Cutblocks and Boating

Alooo alooooo,



So the rest of the class has shipped off to Prince Rupert for the All Native Basketball tournament- a weekend of basketball, debauchery and lack of sleep no doubt. Last minute I decided to stay here, part because I've got a cold, part because I didn't want to go back to the city and mostly because I was excited to explore the island alone for a bit. It was definitely the best decision.

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to skip class to go out with two foresters from the Ministry of Forests to look at culturally modified trees (CMTs) in a cutblock from 2003. I went out with Sean an RPF, Percy a forester from the Council of the Haida Nation, Emily a local from my class and myself to look at the amount of blowdown (wind blown and downed trees) in reserve polygons and zones around CMT's. I got picked up at 7 am, took the ferry across to Moresby Island and then drove almost an hour back logging roads to our cutblocks. We spent the day walking around the cutblocks documenting the effectiveness of the reserve zones left around the CMT's, it was wicked. It was my first time in cork boots, trying to jump and keep up with the foresters who are skilled at jumping through slash and dancing across logs piles 2 meters high (that are very slippery to boot). Anyways it was a wicked day and I learned a whole bunch.

We are finished our second class First nations and Forestry which was wicked. And now it is reading break .... yeeeeeeee boy. Thursday night I hung out with a local from the program who has a cedar walled, fire heated hot tub in his back yard where we enjoyed the stars. I think you'll enjoy this dad: That takes me to Friday where I tied up the final assignment blah blah blah, went down to the docks with my buddy Kris where we met his friend and ran out with him to pull up his crab traps. The sun was setting, the water was flat as glass and it was a beautiful sunny February day. We got 8 keepers, massive dungeness crab and headed back in. Lawrence said I could keep the crab so Kris and I had a feast, and then I spent the evening cleaning, boiling and freezing the rest of the crab. I'm baking some bread for Lawrence right now to say thanks for the crab. It is my first fresh crab of 2010 and oh man it is amazing.
Today Kris came by around lunch time with his buddy Steve and his zodiac trailer outside ready to go. We spent a beautiful day on the water it was sooo sunny and amazing out. We went really far exploring the inlets of Skidegate Narrows, and an old Haida village site/ grave. I had them over for dinner tonight to repay the favour with crab, couscous and beer... it was a great feast. Tomorrow we are planning on getting up pretty early, ferrying over to Sandspit (Moresby Island) and taking Steve's zodiac down to Skedans which is an ancient Haida village site which has many old standing totem poles- it is a very spiritual place for the Haida that is extremely difficult to access. I can't believe I'm getting the opportunity to trail along on these adventures. It was definitely the best decision to not go to Prince Rupert... next week we are planning a trip to Rennell Sound on the West Coast for hiking, camping and kayaking followed by a trip later in the week to explore the north east tip of Graham Island near North Beach. Ahhh life is beautiful here... no one is rich in monetary terms but rich in story, knowledge and character.


I love you all, hope everyone is great. I wrote an article for the local paper this week, so I'll send a copy down to Ma and Pa hahaha. Everyone reads this newspaper in town so it is kinda interesting. Nyways, I hope these pictures are encouraging you guys to come up here soon! Enjoy the Olympic bonanza!!!