Empowering Indigenous Youth on the Land and Water

“Working with youth has been endlessly inspiring. They teach me a lot about how to redirect myself, how to carry myself, what’s important, and how to check myself. They are also in the same frame of mind where we see these really bright futures for young people on our territories that we don’t necessarily get to live in right now, but we have this space where we get to work together, dream together and keep chipping away at things that feel really insurmountable on your own.” – Taylor Wale, Luu'maja, Salmon Biologist, Gitksan Watershed Authorities

Three young women sit upon a bed of rocks along the creek’s bank. Their conversation flows. Their laughter echoes the water’s movement over the stones of the creek bed. The surrounding trees and soaring mountains have been the walls of their classroom for the past year. The continuous flow of Tsihl Hlii Din (McCully Creek) is an endless source of lessons, teachings, and inspiration.

Taylor Wale, Luu'maja, a Salmon Biologist with the Gitksan Watershed Authority, is leading the McCully Creek Restoration Project with the support of two Gitksan youth, Patience Muldoe and Hailey Wilson.

McCully Creek is not too far north of Kispiox, a Gitksan village that sits at the confluence of the Kispiox and Skeena Rivers in the Kispiox Valley. The tributaries of McCully creek flow into the Kispiox River.

The Gitksan Watershed Authorities are working to restore McCully Creek by channelizing a braided lower reach of the creek into one channel with sufficient water depth and flow for salmon passage and habitat use. This is being achieved by stabilizing the creek’s banks through the planting of locally collected willow, alder, and osier dogwood. The team is also using low-tech methods such as placing woody debris to help reduce the speed of the creek’s flow.

Note: A braided river, or braided channel, is a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands. These braided streams can often occur in rivers with high sediment loads, weak banks, rivers with steeper slopes, and rivers with rapid and frequent variations in the amount of water they carry.

“The whole intention of our work between this restoration initiative and the interactive cultural project we’re working on is all aimed at facilitating Gitksan people to be back on their territories in safe ways and sustainable ways,” said Taylor Wale.

Taylor highlights this is being done through a combination of groundwork, monitoring and evaluation techniques and by engaging and training Gitksan community members.

“The goal is to hand over all the work and all the skills to the appropriate Gitksan House Groups so that they can continue this work forever.”

Engaging on the Land and Water

The learnings that have come out of this project have been numerous. But, for the youth, it has provided something even greater.

“I have learned the value of the land, the great qualities of a leader from Taylor, how to be proud of where I am from, and to stand up for what is right,” said Patience. Patience is of the Wilp Gutginuxw and the Gisk’aast Clan (Fireweed Clan).

Note: Gitxsan (or Gitksan) means People of the River Mist. Gitksan people are born into one of four kinship lineages (or clans): Laxseel (Frog Clan), Laxgibuu (Wolf Clan), Laxskiik (Eagle Clan), and Gisk’aast (Fireweed Clan). The clans are divided among the territories by a Wilp or “house group” system. A Wilp is made up of one or more families and is led by a head chief, who is guided by Elders and members of the Wilp. Currently, there are 62 Wilps, with each governing its portion of the Gitksan Territories. Learn More: https://www.bretthuson.ca/gitxsan

Throughout the project, there was a key objective to create space for Gitksan involvement and professional growth. Bringing community members out onto the land and water to contribute to habitat stewardship was shown to promote individual and family wellness. It also allowed community members to connect outside during a time of severe isolation due to COVID restrictions.

“This work is so inherently community-oriented, community-driven, so why not do every single step of the way with the community, with young people?” said Taylor.

The McCully Creek Restoration Project allowed the team to focus on building up their internal capacity. A huge focus was placed on building the capacity for Gitksan people to carry out every stage of the project work.

“I envision community members being able to go out onto the land and do the different surveys that consulting companies or government workers typically come in and do,” said Patience. “It would be amazing if we could do it all ourselves.”

The Laxyip Initiative

Another aim of the project is to rebuild the community’s connection to place and water. The team is working on an interactive project to help connect the knowledge of the past with the minds of the future. Hailey and Patience collect and assess archival documents and engage with community members on using traditional plant species to restore ecosystem integrity.

The team is creating an online platform to share this information more broadly with the community. The Interactive Laxyip Initiative is a way to preserve the knowledge, stories, and history of the Gitksan people while providing a platform that is accessible and engaging for younger audiences.

Hailey has dived into this project wholeheartedly and has come up learning things she never knew about her history and family.

“My name is Hailey Wilson. I am from Wilp Sakxum Higookxw of the Laxgibuu Clan (Wolf Clan).”

This introduction is something new Hailey has learned through this project. Each time she says it, her words flow with more confidence, authority, and purpose. For Hailey, this knowledge is not just for her but for her to share with those around her.

“I have quite a lot of younger siblings. I want to take in all this knowledge and everything that I am learning so I can pass it on to them. That is what is most important to me, and it has always been my goal since I started reconnecting.”

When Hailey first learned what clan she was a part of, her siblings were the first to share in this knowledge.

The restoration work at McCully Creek is not just a way to reconnect to the land and water; it is part of an on-going effort to reconnect Gitksan people with their territory, language, and culture.

“The big goal is so that Gitksan people can feel safe living on their territories. There are a whole lot of barriers in place right now, whether it be extractive industries or settler colonialism, or all these things combined,” said Taylor. “But there are things that we can chip away at on the ground that work towards those safer futures for Gitksan People on our territories. It is not impossible.”

“It’s very necessary, I feel, for our people to be able to do this work,” said Hailey. “The watersheds themselves are sacred to us. They bring life to us. They bring fish and our food, and our resources. They are important not only to the environment but to our culture.”

A Happy Life on my Territory

“I think I am starting to reorient myself to have a happy life on my territory and supporting young people to achieve the same thing,” said Taylor.

Taylor is from Wilp xGwoimtxw of the Laxgibuu Clan (Wolf Clan). She grew up in Kamloops with her connection to the Gitksan Territory, land, water, and family reserved for the summers when her family would come up to visit family.

“Those little sparse tidbit moments of harvesting fish with my family were my opportunity to get to know my grandpa and my grandpa’s side of the family. Those moments are what brought me home.”

The McCully Creek project is the first restoration project Taylor is leading. The creek and all its surroundings have been a great classroom and platform for the project team to work together as Gitksan. A huge inspiration for Taylor, throughout this work, has been working with youth.

“In the nature of this work, our landscapes are always changing, our environments are changing drastically, and we’re realizing that the conditions aren’t always the same, and so the solutions will definitely be different. Young people have taught me that there are lots of different, creative ways around a problem that maybe hasn’t been done before, and we can just try something differently. It has been an inspiring process.”

Although much has been accomplished in just one year of the McCully Creek Restoration Project, it is far from being complete. Further bank stabilization is required downstream, and more willow planting is needed at the lower reaches of the creek and the water quality and quantity monitoring program is on-going. The work seems endless, but there is an energy in the air of anticipation and possibility. The learnings gained in the project’s first year can be further applied and built upon. Moving forward, one key focus for this project is to continue to involve, educate, and inspire Gitksan youth to engage in land and water stewardship.

“We are really trying to bring connection and mentorship back onto the land. We are trying to hold spaces for young people to learn and doing that on the land has been an unbelievably valuable experience,” said Taylor. “We are not doing this in a classroom; we get to come to these places, feel the energy of the water, feel the energy of the territories, and have conversations.”

The McCully Creek Restoration Project is in partnership with BC Cattleman's Association, DFO Salmon Enhancement Program, FLNROD, and the Skeena Fisheries Commission.