Northern B.C.: Swim the Skeena

Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by Dave Quinn in People

A month of cold-water immersion, punishing rapids and unflagging community support

Although my Kootenay backyard, to which I am forever and irrevocably bonded, features some of the most diverse wildlife habitats in southern Canada, a staggering network of industrial roads and hydroelectric developments has irreparably dulled the sharp edge of wilderness here. An estimated 50 to 60,000 kilometres of forestry and mine roads spread like veins across the Kootenay high country, and both of our major rivers – the Columbia and Kootenay, have been dammed. The last salmon runs reached the upper Columbia River in the early 1940s, their way blocked forever by Washington’s Grand Coulee dam. Yet as a wilderness lover I am drawn to areas without these impacts – places where entire drainages, hundreds of kilometres long, are still unroaded, and where rivers still flow freely.

Northern British Columbia is one of those places.

courtesy Brian Huntingon/brianhuntington.com

NORTHERN B.C. "As a wilderness lover I am drawn to areas without these impacts – places where entire drainages, hundreds of kilometres long, are still unroaded, and where rivers still flow freely." Photo courtesy Brian Huntingon/brianhuntington.com

A 2007 canoe trip on northern B.C.’s Stikine River, one of three waterways that rise from the Spatsizi Plateau to make their way to the Pacific Ocean, hooked me on the area. The Stikine, along with the Nass and Skeena rivers, are true ecosystem arteries – conduits for the timeless flow of nutrients to the oceans and the return of critical minerals and proteins in the countless bodies of salmon who return to these rivers and their tributaries to complete their life cycles.

I thought a 10-day canoe trip on a wild northern river was pretty hard-core. That is, until I heard of Ali Howard’s truly epic 28-day, 610-km swim of the Stikine’s big-sister-river, the Skeena. Yes, that’s right, swim.

Howard immersed herself in the frigid Skeena to raise awareness of the threats of Shell’s proposed coal-bed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters and Enbridge’s proposed tar- sands oil pipeline (Westworld magazine features the Stikine and CBM threats to the Sacred Headwaters in its Winter 2009 issue “Landmarks: The Last Wild River”). Ali Howard summed up a month of cold-water immersion, punishing rapids, inspiring community support, and above all, the story of the Skeena, in Vancouver on Thursday December 3 at UBC Robson Square.

courtesy Brian Huntington/brianhuntington.com

STIKINE RIVER, B.C. Ali Howard immersed herself in the frigid Skeena to raise awareness of the threats of Shell’s proposed coal-bed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters and Enbridge’s proposed tar sands oil pipeline. Photo courtesy Brian Huntington/brianhuntington.com

With the efforts of people like Ali, and support from people like you, hopefully the Skeena will never join the much-diminished Columbia River on the shameful list of watersheds to which salmon no longer return.

Do you have an update on the Wade Davis and David Suziki fight to save B.C.’s “Sacred Headwaters”? Let us know!

Lead photo courtesy Brian Huntington/brianhuntington.com

Tags: Ali Howard, B.C.'s Sacred Headwaters, Environment & Sustainability, Skeena River

About the Author

Dave Quinn

The Kootenays Cranbrook-born Dave Quinn is a wildlife biologist and outdoor educator whose writing and photography explores human connections with wild places. For the past 16 years he has divided his time between his family and home office in Kimberley, guiding remote hiking and sea kayaking expeditions to the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, B.C.’s north coast and Patagonia and working as a field biologist with threatened and endangered species such as grizzly, lynx, badger, swift fox and mountain caribou. Recently he has focussed more on conservation work for Kimberley-based Wildsight, and for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Follow Me on Twitter | All Articles From Dave

5 Responses to “Northern B.C.: Swim the Skeena”

Annie

04. Feb, 2010

I was so pleased to be able to see Ali finish her swim in Port Edward! It was a marvellously touching moment.
Anne Rose

05. Feb, 2010

Annie, was the finish line just off the wharf of the old cannery? I was just up there in the fall and it’s an incredible heritage site with an amazingly tranquil, expansive vista…so hard to believe the site is so big and still intact in the middle of such seclusion. I wish I’d been there to see the race if that’s the case . . . the perfect setting. When I was up the site was strapped financially, but a recent grant is fab news. What an iconic B.C. landmark.

Anne
Editor/MyWestworld.com/Westworld
Dave Quinn

05. Feb, 2010

To know a river intimately, from headwaters to sea, as Ali knows the Skeena, is a really powerful experience I’m sure! To be there for any part of it is to share the journey and show respect for both Ali and the watershed she is trying to protect – I’m glad you got to be there at the Pacific. Watching my Kootenays change almost by the day with new roads, as well as recreational, and industrial developments into was, until recently, wilderness, makes me all the more aware of the value of the Sacred Headwaters. Thanks for reading!
Dave Quinn
Annie

05. Feb, 2010

It was on the wharf of the old cannery. Isn’t it a stunning spot? Now imagine the pierred boardwalks lined with people and the local native band drumming as Ali and her team come up from the water’s edge. Incredible!

I blogged about it here: http://annie.paxye.com/?p=1579

Later in the evening we attended the party in Prince Rupert and again blown away by the slideshow showing the whole trip. I believe it must be just as you describe, Dave.
Anne Rose

06. Feb, 2010

Hey, thanks for letting me know, Annie!! The video/blog are great.
Wish I’d been there. I can still hear the water lapping under the boardwalks whenever I think about the North Pacific Cannery, and see the inlet in my mind’s eye. Haunting.
note: we’ve got a story on the cannery coming up in the spring issue, which hits homes the week of February 19; we’ll also post on MyWestworld. Any updates on the cannery you might have in the meantime — I’ll add to the site. Video welcome! It’s such a stellar reminder of B.C.’s history. We could add a box re: info on where folks can donate to refurbishment efforts/fund, if so inclined.
Cheers/Anne