About Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
MISSION STATEMENT:
“Cultivate a sustainable future from a sustainable environment rooted in culture and a wild salmon ecosystem.”
The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition was founded in 2004 by a diverse group of people living and working in the Skeena river watershed. Our board of directors and membership reflects the broad interests of the people in this region. We are united in understanding that short term industrial development plans, even 50 year plans, will not benefit our region in the long run if they undermine the social and environmental fabric that holds the watershed and its communities together. Our range of activities all reflect this vision. They include:
- Informing our membership on proposed development plans that may compromise our vision of a sustainable regional economy.
- Working to develop long-term stewardship plans for the Skeena Watershed
- Organizing information meetings between regional/provincial governments, corporate developers and local communities
- Contributing to baseline research of wildlife, water quality, and cultural heritage resources in the Upper Skeena Watershed
- Developing sustainable employment opportunities that are compatible with the globally significant values of the region
- Providing educational programs for the region’s children and youth (school programs and a summer conservation camp) to learn about the values within the Skeena watershed
- Sponsoring gatherings for stories, music, and art celebrating the Skeena Watershed
About the Skeena Watershed
The Skeena Watershed is among British Columbia’s greatest watersheds, home to one of the longest un-dammed rivers (570 km) in the world. With vast tracts of wilderness, abundant wild salmon and wildlife, vibrant First Nations and settler cultures and relatively little industrial development compared to other large river systems, the Skeena offers a truly remarkable opportunity for environmental and cultural sustainability.
The Skeena’s Journey
It begins its journey in the Sacred Headwaters, an alpine basin in northern BC adjacent to Spatsizi Wilderness Park, where the Nass and Stikine Rivers also find their birthplace. From the Sacred Headwaters, the Skeena flows southeast, between the shallow peaks of the Skeena Mountains. It continues past the Slamgeesh Range, then westward to Fourth Cabin where it turns south. After Kuldo it turns eastward, then flows again south below Cutoff Mountain and Mount Pope. It continues past the communities of Kispiox and Hazelton, where it receives the waters of Bulkley River, then turns southwest. At Kitseguecla, the river is crossed by Highway 37, and then turns south around the Seven Sisters Peaks and Bulkley Ranges, then between the Nass Ranges and Borden Glacier, past the ferry crossing at Usk, through the Kitselas Canyon, and then through the Kleanza Creek Provincial Park. It then flows south-west through the city of Terrace, where the river widens. It continues westwards, passes near the Exchamsiks River Provincial Park, and finally flows into the Pacific Ocean at Eleanor Passage, between Port Edward and Port Essington.
The Skeena’s Salmon
All five species of wild Pacific salmon live in the Skeena system, supporting Canada’s second largest wild salmon fishery next to that of the Fraser. A 2005 study by IBM Business Consulting found that Skeena salmon contribute some $110 million to the region’s annual economy. In addition to a commercial ocean fishery at the Skeena’s mouth, the watershed supports an internationally renowned sport angling industry that draws people from around the world to the region each year. Salmon are also the foundation of the watershed’s First Nations cultures, and traditional food fisheries continue today as they have for millenia, at fishing sites up and down the length of the Skeena.
Merchandise
To purchase any of our items – you can order via mail or by using the Chip In Tool(make sure to send us an email with the items you would like to purchase).
Awakening The Skeena, the documentary about Ali Howard’s epic swim of the Skeena River in the summer of 2009, is now available on DVD. This inspiring, 80-minute long film has been featured at film festivals all over North America. $23 (including shipping) to Canadian destinations. $27 (including shipping) to US destinations.
Other ways to get AWAKENING THE SKEENA
Elders, Oldtimers and Salmon, a collection of interviews on the topic of the Skeena River and its salmon, documented & compiled by Gretel Miles. $20 per copy ($25 with shipping).
Spirit of the Skeena Swim 2009 T-shirts, many sizes and colours, limited quantities (suggested donation $20)
*Please call our office to see what we have in stock (250)842-2494 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition logo sticker. $2 each
Sacred Headwaters Poster – Featuring the photography of Brian Huntington. Specify 24“x18” or 18“x12” (suggested donation: Lg $35, Sm $15)
Songs for the Skeena – A compilation of artists dedicating or writing songs just for our mighty Skeena river. Artists include: Mamaguroove, Blue Island Trio, Rachelle VanZanten, Sindee Serle, Lisa Winn, Edi Young and MORE! (suggested donation $20)
Devil’s Club and Blazes – Searching for the Trails of Our Gitxsan Ancestors – A documentary centered in the heart of wild Skeena country. (suggested donation $20)
“Get the Shell Out” t-shirts (view detail): Green, Cranberry, Blue, Black, & Yellow (suggested donation $20).
Sacred Headwaters Bumper Sticker – (Suggested donation $3)
1lb Fair Trade Sacred Headwaters Blend Coffee $11 From Local Roasters – Mercedes Beans and Model Teas. Call (250)842-6667 to place order
Sacred Headwaters Cards (select from 4 design options)- (Suggested donation $5)
3 Rivers 1 Voice buttons (Suggested Donation $2)
Board of Directors & Staff
Board Chair
Todd Stockner moved to the Kispiox Valley from New Westminster in 1994 with his young family. An angling guide in the Skeena watershed since 1982, he now operates his own angling guide business on the Kispiox and Skeena rivers. In the off season he makes his living as a fine woodworker, working out of the workshop on his hobby farm. He received training in fine woodworking at the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program in Fort Bragg, California in 1989/90.
As well as being a director of SWCC, Todd also sits on the executive steering committee of Friends of Wild Salmon, is an active member of the North Coast Steelhead Alliance, as well as a member of Western Canada Wilderness Committee.
When not taking up time with all of the above, you can find him playing hockey on the pond in front of his house with friends and family during the winter; listening to and watching the amazing bird life all around us in the spring; cutting firewood, mowing the lawn, and floating the rivers in the summer; and – when not guiding – he can be found on some remote and beautiful part of our rivers fly fishing for steelhead every fall. todd@skeenawatershed.com http://iwoodfish.com
Board of Directors
Gene Allen – Gene’s family has 5 generations in the watershed and currently makes his living as a wilderness resort operator, rodeo stock contractor and maintains an active trapline. Gene worked as a logger and guide outfitter for most of his life and lives on his horse ranch in the Kispiox Valley. He is a leading member of the Kispiox Watershed Monitoring Committee and the Skeena Quality Waters Initiative, both of which are government recognized programs to ensure that sustainable development occurs on the land. Gene was also a leading campaigner against the clear cutting of the headwaters of the Kispiox River and was successful in creating the Swan Lake Wilderness Area, preventing such development from proceeding. Gene has been a director of the SWCC since its inception in 2004.
Wade Davis – Wade Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Harvard University. A native of British Columbia, Dr. Davis has worked as a park ranger, forestry engineer, logger, big game hunting guide and conducted ethnographic fieldwork among several indigenous societies of northern Canada. He has published some fifty scientific articles on subjects ranging from Haitian vodoun to the global biodiversity crisis. His magazine articles have appeared in Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Omni, Harpers and several other international publications. He has lectured at the American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, California Academy of Sciences, Missouri Botanical Garden, Field Museum of Natural History, New York Botanical Garden, National Geographic Society, America’s Society, Royal Ontario Museum, Royal British Columbia Museum, the Explorer’s Club as well as more than fifty major universities including Harvard, Yale, Tulane, Vanderbilt, M.I.T., University of North Carolina, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania, University of Colorado and University of Wisconsin. His photographs have been widely published and exhibited at several galleries including the International Center of Photography (I.C.P.) in New York.
Presently a Research Associate of the Instituto Caribe de Antropologia y Sociologia in Caracas, Venezuela, he is an Honorary Research Associate of the Institute of Economic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden, a Collaborator in Botany at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Research Associate of the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, a Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Executive Director of the Endangered People’s Project.
Roy Vickers – Canadian artist Roy Henry Vickers is an accomplished carver, design advisor of prestigious public spaces, a sought-after keynote speaker, and publisher and author of several successful books. In addition, he is a recognized leader in the First Nations community, and a tireless spokesperson for recovery from addictions and abuse. Roy has received many awards and honours for his art and community involvement. Among them are a hereditary chieftainship and several hereditary names he has received from Northwest Coast First Nations. He is a recipient of the Order of Canada.
In 1994, Maclean’s magazine included Roy as the first artist ever in its Annual Honour Roll of Extraordinary Canadian Achievers. In 1998, the Province of British Columbia appointed Roy to the prestigious Order of B.C. and in 2003, Roy received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2003, a video featuring Roy was part of the successful Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid. In 1987, at the Commonwealth Summit in Vancouver, the original of Roy’s painting A Meeting of Chiefs was the official gift of the Province of British Columbia to Queen Elizabeth II. Limited edition prints of the painting were presented to the 48 Commonwealth Heads of State. During their Vancouver Summit in 1993, former Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin and former U.S. president Bill Clinton received artist’s proofs of Roy’s print The Homecoming as the Province’s official gift.
Roy’s father was a fisherman with the blood of three northwest coast First Nations – Tsimshian, Haida and Heiltsuk – flowing in his veins. Roy’s mother was a schoolteacher whose parents had immigrated to Canada from England.
Lindsay Eberts – Lindsay grew up in the Saguenay region of Quebec and attended high school and university in Montreal, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University. He also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
An entrepreneur for most of his career, Lindsay is President and CEO of Seattle Aero LLC, an integrator of large scale aircraft modifications such as Aviation Partners Boeing’s Blended Winglet program. Seattle Aero is also active in the export of aerospace materials internationally.
Drawn to the Stikine in the late ‘90’s by a desire to get back to the boreal forests of his youth, he and his family have spent summers in northern British Columbia for over a decade. An outdoorsman and fly fisher by upbringing, Lindsay has taken a keen interest in protecting the natural environment and challenging some of the more potentially dangerous resource development projects in the region. He and his wife Patti Paxton Eberts have four children, conveniently grouped into two sets of twins.
Lindsay was elected a Director of SWCC in 2008.
Brad Wilson was born and raised in the Hazeltons’. After graduating, he moved to Kamloops to attend Thompson Rivers University. During a summer break, he discovered his passion for the culinary arts, and began his apprenticeship at the Hummingbird Restaurant. In 2003 Brad received his Red Seal Certification in the Culinary Arts and spent the next 6 years plying his trade and gaining experience. For a change of pace he decided to pursue another avenue of interest, as a professional driver. Brad spent the next 3 years driving throughout the interior for Arrow Transportation. Brad found his way back into the kitchen in 2008 working for Thompson Rivers University and most recently at Mt. Paul Golf Course as their Executive Chef. Brad moved back home to Hazelton and opened The Historic BC Cafe with his girlfriend and business partner Tera Brooks. Brad has always enjoyed the outdoors and has taken full advantage of all each season had to offer. He has always been environmentally conscious and feels responsible for preserving our natural resources for future generations to enjoy. He feels very strongly about the balance that exists between all living beings that call the Hazelton area home. His traditional up-bringing dictates that conservation is more than a catch phrase, it is a necessity.
Carrie Collingwood was born and raised in the Bulkley Valley. She spent her youth in the upper Stikine watershed and has fond memories learning about the land from the late Chief Alex Jack. Her family owns and operates a guide outfitting and fly fishing lodge in Spatsizi Wilderness Park. 2009 is the 40th year of operation for the Collingwood Family. Carrie manages her family business and is a fly fishing and hunting guide. She and her husband Billy Labonte, an avid Steelhead fly fisherman and guide have two children. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Leisure Service Administration from the University of Victoria. Carrie has also worked as a planner in public sector recreation and as a downhill ski instructor.
Executive Director
Shannon McPhail lives and works in the watershed and grew up on a working ranch, spending much of her youth fishing and hunting in the Skeena mountains with her family. She has worked as a white-water rafting guide, a big game hunting guide, a welder and a nutritionist at a women’s health center after her education in the field of chemical technology. Shannon’s diverse background allows her to understand and relate to people within the watershed that have a variety of opinions and concerns. It is important to Shannon that all voices are heard when decisions are being made regarding the future of this unique place. Her commitment is so strong that she has spent 7 years working for the SWCC as a volunteer. Shannon is a mother of two, with her oldest at 5 years of age. While motherhood certainly keeps her busy, it hasn’t slowed her down or prevented her from working to keep our Sacred Headwaters free of coalbed methane and our Skeena River wild. shannon@skeenawatershed.com
Associate Director
Brian Huntington – A founding member of SWCC, Brian moved to the Skeena in 2003 from Missoula, Montana to work with a senior biologist from the Ministry of Environment on a grizzly bear conservation project in the upper Skeena watershed. Brian graduated from the University of Montana with a BSc in Resource Conservation and Wildlife Biology. He worked as a Biological technician for the USGS on Glacier National Park’s original grizzly bear DNA study and as a project coordinator with the MT Dept of Fish & Wildlife, the Alliance for Wild Rockies and the Great Bear Foundation from 2000 to 2003. Since 2004, Brian has been organizing baseline inventory research for selected fish, wildlife and cultural resources in the upper Skeena. In 2007, he was adopted into a Gitxsan House group with territories in the upper Skeena as a result of his meaningful work. All the photos you see on our website are a result of Brian’s many treks into the wilderness with his camera. brian@skeenawatershed.com
STAFF & HARD CORE VOLUNTEERS:
Chris Gee is a social justice advocate with a passion for water. Born and raised in Dakelh territory, near the Nechako River, Chris has spent much of his life soaked with river water. Last year alone, Chris spent over 150 days kayaking on rivers and creeks around his home in the Hazeltons and, given Chris’ nature, he will likely remain in the water until it turns to ice. He was the safety director and kayaker of the 2009 Spirit of the Skeena Swim and was the first kayaker to paddle the entire 610km of the Skeena river. Despite being water logged much of the time, Chris managed to complete his Master’s degree in social work. Given his strong commitment to the well being of youth in his community Chris is pleased to be designing an exciting youth focused programs for SWCC. Chris is looking forward to the upcoming launch of the ““Youth on Water”:http://skeenawatershed.com/projects/detail/yow/” river guide training program and the implementation of Hazelton & Terrace’s sustainable transportation system. He has volunteered with SWCC for all these programs and more for 2+ years. chris@skeenawatershed.com
Kim Ward finds that living in the Northwest has been a dream for Kim for years. After many White-water kayaking trips to the Terrace Region she has decided to call it home. She was a member of the Skeena Swim expedition 2009, as the Scout Safety Kayaker. Kim can be found: Kayaking, Biking, Backcountry Skiing, teaching yoga and loves sharing her love of the outdoors with others as a guide or instructor. Kim has worked professionally in the whitewater industry for over 12 years, she is a sales rep for WRSI helmets and Fluid Kayaks. Another passion of Kim’s is working with youth. She has worked with young offenders and recently has been working with youth in addictions and recovery. She believes everyone deserves to “Experience Wellness” and has seen first hand what type of healing Wilderness has on youth. Kim has been busy with SWCC this year helping coordinating special events and the Awakening the Skeena Film Tour. She is also the Co-coordinator of the ““Youth on the Water”:http://skeenawatershed.com/projects/detail/yow/” river guide training program. “ I’m so pumped to be working side by side our local youth on the rivers in our community, not only are they going to be learning to work safely in and around the rivers but have a strong commitment to protect these rives in their future.” Look for Kim on the local rivers this season, she will be teaching woman’s clinics for Skeena Valley Expeditions and yoga/fusion courses at the Wildlotus Studio in Terrace, BC
Kathy Stockner grew up in West Vancouver, and ended up in the north by marrying Todd and following him and his passion for the northern rivers. It only took 24 hours for Kathy to feel that it was the right move (while Todd took less than a minute). Now, she absolutely loves her rural home and close-knit community, and would never want to live in the city again. They have a small acreage in the Kispiox Valley, where they run a small steelhead guiding operation in the fall. During the summer, the lovely guesthouse that Todd built is used as a bed & breakfast for visitors from all over the world. The Kispiox Valley has been a wonderful place to raise their two kids, now teenagers. Kathy has worked mainly as a typesetter for print shops, newspapers and book publishers over the years, and is now the office manager for the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. admin@skeenawatershed.com
Emily McGiffin has spent the past decade working towards sustainable environmental and economic solutions for rural communities. Through her work in agriculture, biology, forest management and conservation, she has sought collaborative land stewardship strategies and innovative business models. Emily holds a BSc in Biology and Geography from the University of Victoria and is working part time towards and MSc. in Sustainable Rural Development. Her journalistic and literary work has been published and broadcast across Canada. Email
Contact Us
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
PO Box 70
Hazelton, B.C.
V0J 1Y0
(250)842-2494
Executive Director
Shannon McPhail
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Phone: (250) 842-2494
Cell: (250) 842-8738
Administration and General Information
Kathy Stockner
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Field Work & Research
Brian Huntington
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
YOW Program
Chris Gee
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Development and Communications
Lydia Millett
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
