VIDEO: Chilcotin River helps inspire Indigenous forest leadership

A new video features the Chilcotin River and the importance of the river and the salmon it brings is aimed at inspiring First Nations leadership in forestry and conservation.

Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR), a joint venture of Tŝideldel First Nation and Tl’etinqox Government, released The Focus on Water Tuesday, Oct. 8. The video brings viewers on to the land to experience the Chilcotin River, better understand its importance, and learn why it must be protected.

“Water is sacred to Indigenous people,” shared Percy Guichon, Forest Technician, Executive Director of CCR. “Water is relied upon for our cultural practices, our traditional knowledge, as a food source, and for the livelihood of our communities. This is why the work we do in forest rehabilitation is so critical to ensure the water is protected to enhance and sustain life for all.”

The meaning of ‘Tŝilhqot’in’ is ‘the river people’, and the Chilcotin River featured in the video has sustained First Nations communities in the region for thousands of years.

“The water is our connection to the land. We have always been down by the river, close to the river, and camped by the river because that is where the food source was and is,” remarked Guichon. “People around the world watched the devastating impacts earlier this year of the landslide that blocked the Chilcotin River. That slide impacted wildlife, fish, and recreation. This reaffirmed to our team at Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. the importance of our forest rehabilitation work to help care for the land and water and to help minimize these kinds of catastrophic events in the future.”

CCR has been salvaging and rehabilitating large areas of land in the Cariboo Chilcotin to help the forest regrow, mitigate wildfire risk to communities, and to improve wildlife habitat. Good forest management work has also helped to create openings in the forest to improve the growth of berries, shrubs, and other important food sources and medicinal plants. Additionally, instead of burning wood waste left over from harvesting work in slash piles, CCR has utilized this excess residual fibre to help create green energy that supports local industries.

“Creating these videos was important to us to help better educate the public about the work we are doing through Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. and the benefits of that work,” shared Guichon. “We hope these videos will bring awareness to the public as well as inspire other First Nations communities to take a leadership role within forestry.”

To watch the first three videos in the series, follow CCR’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@CentralCR_ca.

About Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd.

Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation was formed by Tŝideldel First Nation and Tl’etinqox Government in the spring of 2017. The joint venture was originally formed to address the 100,000 hectares of dead pine left in the Chilcotin region and to rehabilitate those stands into productive forests. The fires in the summer of 2017 amplified the need to address heavily burned forest stands with minimal economic values. CCR’s mission is to coordinate and implement large-scale forestry programs and initiatives within the traditional territories of the Tŝideldel First Nation and the Tl’etinqox Government, generating economic, social, and environmental benefits.