By Brianna Wilkinson (University of Vermont)
If a smile can say a thousand words than this man’s smile could fill volumes. Jackie Williams, former Wolf Clan leader, came buzzing down in his buggy to our cabin with a twinkle in his eye. The first thing he set out to do was to educate us about the bears. Listening to him explain how to talk to the bears as if they were human – communicating your intent with calm directness. Jackie told us his people were cursed because they turned away from their beliefs and that the only way to lift the curse was to bring people like us, outsiders, in and teach us how to respect the land. The Nakina River, a major tributary to the Taku River, is the joining of two smaller rivers, one dark, one light, coming together as one. The dark river is the Nakina representing the Tlingit people and the light river is the Sloko representing the white man. The Tlingit view the river as a sign that the two peoples have to work together. This is a very positive view for a people so abused by the system. When Jordan asked Uncle Jackie to give us or the world some advice, he decided that it all comes down to respect – respect for the land, respect for the animals and respect for people.
In 2011 a historic land plan was signed between the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the government of British Colombia. It was named the Wόoshtin Wudidaa (Flowing Together) Land Use Plan and it incorporates a joint governing process, Wόoshtin Yan Too.aat (Walking Together), to influence resource-related decisions. The wording of this agreement sends me right back to the story of the two rivers joining together and flowing as one.
Learning about Round River you learn that it is not just the research or the conservation of “big wilderness”. The heart of Round River is in people and collaborative relationships. Round River applies traditional ecological knowledge by supporting the implementation of the Taku River Tlingit First Nations’ decisions concerning their land.
I considered asking Uncle Jackie if he ever had to perform a marmot extraction but decided that was a tale for another day. Becoming proficient in marmot extraction was not part of our plan when coming on this trip but a few of us have definitely learned a lot on the subject.
This experience of being on a Round River program is more than any of us ever expected. From the family style guest dinners, bushwhacking up mountains, edible floras, the sheer amount of knowledge we learn daily to the pristine wilderness that still is the Taku/Yukon watersheds. It all takes our breath away. Just to sit atop a summit and gaze to distance mountain ranges, ice fields, glaciers, lakes and valleys. You don’t question why people want to protect this land. The land has the scars of resource exploitation but moving forward there are plans for the fragmented landscape to be reclaimed back into the boreal and to the people.
