Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 03/99) - St. Patrick high school students Matthew Menacho, 18, and Nathan Pike, 16, have received filleting knives as gifts that go along with the honour of being the best junior fish management technicians.

The two were honoured at a ceremony this week after making a trip with seven other students in the school's wildlife leadership program to Blachford Lake Lodge Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

"I learned living off the land is quite difficult but it's fun, too," said Menacho.

"The elders who were talking to us knew what they were saying and I learned a lot from them."

Menacho said part of the learning was the importance of paying the land and paying the water.

This tradition holds that if you are going to take something from the land, in the form of trapping or fishing, that it is important to give something back.

As a result the students were taught to throw tobacco, tea or sugar into the fire as a way of paying the land.

To pay the water, students took a willow branch and threw it in the water after saying thank you.

"I used to live on the land when I was a kid -- on Willow Lake near Tulita," Menacho said.

"My grandpa and grandma used to teach me things about the land. Now I go trapping and hunting on my own every couple months. They just showed me the way."

Pike similarly has spent a lot of time on the land around Inuvik.

He said much of the work he remembers is clearing the brush and packing sawdust so it can be reused.

The wildlife course is part of a program called career and technology studies.

Students are responsible for completing three credits, or modules, during the semester.

The trip to Blachford dealt specifically with angling, fishing and traditional methods of living off the land.

"We took a fish biologist, Lyndon Kivi, from Fisheries and Oceans Canada," said teacher Warren Cummins.

"He worked with the students, helping them identify fish species and habitat. He also did some water testing and environmental tests."

The group also went along with two Dettah elders, Therese and Modeste Sangris.

"They worked with the kids and showed them how to set nets," Cummins said.

"The net they used was called a No. 5 gang. That means it has five different sizes of mesh within a 50-metre length."

The net allowed the students to catch different sizes of fish.

The program has been running for three years and cost the school about $4,000 for the programming, meals and transportation.

The school has a timeshare agreement with Blachford Lake Lodge for the additional cost of lodging.

Lodge owner Mike Freeland said some of the cost was defrayed by the students doing some work that Blachford Lake Lodge staff would have had to do otherwise.

Tasks included fixing and winterizing boat motors and doing some brush cutting.

Staff watched the kids to see who performed the most and was most enthusiastic about the program.