New Aiyansh and Gingoix

Wednesday, January 14th, our friendly tour guide Jeannine Knox (niece) took us to two First Nations Villages, New Aiyansh capital of the Nisga;s Nation and Home of the Gitmidiik famous for their smoked salmon and to Gingoix, another village. These places are located approximately 100 km northwest of Terrace. We drove through miles of lava fields that resulted from an eruption about 200 years ago causing much loss of lives. Totems are in evidence depicting stories of myths and legends of native lore.
We glimpsed bits of mountain ranges, rivers and lakes through the fog and mist burnt through on occasion by the sun.
For a late evening snack we sampled Skeena River smoked salmon and some Alaskan King Crab. The salmon is packaged as a promotion and fund raiser by the Skeena Wild Conservation Trust. Check it out at www.skeenawild.org. Greg Knox (married to Jeannine) is the Executive Director of this trust which is primarily funded by the Moore family who are owners of Intel headquartered in the US. The Skeena River is the second largest salmon producing watershed in BC second only to the Fraser River. The watershed produces all pacific species of salmon, Coho, Chinook, King, and Sockeye along with various species of trout. The Skeena remains un dammed and open to public access. It yields large fish to those who angle. But there are constant challenges facing the various environmental organizations including First Nations Peoples who work diligently to keep the watershed pristine, the current one being an attempt by a large oil consortium to build a pipeline alongside the river to transport Alberta tar sands oil to the coast. There is a moratorium on this type of development locally but the consortium has earmarked 100 million in its campaign to convince the decision makers and public to approve the development.

Later....