra effort. Also, embracing a greener lifestyle has a ripple effect on those around you and I'm confident that my actions will have an impact on my friends and encourage them to change their behaviour as well.

   

Eat local, eat in season, eat lower on the food chain

Glen Valley Organic Farm, August 27

Rows and rows of organic vegetables; almost any kind of vegetable you can think of, planted by local famers for local consumption. As we tour Glen Valley Organic Farm; the source of our fresh produce throughout trip, I am reminded of the discussions we have been having over the past couple of weeks; food security, plant based diets, eating in season and eating locally to name a few.

Our local food markets are abundant with a variety of fresh fruit year round, which makes it easy to forget that these fruits are a product of the land, quite often in another part of the world. When you consider all of the resources it takes to transport these foreign fruits around the world, one can only begin to imagine the impact it has on the environment.

Eat local, eat in season, and eat lower on the food chain… food for thought.

We as individuals have immense power to create positive change by making smart food choices. Hopefully as we head into the future, we can regain the sense of agricultural basics of past generations; something that is apparently vanishing from our culture.

   

Closed sockeye fisheries

Leon Creek to Lillooet, August 21-22

At the beginning of the trip, Doug (a facilitator) told the participants that the 25 day trip will be like a bath tub full of water – it starts off draining slowly and then suddenly before you know it the tub is empty and you find yourself emptying your dry bag and heading home. For me, the trip starts to feel like this after we leave the Cathedrals. I think part of it is the geography of the river… for the last two days it seems as though we’ve been on an enormous waterslide. You can actually see the river slanting as it descends downstream, and the water seems to be flowing faster along with the trip – and suddenly it is Day 17 and we’re rounding the bend to Bridge River Rapids, just north of Lillooet.
 
As we near Lillooet, I’m anxiously awaiting the sight of the orange and blue tarped hillsides where the St’atl’imx have their drying racks full of salmon drying in the hot, dry winds. Something is different though as we land north of the rapids… the sage filled hillsides are spotting only a few tarped drying racks and I can’t seem to see anyone dip netting for salmon on the fishing rocks. As we walk past the rapids (the Bridge River Rapids are a Class 6 rapids and the rafting guides are not legally allowed to transport passengers over these rapids), we learn that the sockeye fisheries had just closed due to the enormous drop in returns. The reality of the news in Prince George quickly hits home as the missing salmon are no longer just numbers – they are now the faces of friends and communities who rely on the salmon for food.

   

Celebrating salmon

Leon Creek, August 21

We left on our rafts from Leon Creek this morning. A huge wave crashed over me as I was asking Glenda how to spell her name. We discussed population growth. Where do you put 1 million people? We would hit a set of rapids, duck and cover and then continue the discussion. At lunch Fin, Allison, Kayla and I did our push up pyramid up to 7. We read an article on peak oil and then went through the biggest rapids ever!! 20 ft from troff to crest! I held on like cowboys keep their grip on a bull. I think I smooshed Trevor a bit. Sorry Trevor.

After lunch our group walked around the Bridge Creek rapids. Both sides of the River have blue tarps with drying rack beneath them. We learn later they are two different bands from the same nation. There are two huge cement fish ladders on the River right. Our guides took the raft and out gear through the rapids. Shane glided a practiced dance with the rapid. Simon was a little nervous, first time and all. He got a little stuck exactly where he didn't want to but he came out. Kaley's family greeted us. We headed back on the raft where Shane and Simon rendezvous'd with us downstream. Quickly, we rafted down to the campground under the Lillooet bridge. The campground was hosting the Salmon in the Canyon Festival. We began touring the booths.

The spring salmon come when the sage and buttercup bloom. We watched a lady cut the fish for tswan, frozen, not fresh sockeye. The sockeye did not come home in the great numbers the people were expecting to greet. Shave pieces off till it is the right thickness. Don't cut down too far and break the skin. It is the hot wind and not the sun that dehydrates. Can be flavoured with salt. When you pull a piece off and are eating it, your fingers get fish oil on them.

There was a display on sea lice. They had a map displaying the locations of the fish farms on BC's coastline and a petition to get the fish farms out of the water. The wind gusted so I went to find a few more rocks to hold down the things that kept blowing away from the presenters table. There was a display set up for the migration patterns of deer. Females were tagged with remote sensors because the males necks would enlarge too much. They presented a map showing the northern deer to have traveled much further in the spring and fall than the deer in the south. In the winter and summer the northern and southern deer do not move much so there was a cluster of GPS of spots, with the transmission of points even being reduced from once every half hour to once every seven hours. The mating season is called the rut.

A group of us went back our camp near the river to put on some warmer clothes. I stopped in to use the washroom. Flushing water, a tap and a mirror have become luxury items. My group had already gotten into the dinner lineup when I met back up with them. Taking advantage of some "alone" time, I joined the back of the line and fell into conversation with Ruby, the lady who had been brought in to talk about sea lice. Wild adult salmon naturally have sea lice. It is the juveniles that will be killed by one or two lice. In a natural system the adult and juvenile fish never meet. Open net fish farms on the coastline have sea lice transferred onto them when the adult salmon are returning to the rivers to spawn. These fish farms are a sea lice breeding ground. When the juveniles come back to the ocean they will pass these fish farms and some of the sea lice will transfer onto the juveniles and they will die. Fish farms need to be brought out of the water. Water from the farms can not mix with the natural migration waters.

The dinner was wonderful and then we all introduced ourselves to the crowd. Tougher than I thought. We ate dessert and then played a little soccer and then a little volleyball and then danced like happy fools on the grass in front of the band. We stacked chairs and carried tables when it was dark and then we walked back to our camp on the river. It was difficult to pick just one highlight at our circle before we turned into our sleeping bags on the tarp under the sky for the night.