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From chemistry to edible plants Teenagers soak up knowledge at ecology camp
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 8, 2013
CLI LAKE
Water safety, bear safety, on-the-land survival and chemistry were among the topics participants in a recent camp listed as the things they learned about.
Deanna Jumbo, left, Cody Hardisty, Julien Antoine and Rochelle Yendo try to identify some plants during a plant walk led by Cheryl Cli, not seen, that was part of the Dehcho Youth Ecology Camp at Cli Lake. - photo courtesy of Dahti Tsetso
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Fifteen teenagers from Fort Providence, Trout Lake, Jean Marie River and Fort Simpson took part in the Dehcho Youth Ecology Camp between July 26 to Aug. 1.
The camp, which changes locations every year, has been held annually since 2003. This year, the camp was held at the North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge at Cli Lake outside of Fort Simpson.
"It was awesome, I had an amazing time," said Julien Antoine.
The 13-year-old from Fort Providence said he learned about surviving on the land and water during the camp. Loyal Letcher, one of the owners of the lodge, led the on-the-land and practical teaching components for the camp.
Letcher taught sessions on water and boat safety including having the youth do canoe-over-canoe rescues in the lake, learn about bear safety and survival skills, including how to build and light a signal fire.
Adam Nadli, 13, also from Fort Providence, said he liked learning about water at the camp.
Water itself was also a key component in many of the sessions led by Bruce Townsend.
Townsend, a contractor with Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management program (AAROM), focused his lessons on giving the
youths a basic understanding of why mercury levels in predatory fish in some Deh Cho lakes have risen recently and how to make informed choices
about eating fish, which are still a healthy food.
Townsend started at the beginning, using visual and hands-on demonstrations to show how the elements on Earth, including mercury, were formed.
The youth also learned about photosynthesis and about the food chain and bio-magnification. To bring the lessons home, the youth caught and dissected a variety of fish from Cli Lake to see what they had been eating. The participants really liked looking inside the fish, he said.
During the camp, the participants also learned about the Species at Risk Act. Dahti Tsetso, a resource management co-ordinator with Dehcho First Nations, used boreal caribou, a local species, as an example to demonstrate the risk factors that are affecting species and the process to getting a species listed under the act.
A new aspect of this year's camp was a visit by three staff with the Dehcho Land Use Planning Committee. The youth learned about the Dehcho Land Use Plan and Joachim Bonnetrouge shared the elder's perspective about the plan.
"It was good," said Keagan Nadli, 16, about the camp.
Nadli, of Fort Providence, said he learned a lot while at Cli Lake.
Dehcho First Nations organizes the camp, which is funded by a number of partners including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, AAROM, and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
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