Connecting to the Community
By Gioia Cabri (University of Vermont)
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been over two weeks since we arrived here in Atlin. A sense of familiarity with this land is just starting to settle over me: if I close my eyes I can picture the individual crags of Teresa Island, or imagine the Llewellyn glacier spreading out below the coastal range, dipping its nose toward Atlin Lake. The other day I found myself calling our little dwelling, which overlooks a small lake, “home.” From our tents, pitched right outside the house, we fall asleep to the haunting echoes of loons calling at night.
This evening we hosted a barbecue with a few guests from the community. Consequently I found myself face to face with a large, headless salmon quietly defrosting in the sink this morning. Not only did we feast on salmon tonight, but we had an impromptu stop at Nan’s house today, where we snacked on leftover grilled salmon topped with a lemon, mayo and juniper berry sauce. Life has been good to us today.
I find myself counting myself lucky every day I spend here. The rigors of hiking keep my blood flowing, the stunning vistas of the landscape overwhelm my senses, and the lectures and readings pique my interests and lead me to question where I never had before. The highlight for me, however, has been the interaction with local community members. So far we have hosted the Lands and Resources Manager for the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, Nicole Gordon, a young woman who has shown incredible tenacity for the job, so much so that she’s managing two departments at once. She spoke with us about her journey toward becoming a leader in the community, and helping to revitalize cultural traditions such as the dance group.
Just last night we had dinner with Ed Anderson, one of the many Tlingit community members who were traumatized by the experience of going through residential school. It was eye opening to hear a first hand account of these schools, which were a form of institutionalized violence against the First Nations; Ed described them as waging war on his people. The effect on the First Nation people in Canada is immeasurable; the generation that went through residential schools are sometimes referred to as the “lost generation” because they were taken away from their families, uprooted from their entire way of life, and beaten into silence. Ed also shared some of the lessons he learned from his elders growing up, such as ‘thinking with the end in mind’: a method of conscious living that bears great consequence to long-term stability.
Always adding color to our life here have been our visits with Nan. We spent the fourth of July at her house, commemorating good old America from abroad. Nan, being the wonderfully generous lady that she is, treated us to a chocolate bundt cake, drizzled in chocolate glaze and decorated with scattered rose petals. She then spoiled us even further by letting us paw through her extensive library on local plants and plant lore. Meanwhile she revealed to us a few of her medicinal secrets, like spruce-tip gin (a sip a day keeps the doctor away!). We left her house laden with many a book for borrowing.
And then there was this evening. We had plenty of salmon and bison burgers (and a portabello burger for vegetarian Ari), and an intimidating host of characters from the community, we’re talking people who have been working with Round River and the Taku River Tlingit (TRT) to bring about monumental changes, including the development and implementation of a Land Use Plan, for decades. The soft-spoken John Ward, spokesperson for the TRT graced us with a detailed summary of what the past few decades have looked like for the TRT and what challenges still lie ahead. He eloquently rendered the schism between the Canadian government and the Taku River Tlingit into a simple statement: “We don’t exist in their system.” We also heard from Brian and Julian, two consultants who have been through the entire process of drafting proposals, agreeing upon language and framework for negotiating, and then the ensuing years of negotiation and deliberation. It’s tough to even conceptualize the challenge of bringing together two opposing governments that fundamentally disagree upon whom owns the land, but have agreed to work together to manage it. We were also fortunate enough to host Sue Carlick, who was a member of the original Round River student program on the Taku in 2003, has led the First Nation through court cases, and is now a lead negotiator for the TRT treaty team. She spoke vibrantly about preserving the Tlingit culture and way of life on the land, and made us all feel so welcome to be here in the Taku watershed.
Right now we are resting up our bodies and starting to prepare for “the walk”: the nine-day backpacking trip we’ll be taking down the valley toward the Nakina River, one of the tributaries of the Taku River. We are all looking forward to this journey. It represents a chance to be a part of the history that the trail is steeped in, to wiggle our toes and drop our fishing rods into the river that is known in Tlingit culture as grandfather to all, and to reap the soulful reward of communing with nature for nine uninterrupted days.