20-day trip 'amazing'
German group with Wilderness International takes six Gwich'in from Fort McPherson on conservation expedition
Angel Koe, left, joins Rayna Vittrekwa, May Andre, Daniel Robert, Keeffer Francis and Dinah Blake in a three-week conservation expedition on the Snake River with eleven members of Wilderness International from Germany, in July. - photo courtesy of Elizabeth Vittrekwa |
Michele Taylor
Northern News Services
Monday, August 21, 2017
TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON
Five Gwich'in youth and an elder got the opportunity of a lifetime when they joined a conservancy expedition of the Peel River Watershed.
The group, from Fort McPherson, joined eleven German participants as part of Wilderness International's expedition.
The organization took photos and drone media which will get used to bring awareness of the need for protection of the Peel to the public.
Rayna Vittrekwa, Angela Koe, Daniel Robert, Keiffer Francis and Dinah Blake joined elder May Andre on a 20-day trip on the Snake River from July 10 to 28th. The Snake River is a tributary of the Peel River Watershed and one of the NWT's most pristine nature areas.
The Peel River supports many Indigenous groups throughout the NWT and Yukon.
These include the Tetlit Gwich'in, the Na-cho Nyak Dun and the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nations.
Vittrekwa, one of the youth on the trip, said the Fort McPherson group flew from Mayo, YT, to Duo Lakes and portaged with their gear to the Snake River.
She said they stayed at the lake for close to a week so the group had a chance to get used to being on the land in a remote area.
"We stayed there at Duo Lakes for a while," she said. "We went from Duo Lakes through a 1.5-kilometre portage toward the Snake River.
"I didn't really feel close to the land until we were actually on the water and being like a team."
The team of Gwich'in and Germans travelled close to 500 kilometres along the Snake River through pristine wilderness.
The area is of concern due to the potential of oil, uranium and other minerals in an area yet untouched by development or affected by mining. Vittrekwa said the trip changed her perspective on conservation.
"I realized on this trip how much I love being on the environment and I hope that would reflect in my life some way," she said.
"There were so many things that made me think about my future."
Andre, a 72-year-old elder who accompanied the youth from the community, said she the country amazed her by how untouched and clean it was.
"I think of it nearly every day," she said. "The water it's the first thing that I noticed and loved.
"The water is just crystal clear and clean. To me it was so good."
Vittrekwa had similar words to describe the area the group explored. She said she was appreciative of the opportunity she got to share with the Wilderness International group.
"It was really beautiful. We hiked so much and one time we woke up early in the morning and hiked for around three or four hours to hike a mountain that was right in front of Mount McDonald. It had the most beautiful view and it was right on the side of a cliff. Every day you had this amazing view in front of you. I'm very thankful for the whole trip," she said.
"I never really thought of it that much, but (the land) something that really can't be changed."
The group had many adventures along the way with opportunities to explore the areas.
The group even got to enjoy fresh meat from a goat killed by one of the youth.
The party even took on some whitewater through a canyon on the Snake.
Andre said at first she wasn't going to join the group paddling through the canyon, but changed her mind after hearing the group say they needed strong paddlers.
She said life in the bush has kept her strong for her age and so she changed her mind.
Andre said it was an exhilarating 20 seconds of paddling with the three rafts making it through without any incidents.
"I was thinking, I made it this far, I'm so fortunate to come on this trip, I'm at the canyon, why am I scared? I'm usually not scared of anything," Andre recalls.
"And I changed my mind right there and I told those guys I changed my mind, I going through it. And it was the greatest moment there."
The group of 17 paddlers met up with a meeting party from McPherson at the end of their journey.
The meeting party included elder David Thomson, Lawrence Robert and his wife Belinda who had a son on the trip, Elizabeth Vittrekwa and her husband, chief Wanda Pascal and William Charlie and his son Arlyn Charlie.
Mayor Elizabeth Vittrekwa said the motorboats and food for the travellers had some funding from the Tetlit Gwich'in Renewable Resource Council, which she sits on, the Gwich'in Tribal Council and the Tetlit Gwich'in Band.
The funds helped buy gas for the three boats that went out to meet the party, and food that fed the expedition group and the meeting party.
"With that money I said we won't pay for boats but I'll pay for gas to meet these paddlers up the Peel and once we get up the Peel then we'll take whatever food we have and we'll cook it for them," she said.
The meeting group met up with the expedition at Paddle Creek up the Peel and Rayna Vittrekwa said they waited for over an hour for the party to meet them. She said they finally came and one of the men in their group noticed them.
"Two rafts came and they were so happy, one of the young Gwich'in girls got out and said it's so good to see people," said Vittrekwa.
