By Trevor Dore

his summer, 10 young individuals
| were given the opportunity to

participate in the 2009 Sustainable
Living Leadership Program, a 25 day, 1400
kilometer environmental education odyssey
down the Fraser River. The opportunity of a
lifetime!

The program, designed in the wake

of Fin Donnelly’s Fraser River swims, is
run by the Rivershed Society of B.C. and
facilitated by four outstanding individuals:
Sharolise, a First Nations leader and fisheries
expert; Glenda, an active sustainable rural
and urban community developer; Doug, an
environmental activist and formal educator
and Fin, the executive director of the
Society.
10 individuals were selected from
around the Province of British Columbia.
ortunately, I was chosen to be one of them!
was truly looking forward to spending time
with like-minded individuals, bouncing ideas
bff one another and experiencing the outdoor
pnvironment firsthand.
The program started in early August
ht the foot of Mount Robson in the Rocky
ountains. The first couple of days were
pent getting to know each other and
liscussing the adventures to be had over the
ourse of the next 25 days. The program was
ivided into three sections: leadership skills,
ustainable living, and project planning.

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
  
 
  
 
   
  
  
 
 
  
   
    
 
  
   
  
  
 
 
  
   
  
  
   
    
   
   
  
   
 
  

 

eadership skills

he first section was launched in a canoe
nto the headwaters of the Fraser River.

hile taking in the pristine wilderness,
articipants discussed leadership and team
uilding. We established that any good

ader should exhibit certain characteristics:
onesty, integrity, truthfulness and open-
indedness. We felt leaders should

e supportive, caring, inspirational,
spectful, gives recognition, intelligent and
tsponsible. We learned to work as a team
hd navigated a 34-foot, 15-person canoe
three consecutive days, stopping only for
nch and to camp for the night.

The canoes were pulled out of the water
Crescent Spur and loaded onto a trailer
ong with all of the gear. We shuttled up
the Goat River in a 15-person van where
e spent the next couple of days camping in
mote wilderness. A day was spent helping
e Fraser River Headwaters Alliance clear
d build an eight kilometre section of the
pat River trail. The leadership section of
P trip came to a close with a blindfold
tivity. All 10 participants were blindfolded
d tasked with building a shelter within
hich all could fit, using the given supplies:
ie sticks and a handful of string. Coming
bether as a team, we successfully built an
frame structure.

We then shuttled through Prince

orge, stopping in an ancient rainforest,
site of 1000-year-old cedar trees, on
way to Xat’stll, an Aboriginal heritage
age just north of Williams Lake. The

, complete with traditional housing, was
home for two days. An Aboriginal elder

emphasized the importance of the Fraser
River to his people’s livelihood. He spoke
to us about their traditional lifestyles, some
of the complex issues facing aboriginals and
the obstacles they encounter in their effort to
rebuild their culture.

Sustainable living

The odyssey was now a third of the way
done and we were ready to transition into
the sustainable living section of the program.
Fraser River Rafting Expeditions met up
with us at the edge of the river. Their rafts
had to be strong enough to transport all of
the gear as well as each individual through
the rapids that we would encounter in the
next eight days.

For the most part, we drifted through
the foreign landscape that is the Fraser
Canyon. Marked by steep, narrow cliff
walls, desert sands and sagebrush, it was
hard to imagine that such a place exists in
B.C. The scenery over the course of the eight
days was breathtaking and the conversation
inspiring. All aspects of sustainability —
voluntary simplicity, bioregionalism, deep
ecology, peak oil, urban densification,
green economy, as well as global and social
issues—were the subjects of conversation.

We also had the chance to see firsthand
the opportunities and consequences of
sustainable living or lack thereof. The
closure of the Fraser River sockeye salmon
run made the potential consequences of
unsustainable living very clear as we passed
through Lillooet, a town whose livelihood
depends on the fishery. A trip to an organic
farm highlighted the opportunities for
individuals to create change by making
sustainable food choices and eating locally,
in season and lower on the food chain.

The final day on the raft required us
to navigate one of the most famous parts
of the Fraser River. We were in for a day
of back-to-back rapids, including the
notorious Hell’s Gate. The day started with
the unloading of all the gear in preparation
for the unstoppable forces of the water that
we would encounter. The raft eventually
came across a section of seemingly harmless
rapids; however, within a split second, the
group was spiralling in the midst of a giant
whirlpool that had appeared out of nowhere.
With no time to anticipate the sudden change
in direction, one of the participants was
catapulted off the side of the raft and into the
raging river. For a brief moment, it appeared
the river had swallowed him whole. Thanks
to the quick actions of the raft guide and a
little help from the team, he was back on the
raft in no time. After this event, one could
only imagine how the rest of the day would
unfold. Having witnessed someone fall into
the river, all of the participants were white-
knuckled as we approached the narrow
waters of Hell’s Gate. Luckily, we managed
to make it through the turbulent waters with
everyone on board. The rest of the day was
spent navigating a series of rapids, each one
more ferocious then the last. The exciting
day came to a close, along with the program
section on sustainable living.

a a,

Project planning
In Hope, we loaded up all of the gear into
two canoes and made our way towards
the Pacific Ocean. The last leg of the trip
would take us through a very populated
and industrialized section of the Fraser.
Logging and gravel operations became
more and more common along the River
as we approached the Lower Mainland.
During this section, participants worked
on developing the outdoor river education
activity that they had outlined in their
application essays. Individual projects
involved the implementation of art
projects, eco-tours, school programs,
community centers and environmental
programs. The main idea behind the
projects was for each participant to
have something to bring back to their
community in hopes of engaging others,
much like a ripple effect.

Paddling for five consecutive days,
we passed under all of the major bridges
and through all of the major cities in the

 

Lower Mainland. On the final day, we
paddled out of the Fraser River and into
the Pacific Ocean. Coming around the
corner, the concrete jungle that is the city
of Vancouver was visible in the distance.
Finally, we landed on Jericho Beach and
everything came full circle. After 25 days
it had come to an end.

We experienced a multitude
of environments and learned about
the various issues affecting those
environments. We had discussions about
global, social and economic issues. The
focus was on future sustainability and
seeing obstacles as opportunities rather
than problems. I learned that individuals
could make a difference by simply making
sustainable choices; for the decisions we
make as collective individuals, affect the
future course of the planet.

Ask any of the participants and I can
assure you they would say that this trip
truly was the adventure of a lifetime!

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