Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Aug 03/01) - A British Columbia resident is on his way to Los Angeles to raise awareness about wild Pacific salmon populations throughout their historic range.

David Loewen of British Columbia set off from Inuvik last week to begin a 10,000-kilometre trip to raise awareness about salmon throughout their historic range. - Malcolm Gorrill/NNSL photo

David Loewen left Inuvik July 24 on his 10,000-kilometre "Wild Salmon Cycle." Loewen hopes to talk with community groups and other interested people, and raise $200,000 along the way.

Loewen founded a non-profit society, the Wild Salmon Conservancy. He said he did so because there wasn't enough awareness-building being done by a lot of the conservation organizations, and that many groups tend to focus on their own area.

Loewen grew up in Tlell on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

"That's actually what started this whole connection to salmon," Loewen explained.

He spent a year of high school in Whitehorse, and over the last decade he has worked in fisheries and done restoration work and salmon research.

"I see them as a keystone in the ecosystem, no question about it. They feed pretty much everything."

Loewen decided to start his journey in Inuvik because the farthest north Pacific salmon normally go is the Mackenzie River.

He said many stocks are threatened or extinct, and that humans are largely responsible through destruction of habitat.

Loewen said he's also trying to highlight the stocks that are healthy, and that he's not trying to come across as radical.

"I am trying not to sound like a rampant tree-hugger because there's certainly a place for industry as well," Loewen said.

"Humans are just as much a part of the ecosystem as everything else, it's just that we have to learn how to coexist in it with everything else."

Part of the funds raised from Loewen's trip will go towards a program (yet to be worked out), in which youths and adults will be able to spend time at streams, where they will conduct activities and observe salmon in their natural habitat.

Those wanting more information can check out the web site: www.wildsalmoncycle.org