. ta Rimare Pris Rupert: aes, . ag Gardner Canal/ Kitlope’ me River Ecosystem A VALLEY. ‘DISCOVERED: Haista fa youthe like Derrick Robinson : have found their roots in a series of Rediscovery program camps for teens in the Kitlope. Above: map of the disputed area. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 8, 1993 - Page AS Elders see hope in youth The KITLOPE By JEFF NAGEL HE WONDER resonates in Louise Barbetti’s voice as she touches the rock wall. The red ochre image of an an- cient face stares back from the granite into her dark eyes. . Haisla words float across Kit- lope Lake. The thrill. in them needs no.. translation: : “There it is — we were herel”’ The rock paintings dot the steep _ stone sides of the lake and the Gardner Canal :beyond the mouth of the Kitlope River. To the Haisla, the pictographs and peeled trees are proof that their people | have a long history: in the valoye 2 yr ae The Kitlope is really ‘the, tradi- tional territory of the Henaaksiala people. *« . Thé Haisla lived further north at Kitamaat Village and Kildala. The . Heneaksiala were decimated. by ‘small pox epidemics near the turn of the century... They mover! to Kemano after their last village site was buried in an avalanche. In’ 1947 the Henaaksiala and - Haisla “agreed to amalgamate to become one people — today’s Raisla, Barbetti, like many of the Kitimat-area Haisla, has no fam- ily connection to the Kitlope. Her first trip to the. valley came last year. “y went to the edge of the river and I sat down ‘and I cried,’ she remembers: “I realized our river -- the Kitimat River — was and non-native — came this sum- mcr. Many vow to retum next year, saying the experience. changed their lives, Another ten young people par- ticipated in the “conservation training program this year. It's ‘aimed at training young Haislas to be eco-tourism guides for the Kitlope — imately in "he whole. valley.is the banks af Ou: people, Hes coe Bai ‘ HAL pag dens guard it with our lives." fi _dead,”” - Now, for .Barbetti_ and other band councillors, the Kitlope i isa (ool to regain the strength of her people. This is the second year that a Rediscovery program has been operated in the valley for troubled youths from dysfunctional families. _ Fifty young people — Haislas Trophy hunting deal takes flak TERRACE -—— The sale of a trophy-hunting guide territory in the Kitlope has Haisla natives angry. “Tt was done withoul consuit- ing us,” said Kitamaat Village chief councillor Robert Robinson. A group of four people paid Harry McGowan more than $300,000 for the territory in the sale-completed Aug. 3. ‘Robinson said the ministry of environment, lands and parks has apologized to the Halsla for fail- . ing to notify them of the proposed sale. . The. Haisla would have consid- ered making an offer to buy the territory and retire it, he said, * Robinson said Ecotrust — a branch of American-based Con- servation International — might have helped bankroll a Halsla buy-out of the guiding territory. Bob, Stafford is one of the four new owners of the territory. Be ‘Says, ‘McGowan failed to ~-mention critical factors relating to ihe viability of the guiding terri- tory. Firstly, Stafford says, he had no idea the area was being examined for possible preservation under — ihe Protected Area Strategy talks or that it was the object of a major native land claim. As a result, no permanent struc- tures may be built in the Kitlope under the guiding licence. At the end of the day, however, Stafford says it’s a ‘Matter of buyer beware. “T have to come here and slug it out no matter what.”” Robinson, Stafford and lands ministry representatives are ta meet Sept. 14 in an attempt to resolve the issue. *T don’t think we’re going to ‘have too: much trouble dealing with these people,”’ Stafford says of the Haisia, ‘They're every bit as accomodating as we are.’? the style of the Haida Watchmen _ on the Queen Charlotle Islands. - Both programs help galvanize Haisla support for the Kitlope.’ ° Their political value is not lost on Haisia leaders. “] dreamed I would hear. sing. ing of children in the valley again before my time comes to sleep,” says Huaisla elder Cecil Paul, who was bomt in the Kitlope. **T feel we cannot lose when I ste the young people come and deposit a piece of their hearts in the bank we call the Kitlope.”’ If the Kitlope is a cathedral, then Cecil Paul is its high priést. He leads visitors in a washing ceremony as they enter the Kit- lope. **Wash your eyes, so that you can see,’” he tells them. ‘‘ Wash your cars, so that you can hear.” Back at the camp, Cecil points - to a survey mark on one large cedar, about ‘six feet away from an old piece of tin nearly buried in the moss. The sheet of metal is the remains of the boiler his grand- . father used fo make colichan grease. — The survey point marks where the logging road would .go through. Anger hangs in the alr when the Haisla talk about the prospect of. . logging in the Kitlope. "Everything else has been n taken, Cecil Paul. they say. The Kitlope won’t be. ‘We are not mililant people,’ Kiltamaat Village chief councillor Robert Robinson says. ‘‘But I will use everything in my per- sonal power to stop it.” ~ Like the bright sockeye in the fiver, emotions run close to the surface. “This is our home for thou- sands of years,”’ says Cecil. ‘*The whole valley is the bank of our people. We will guard it with our. lives,”’ ‘'There will be a time and a place for anger —- if that becomes necessary. But. that time is not now,’ ,. KITLOPE LAKE and Its tributary — the Tezwa River — are oreserved 1 from logging under Eurocan’s present 20-year plan for logging the Kitlope as wall ¢ as other areas south of Kitimat. Company facesa no-win scenario TERRACE — There’s @ will to find common ground, But there may. be nothing but a yawning abyss between the two camps, For the Haisla, nothing short of preservation of the Kitlope is ac- ceptable, If Eurocan Pulp and Paper — the holders of cutting rights in the Kitlope and. TFL 41 — agree to that, they face an instant loss of 11 per cent of the wood in the tree farm licence, And... company spokesman Bruce MacNicol doesn’t believe there are any ready replacements available for the 50,000 cuble metres of wood the company estimates is in the valley. ] “As far as I’m concerned there is no alternative tim- ber. That’s a misconcep- tion that’s being kicked around. It’s just not true."’ ‘As far as I’m concerned theré is no alternative timber,'’ Mac- Nicol says. ‘‘That’s a misconcep- tion that’s ‘being kicked around. It’s just not true,”” Eurocan could maintain its present cutting levels for some lime even if itlost the Kitlope. But that would quickly deplete the timber inventory. and have serious consequences in years ahead; Ultimately you would have io pay the piper and take a big falldown,’’ he said. An offer to the Haisla from Eurocan this spring fell flat. The deal called for preservation of Killope Lake and the Tezwa river areas — about a third of the watershed —-: and a Halsla-run logging operation in the rest of the valley. “That was an insult,” Robinson says. ‘Even if we were slarving, we would not and we will not go for what they’re offer- ing us.”” Hurocan’s newly unvelled 20- year management plan calls for logging in paris of the Kitlope to beginin1997,. Meanwhile, MacNicol says the company will press for a quick resolution to the issuc. arbage Pooped City council will get make. The sign says it all. tough on garbage. And it costs a lot of. Pick up after your dog if ‘People can only put out money to collect garbage. you take it to the park, - That’s the message city three ba of arba ce gs garoag worker Frank Bowsher The provincial. govern-- each week, ment has also told cities This law _ has. been to cut back on thé amount | wants to get across, around for some time... -.. of garbage going into’ |: The sign went up just But only now will the dumps. : recently, city begin to enforce it. The three bag law will Bowsher said people The city says people be enforced in a couple of complained about dog “the ‘Stati ts = for pai ~should’.cut down on’ the months. ‘That’s so. people poop in the park during “earning ‘how to read. - get used to it, oe as Riverboat Days events. _ amount of enrbage ‘they yo meal