November 24 2009 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard
One Epic Journey Down the Skeena
ALI HOWARD completed her monumental swim of the Skeena River months ago, but in some ways her journey is just beginning.
Howard is currently in the midst of a whirlwind six-week tour spreading the message of the Spirit of the Skeena Swim, finishing up three days of presentations in Terrace last week.
Howard, along with photographer and member of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Brian Huntington, arrived in Terrace on Wednesday Nov. 18 and throughout three days visited schools such as Skeena Junior Secondary, Cassie Hall Elementary, Caledonia Secondary and Clarence Michiel.
On Thursday, Howard and Huntington paid a visit to the students at Clarence Michiel, showing a slideshow and video clips of her 610 km journey down the Skeena River from the Sacred Headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.
Howard brought along her trusty gear, including her bright red helmet, life jacket and her boogie-style board which protected her from the river’s bottom in shallow areas, for the students to test out.
Howard explains that this tour is important in order to continue the conversation about the Skeena watershed and having her physically swim the length of the river really helps put the whole scope of the watershed and the salmon who call it home into perspective for the youths.
Howard and Huntington explain that it helps every community along the watershed to see how connected they are by the river and by the salmon, as at each school when they asked the students if their family fishes, or if they have salmon in their freezer, almost every student raised a hand.
“It’s an easy way to demonstrate a simple idea…do you get salmon,” says Howard.
Throughout her journey, Howard says the voices of the communities along the watershed were heard: a unanimous desire for a healthy sustainable future for the river.
“[Everyone has] different interests but all agree that the salmon are invaluable, it’s what connects us,” she says.
Howard adds that the swim opened doors to the connection between conservation and communities, to come together to support wild salmon.
“The cultural ties [to the river] are very strong here…I’m just a vessel carrying a message,” says Howard.
Another piece of their work will be a province-wide art project involving small cut out paper salmon.
Around 10,000 were distributed to all the schools on the tour to be coloured and designed any which way and after they are all collected, they will be used to create a larger scale art project.
But for now, the coalition’s immediate goal is for the provincial government to permanently ban coalbed methane development in the birthplace of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass rivers where her swim began: the Sacred Headwaters.
So Howard and her crew will travel down south to Victoria and Vancouver, meeting with government and hosting workshops with organizations about community building.
